What makes poker very exciting is that players who are underdogs can win a lot of money. All they need is poker skills and a little bit of luck to drive them forward.
One such story happened recently during one World Poker Tour event when a man named Daniel Smyth managed to win $428,391. Now, that fact by itself isn’t very impressive — people used to win more in WPT tournaments.
Yet, what makes it impressive is that he only invested $33. That’s because Smyth entered the tournament by winning a satellite event first. Therefore, he didn’t have to pay the full buy-in prize.
Smyth managed to defeat the field of 1,038 players in a WPT World Online Championships Event #5: $3,200 Knockout Championship. Apart from winning a hefty cash prize, Smyth also won a $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions seat, meaning he’ll have an opportunity to participate in another prestigious WPT tournament.
Some of the world-class players that also took part in this event were Ryan Riess and Manig Loeser. In fact, Loeser managed to make it to the heads-up part of the game but failed to defeat Daniel Smyth, the Irish player who seems to have a lot of potential of playing poker.
The Final Table Results
The final table consisted of nine players, and the first one to hit the rail was Matheus Resende from Brazil, who won a total of $32,725. After that, it was time for Shyngis Satubayev from Kazakhstan to leave the game, winning $24,254.
The poker legend Ryan Riess ended up in the seventh position with a total of $48,251 in his pocket. After that, it was time for the poker prodigy Artur Martirosian to hit the rail, winning $63,874 as a prize for his effort.
Pedro Marques was the next one to say goodbye to the rest of the final table, winning a total of $118,980. After that, Pim Gieles followed as the fourth-placed, winning a total of $118,980 for his effort.
The last player to hit the rail before the heads-up play could start was Joao Maureli from Brazil, who managed to win a total of $174,980.
Manig Loeser then faced Smyth in the heads-up but had to settle for the consolation prize of $279,358.
Stories such as the one involving Daniel Smyth aren’t common, but they do happen from time to time, and they are often great for the poker industry, as they attract many talented people to try this card game for the first time. That way, many people discover their new passion and become active poker players.
Who knows — maybe some of them are future professionals. After all, one of the people who popularized poker at the turn of the century was Chris Moneymaker, who also managed to earn his place in the WSOP Main Event in 2003 via a satellite tournament. He inspired many people to start playing poker, and some are now considered the best in the world.
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