Tom Koral Defeats Over 2,500 Players To Win WSOP 2019 Event #82

American poker pro Tom Koral emerged victorious in Event #82: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack at the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) to capture his second bracelet and the top prize of $530,164. 

Koral dominated a massive field of 2,589 players and defeated Holland’s Freek Scholten heads-up to secure first place. Koral is known in the poker world as a mixed game specialist. He started playing professionally as early as 2005. Over the years, he accumulated more than $2 million in lifetime earnings, and while most of his accomplishments came from playing in different poker formats, his latest victory was extra special to him. 

He started playing professionally as early as 2005. Over the years, he accumulated more than $2 million in lifetime earnings, and while most of his accomplishments came from playing in different poker formats, his latest victory was extra special to him.

Final Table Results 

Only eight players returned at noon on the final day to play down to a winner. The final table kicked off with Scholten as the chip leader, while Koral was the second shortest stack. 

The first player to leave the table was Kalyan Cheekuri. The Indian poker player finished in eighth place after running into Adam Hendrix‘s set of sixes. Cheekuri took home $56,850. His countryman Kunal Punjwani was the next to go after his shove was called by Philip Scaletta. Punjwani earned $74,401 for his seventh place finish. 

US pro Darren Rabinowitz entered the final day second in chip position but dropped to the bottom as soon as the final table started. Rabinowitz eventually fell at the hands of two-time bracelet winner Barry Shulman after he failed to find help from the board. Rabinowitz was eliminated in sixth place for $98,274.

With five players remaining, Scholten and Adam Hendrix moved all-in pre-flop following a series of raises. Scholten was ahead with pocket queens against Hendrix’s pocket tens. The cards did not improve, and Scholten’s dominant overpair was enough for him to secure the massive pot. Hendrix collected $131,001 for finishing fifth. 

Scholten finished off Philip Scaletta after the latter got his last chips in with AhQh. Scholten was holding AdKh and called. After the river, Scholten picked up kings and tens to win the pot. Scaletta earned a $176,219 payout for his fourth-place finish. As three-handed play began, Schulman was the short stack. He tried to stay in the game for about half an hour before being busting in third place for $239,187.

Freek Scholten was holding the chip advantage as he entered heads-up play against Koral. They went back and forth but in the end Koral showed great composure under pressure and came out on top. Scholten earned $327,563 for his second place finish. 

Tom Koral credited his constant analysis of his own play as being one of the main factors that helped him win his second WSOP bracelet.