Brazilian Gregory De Faria Wins WPT Prime Voyage Championship Main Event

After Aram Oganyan won the WPT Voyage No Limit Championship for over $214,000 last week, players such as Brandon Takao, Brian Monigold and Allison Hollander all went close in the Prime Voyage battle, but the party started for a brilliant Brazilian rail when  De Faria lit up the evening and claimed the biggest title of his poker lifetime.

* includes entry worth $10,400 into the season-ending WPT World Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas in December.

Huge Field Prompts Near-Million Prizepool

With a total of 968 entries in the $1,000+60+40 event, that meant a prizepool of $968,000 and a six-figure top prize of $155,400, including a $10,400 WPT World Championship seat for the tour which will take place in December later this year. Only eight players made the final table, with Nicolás Betbesé in the box seat going into the final day with 69 big blinds. Behind Betbesé lay the eventual champion as Gregory De Faria began the showdown with 63 big blinds.

Out in eighth place was Luka Zaskodny. The Czech Republic player was all-in with pocket jacks and needed to win a flip to survive against the ace-queen offsuit of Brandon Takao. It was Takao who came out on the right side of fortune, however, as a queen landed on the flop and with no further help for Zaskodny, he cashed for $18,500 in eighth and went no further.

There was an all-Brazilian clash that prompted the following elimination, as De Faria took out his countryman Gustavo Carmona in seventh place. After a board of J-T-3-8-9 fell, De Faria shoved on the river with king-queen for a king-high straight and Carmona called with the inferior ace-queen for a queen-high straight, going home with $24,000.

Monigold Can’t Break the Bank

In sixth place, the highest-placed female player fell. Allison Hollander moved all-in from the big blind with king-queen and saw her bust-out hand play out as Takao’s call with ace-seven prevailed. The board of T-8-2-A-7 saw Takao win with the superior hand, making two pair by the rive to send Hollander home with $31,000.

The aptly-named Brian Monigold cashed for $41,000 in fifth place. Shoving with pocket sevens, he lost a flip to Trent Hopper as his ace-queen got there by virtue of hitting a queen on the flop. Hopper had not been the dominant stack at the final table when it began but suddenly looked like the man to beat.

Having taken out Hollander in sixth place, Brandon Takao moved all-in with ace-deuce but ran into De Faria’s pocket queens. The eventual winner had picked up the premium hand at the perfect time and across a king-high board, De Faria never looked like losing the hand as he sent Takao home in fourth place for $54,000.

De Faria Finds the Win

Three-handed, the tournament’s leader heading into the final day bowed out. Nicolás Betbesé shoved with king-jack but was dominated pre-flop and defeated post-flop by De Faria’s ace-jack, a nine-high board sending the Argentine player to the rail for a score of $72,000.

Heads-up, De Faria held 20.6 million chips to Trent Hopper’s 18.1 million but the battle was anything but over quickly. Hopper took an early lead in the final duel but De Faria mounted a comeback and had the lead when he shoved with queen-nine in the fnal hand. Hopper was ahead when he called with king-six but a board of 8-5-3-Q-5h gave De Faria a flush on the river and the title.

Trent Hopper claimed the runner-up prize of $97,000 but for De Faria, the WPT Prime Voyage Championship trophy and a top prize of $155,400 were a terrific reward for a final day he crushed.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about the experience, winning with lots of friends close to me. The first day I came here, I saw this trophy and said it was the most beautiful trophy I had ever seen, and I won it. [During the heads-up] I was only focused on winning this trophy.”

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