An IT specialist who has worked for Microsoft and hails from the Bellevue, Washington area, Jazayeri went wire to wire at this final table, starting with the chip lead and only giving it up for a few hands of heads-up play on his way to victory.
Faced with a lineup that included two WSOP bracelet winners and a ton of talent, Jazayeri drew on both skill and luck to book this win.
“Poker to me is 40 percent skill, 20 percent psychology and 40 percent luck,” Jazayeri told PokerListings.com.
“I felt like some of the other players at the table were better than me but I wasn’t intimidated,” he continued.
The finale began with two quick eliminations as WSOP bracelet winner Jason Somerville and former WPT final tablist Jason Burt hit the rail.
Next out was tournament circuit fixture Noah Schwartz who surpassed the $1 million mark in WPT earnings with his fourth place finish here in LA. This was his third WPT final table.
Out in third and paving the way for the heads-up match was Dan “djk123” Kelly, who won the $25k Heads-Up Championship at the 2010 WSOP.
He’s also won more than $5 million playing online poker tournaments, including a record three WCOOP titles.
It was eventual second-place finisher David “Doc” Sands that dealt Kelly a one-two punch. Sands doubled through Kelly and then eliminated him in a big preflop all-in race.
Sands made a deep run in the 2011 WSOP Main Event with girlfriend Erika Moutinho. The couple amazingly finished 29th and 30th out of the 6,685 players who entered.
Sands is also a very accomplished online tournament pro with over $2.8 million in earnings.
Quick and Dirty Heads-Up Match
The heads-up match began with Sands enjoying a small lead, but that didn’t last long.
The most pivotal hand of the final table came almost immediately, a huge coin-flip with Jazayeri’s A-K beating out Sands’ pocket queens. Jazayeri hit an ace on the flop and took a more than five to one chip lead.
The very next hand they were all-in again, this time with Jazayeri’s A-5 out in front of Doc’s K-Q.
The flop brought both a king and a five, putting Sands in front, but the river put another five on the felt and made Jazayeri’s victory official.
Despite booking his biggest win by far last night, Jazayeri maintains it’s not going to change things for him all that much.
“I’m going to have bragging rights at my home poker game that’s for sure,” Jazayeri laughed.
“But really it won’t change my life too much. I’m going to pay off some loans and help my nieces and nephews with their college,” he said.
Click through here to read a more detailed account of the final table action with photos..
Here are the full final table payouts.
1st: Sean Jazayeri - $1,370,240 2nd: David Sands - $806,370 3rd: Dan Kelly - $521,770 4th: Noah Schwartz - $355,750 5th: Jason Burt - $252,980 6th: Jason Somerville - $202,910Visit www.pokerlistings.com