The Season XV WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star $7,500 Main Event drew a record field of 806 players, beating the old record of 753 entries set in the previous season. The final table was played on Saturday and included some famililar poker pros, including Chino Rheem who had the chance to win a forth World Poker Tour title!
Rheem had over 44% of the chips in play when the cards were in the air and he was looking to seperate himself from 3-time WPT winners Carlos Mortensen, Gus Hansen, Anthony Zinno, and Darren Elias. Unfortunately, Rheem's dream of being the one with most WPT title was put to rest after he lost 2 big pots to Anthonny Spinella to exit the tournament in third place for $521,660.
Depsite winning 2 big pots against Rheem, Spinella entered heads-up against Sam Panzica with a 3-1 chip disadvantage. The two pros quickly agreed to a chop and the match ended a few hands later when Panzica's A
10
outlasted Spinella's A
8 on the board J53
45.
It was Panzica's second World Poker Tour title in just five months!
Season XV WPT Bay 101 Main Event Final Table
1st: Sam Panzica - $1,373,000*
2nd: Anthony Spinella - $786,610*
3rd: Chino Rheem - $521,660
4th: Paul Volpe - $349,610
5th: Dennis Stevermer - $243,090
6th: Rainer Kemper - $188,460
* Does no reflect the deal
In the below pictures are Panzica together with his mother, Amelia, who surprised her son by showing up just as the final table was about to start!
