While the 2015 WSOP Main Event was playing down to a final nine at the Rio the $10k Bellagio Cup was playing down to a winner.
With a much smaller, much tougher field made up of WSOP bustees it creates a captivating final table and an ITM list full of top pros.
After a four-handed deal Sean Winter took this year's title and $570k while Nitsche collected the second biggest payout at $480k.
It's Nitsche’s 6th final table and 16th cash of 2015 alone and pushes his career live earnings up to just under $5 million.
Star-Studded Final Table
An elite group of 301 players entered the 11th annual Bellagio Cup to create a prize pool of almost $3m. Notable in-the-money finishers Nitsche managed to survive were:
3. Byron Kaverman, GPI POY rank 8th, winner WSOP $10k NLHE Championship 2015
4. Nick Petrangelo, GPI POY rank 16, winner WSOP $3k NLHE Shootout event 2015
6. Joseph Cheong, former November Niner and third-place finisher in WSOP Main Event
12. John Gale, winner WSOP no 18, NLHE Turbo event 2015
13. Noah Schwartz, $5.2 million in tournament winnings
14. Antonio Buonanno, current winner of the EPT Grand Final
17. Galen Hall, winner PCA main event 2011
18. Connor Drinan, currently no 2 in GPI POY, $6.5 million tournament winnings
The list goes on with Pablo Gordillo, Jack Salter, Dani Stern, Anthony Zinno, David Peters, Shannon Shorr, Dario Sammartino, David Sands and Phil Laak, who just made the money in 36th place.
Will Rise in GPY POY
With another top-two finish under his belt Nitsche will move even further up the 2015 GPI Player of the Year standings from his current spot at 13.
Visibly pleased with what he achieved Nitsche wrote an entry on Facebook after the penultimate day of the Bellagio Cup:
“Guess I did make a 2nd final table this summer after all”
Nitsche narrowly missed winning his 4th career WSOP bracelet earlier this summer, finishing third in WSOP Event #25, $5k 8-Max, for $221k.
Nitsche's new sponsorship deal with 888, signed last month, seems to suit him.
He regularly tweets about his life as a sponsored pro and was notably chuffed with the party and reception held by 888poker during the WSOP.
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