Defeating John Dolan heads-up for the win, Vedes earned $779,520 and a $25k seat in the season-ending WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
A notorious late-registrant for tournaments, Vedes made a last-minute decision to fly down to Florida to play the event and was officially the last person to buy-in at 12 noon on Day 2.
Three days later, Vedes has his second WPT title to show for it.
Dolan, Serock Fall Just Short
Coming into the final-table on the short stack and well behind Joe Serock’s decisive chip lead, Vedes won a coinflip to cripple Kyle Bowker early on and get off and running.
Bowker went out in short order and after Sharon Levin’s elimination in fifth Vedes picked up queens to crush Craig Bergeron’s shove with sixes and all of a sudden he was three-handed for the title.
Dolan clipped chip leader Serock to set up the heads-up match slightly ahead of Vedes but a flopped flush against Dolan's top pair to double up got Vedes back in the game.
A second double shortly after up gave Vedes his first chip lead of the night. Vedes told the crowd "It's all over. Lights out," and it was as he never gave up the lead again.
A final-tablist at this event last year, Vedes adds the WPT Seminole title to his WPT Festa al Lago title from 2009 and boosts his career live earnings to $3.5 million.
Dolan earned $459,360 for his runner-up finish, second only to his $1.7 million payday for finishing sixth in the 2010 WSOP main event.
Final-table results and payouts below:
1st: Tommy Vedes – $779,520 (includes $25,500 WPT Championship seat) 2nd: John Dolan – $459,360 3rd: Joe Serock – $306,240 4th: Craig Bergeron – $212,976 5th: Sharon Levin – $158,688 6th: Kyle Bowker – $122,496
For a full recap of the final table, check the WPT live updates; check out an interview with the champ here:
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