Armin Rezaei Crowned WPT500 Knockout Champion

Armin Rezaei is a World Poker Tour champion after he triumphed in the WPT500 Knockout event, a superb result that saw his bankroll swell by almost $140,000 for a $530 investment.

WPT500 Knockout Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize	Bounties
1	Armin Rezaei	Malta	$76,275	$63,695
2	David Lopez Llacer	United Kingdom	$76,143	$25,380
3	Gustavo Mastelotto	Brazil	$48,993	$5,398
4	Duff Charette	Canada	$32,193	$5,113
5	Benjamin Chalot	Hungary	$21,762	$6,691
6	Aliaksei Boika	Belarus	$16,518	$8,742
7	Jeroen Van Dijck	Netherlands	$11,928	$5,296
8	Robert Svedin	Sweden	$9,446	$7,360

The final table got off to an explosive start, although Robert Svedin will want to erase it from his memory. Svedin thought his dreams had come true when David Lopez Llacer open-shoved from the small blind and Svedin looked down at . Svedin snap-called for his 16 big blind stack and found himself against the lowly . The Swede’s dream scenario turned into a nightmare when the five community cards ran !

Another bad beat sent Jeroen Van Dijck to the rail in seventh. The action folded to Rezaei on the button, and he jammed all-in with . Van Dijck called off his 25 big blind stack with from the small blind, and Aliaksei Boika folded his big blind. Van Dijck paired his queen on the flop and caught another on the river, but Rezaei had turned a straight flush on the board. Ouch!

Boika joined the busted players on the sidelines one hand after that incredible straight flush hand. Llacer opened to 7,350,000 with before calling when Boika three-bet all-in from the small blind for 58,765,517 with . The nines held as the board ran out , meaning three players busted within the first 10 minutes of the final table!

Play settled back to a normal pace after that flurry of elimination, and it took another 75-minutes for the next player to bust. Former MILLIONS Online champion Benjamin Chalot was that player. The Hungary-based Frenchman min-raised to 14,000,000 with , Rezaei three-bet all-in for 465,912,198 with from the small blind, and Chalot called off the 148,609,022 chips he had behind. Rezaei flopped an ace to come from behind and send Chalot to the showers.

Fourth-place went to Duff Charette, who saw his stack dwindle and could not find a spot to commit his stack thanks to Llacer and Rezaei holding huge stacks and being extremely active. Charette eventually raised to 38,000,000 with , which left him 26,573,250 behind. Those few chips went into the middle after Rezaei set him all-in with . The board provided little in the way of drama, and the tournament was now three-handed.

The final three became two when Gustavo Mastelotto crashed out. It had been a frustrating time for Mastelotto, who had his hands tied due to ICM implication when play was short-handed, but he can be proud of how he played.

Mastelotto came unstuck when Rezaei min-raised to 16,000,000 on the button with before calling Mastelotto’s 134,141,153 jam that the Brazilian made with . Rezaei’s ace-high was good courtesy of the board running .

That last hand gave Rezaei a significant 810,035,623 to 490,325,971 chip lead over Llacer going into heads-up. Llacer never managed to catch up and had to make do with a second-place finish ultimately.

The penultimate final hand saw Rezaei wake up with on the button, which he raised to 23,000,000. Llacer called with , and the flop fell ; the writing was on the wall for Llacer.

Llacer checked, Rezaei fired a 16,004,999 bet into the 48,500,000 pot, and Llacer called. The made an appearance on the turn, and Llacer greeted it with another check. Rezaei bet 53,000,000 and was called. The completed the board, and Llacer checked for the third time. Rezaei refused to take his foot off the gas, and he bet 81,000,000, a shade under half-pot. Llacer responded with a call, which saw his stack slashed to 111,723,972, and Rezaei climb to 1.18 billion!

The final hand saw Llacer jam for ten big blinds with and Rezaei call with . Llacer flopped a ten, but Rezaei turned a jack to become the WPT500 Knockout champion and recipient of $139,970.