Home / Poker News December 2012 / WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic – Ravi Raghavan Wins
WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic – Ravi Raghavan Wins
Posted by: Randy Williams - Tue, 2012-12-11 10:43
6 players returned to the tables of the Bellagio on Sunday to play down to a winner in the WPT’s Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Antonio Esfandiari started the day with the largest stack, and given his history in the
poker tournament, he naturally had all eyes on him. Day 1 chip leader Jeremy Kottler was in the mix as well. Having started off with one of the short-stacks, Kottler was the first player to be eliminated. On hand #36, he picked up an A,Ko and he pushed all-in. He got called by Thomas Winters who had pocket 7s. The classic coin flip-was on, but the board never gave Kottler the remote semblance of a chance: it fell bricks only and Kottler was eliminated.
Following Kottler’s elimination, Esfandiari still had the chip lead. It was around this time that Ravi Raghavan began chipping up. He got many of his chips from Andrew Lichtenberger, whom he busted in 5th place. Lichtenberger picked up $234.1k for his efforts. Lichtenberger had A,9o against Raghavan’s Q,4o, but the latter hit a lowly pair of 4s to win the pot and to score the elimination.
The next player to bite the dust was Antonio Esfandiari himself. He took home $329.3k, after his 8,7o fell to Thomas Winters’ As,7s to nudge him out of the top spot. He then shoved all-in against Ravi Raghavan’s pocket rockets, holding an A,Ko. The board didn’t help him and he was gone. Winters was the next victim of the final table. He got his last chips into the middle on an A,7o against Shawn Buchanan’s pocket 10s. The board was all blanks and the heads-up stage was set. Despite the fact that Raghavan had a massive chip lead, the heads-up bout was quite a long one.
