Nut Flush Loses to Straight Flush in Stunning WPT Prime Finale

The World Poker Tour’s $1,100-entry Prime Championship event at the Lodge Card Club in Round Rock, Texas was very well attended over the past week, awarded $1,051,480 to the final 137 players, as 1,074 total entries meant the winner, Shrikant Pillamarapu, won a top prize of $148,527 after making a deal with his heads-up opponent.

Another Huge Texas Field

With the Lodge Card Club now firmly back and re-established after the unlawful closure of its premises last year, the field for the WPT Lodge Prime Championship was a vast one at 1,074. Having 137 players reach the money added huge prestige to the event, and the final table featured some very big names, perhaps none more so than that of David ‘The Dragon’ Pham, whose $11,000,000 in career tournament earnings dwarfed veryone else’s achievements.

Poker, or rather the cards, cares not for reputation, as the saying goes. That applied directly to Pham but across the final table itself. When the final table was reached, a player with just $381 in previous results, Shrikant Pillamarapu, trailed the rest of the field with just 25 big blinds.

Top of the pile was Pranay Patlolla with 118 big blinds, who was trailed by Vladyslav Shovkovyi (92bb), Preston Duron (68bb), Matthew McDowell (59bb), David Urban (50bb), Michael Jones (45bb) and Kenneth Quattrocchi (40bb). It was Michael Jones who busted first, however. All-in with ace-king against a resurgent Pillamarapu, the novice’s pocket aces were perfectly timed and left Jones on the outside looking in with $16,700.

Pham Among Those to Fall Late

Heading into the final eight, while Pillamarapu was piling up chips, others were struggling. Pranay Patlolla was the next to go, calling off his stack with pocket kings only to find that Pillamarapu once again had pocket aces, and the amateur held to knock out anther opponent, this time for $19,700 in eighth place.

The next to go was Matthew McDowell, who lost a coinflip over 100 hands into the final table. All-in with pocket sevens, he was defeated by  Vladyslav Shovkovyi’s ace-jack with turned a jack and rivered an unnecessary ace to complete the job on MCDowell, who departed with $25,000 in seventh place.

Shovkovyi winning that hand only acted as a stay of execution, as the American  was next to go in sixth for $32,500, losing with ace-seven to Pillamarapu’s pocket jacks. Soon, five became four as the most experienced and successful player at the felt took his leave. David Pham is not as The Dragon for his scaly skin and preference for cave-dwelling. Pham is a fearsome competitor, and his ruthless skills have burned many an opponent. Sadly for him and his fans, Pham ran jack-queen into ace-queen and lost his stack to Preston Duron, cashing for $43,500.

Hand of the Year Propels Pillamarapu to Title

Once again, the player who knocked out the last opponent found themselves the victim of the same circumstance. Duron had no sooner eliminated Pham than he was taken out himself. All-in with pocket eights, he lost to Pillamarapu’s ace-deuce that flopped top pair and sent Duron home with $57,000.

Inside the final three, David Urban cashed for $75,000 after he lost with pocket queens to Kenneth Quattrocchi’s ace-seven. That was lucky for Quattrocchi, but all that luck and perhaps every fortunate flop he experienced in his career was coming back to haunt him in a horrible spot.

Heads-up, Quattrocchi led with around 60% of the chips in play. Pillamarapu had got a few back by the moment the pivotal hand played out, but Quattrocchi still led by 69 big blinds to 67 blinds. A board of K-9-8-T-Q played out, with the last four cards all being in clubs. Pillamarapu shoved on the river but Quattrocchi snap-called, with ace-five of clubs in his hand. Only the jack of clubs would stop him, but amazingly, Pillamarapu turned it over and claimed 95% of the chips in play with a straight flush beating his opponent’s nut flush.

Soon after, it was all done, as after a mini revival from Quattrocchi, he shoved with ace-jack and couldn’t hit against the pocket fives of Shrikant Pillamarapu. The amateur had won an incredible $138,127 and a seat into the $10,000 WPT World Championship worth another massive five figures. Quattrocchi claimed $126,733 after a slight ICM deal was agreed earlier in the battle.