Chicago grinder rebounds from sixth-place finish in $25K PLO with win in Online Championship
Las Vegas, NV (June 30, 2018) - Ryan Tosoc won his first World Series of Poker bracelet on Saturday morning.
The poker pro from Chicago bounced back from a sixth-place finish in the $25,000 pot-limit Omaha high roller 10 days ago to win the $1,000 no-limit hold’em online championship. He defeated a field of 1,180 players with 455 rebuys to earn $283,778 and his first WSOP title.
Tosoc’s first title didn’t come easy. He battled for the entirety of the 15-and-a-half-hour tournament under the handle ‘toosick’ and squared off against Anthony ‘flawlessbink’ Maio heads-up for nearly two hours. Their match saw several lead changes and lasted just shy of two hours, one of the longest heads-up matches in online bracelet history.
It’s Tosoc’s first bracelet, but he’s no stranger to the spotlight. Tosoc is about seven months removed from a $1.9 million score from a win in a major tournament here in Las Vegas. The previous year, Tosoc finished second in that same tournament for another seven-figure score.
About 12 hours after cards got in the air at 3:30 p.m., they reached the final table with Maio leading the final nine players. With only a few players over the 20-big blind mark, the early portion of the final table was sluggish with very few bustouts as players were jockeying for position on the leaderboard because of ICM considerations.
Eventually, it was a bracelet winner from last year that was the first to go. Aditya ‘pokerpop76’ Sushant got his last 15 big blinds into the middle preflop with pocket kings against James ‘5.56cal.’ Robinson’s pocket sevens.
The flop and turn were safe for Sushant, but the seven came on the river and half of last year’s $1,000 tag team champions was eliminated in ninth.
A few hands later, the blinds went up and Aurelian ‘Winamax’ Guiglini busted in eighth. He was the short stack at the final table after doubling up Russell ‘AntonChigurh’ Powers with ace-three against Powers’ pocket kings and seven big blind-shove on the button.
Guiglini moved all in for about four big blinds from middle position and Tosoc moved all in for much more out of the small blind. Guiglini was in great shape with against Tosoc’s .
Tosoc flopped middle pair and an open-ended straight flush draw against Guiglini’s top pair and an open-ended straight draw. Tosoc had plenty of equity and rivered a third eight to eliminate Guiglini.
Powers was the short stack coming in, was still short after doubling through Guiglini, and was back to the short stack as seven-handed play continued. He eventually moved all in on the button for just shy of four big blinds and was called by Maio in the big blind.
Maio’s king-six was in the lead against Powers’ queen-eight of clubs. Maio flopped a king and had Powers drawing dead on the turn. Powers earned $48,306 for his seventh-place finish.
With Powers gone, Markus ‘thegreatrise’ Gonsalves was the short stack and was the next to go. He moved all in from the cutoff for about six big blinds and James ‘5.56cal.’ moved all in from the small blind.
Gonsalves was in bad shape with his ace-four of diamonds against Robinson’s ace-seven of clubs, but Gonsalves flopped two pair to take the lead. The turn was a seven, however, and Robinson moved back into the lead with a bigger two pair. The river bricked off for Gonsavles and he busted in sixth.
That left Justin ‘LappyPoker’ Lapka as the short stack, and the short stacks continued to fall in order. Lapka was gone just two hands later. He moved all in out of the small blind and got called by Tosoc in the big blind.
Lapka showed pocket jacks and was in the lead against Tosoc’s ace-nine, but an ace came on the flop to end Lapka’s run at a bracelet. Lapka was eliminated just before the final break of the night and Tosoc moving into second on the leaderboard, just behind Maio.
They returned from their five-minute break and Tosoc promptly eliminated Robinson. Tosoc min-raised form under the gun and Robinson moved all in for just shy of 10 big blinds from the small blind. Tosoc called with ace-queen and was in the lead against Robinson’s king-eight.
Robinson never improved and Tosoc turned a queen for good measure, eliminating Robinson in fourth and starting his ascent to the chip lead.
He finished his ascent to the chip lead just a couple hands later when he won a high-equity flip against Joel ‘AjaWilson22’ Feldman. Tosoc min-raised on the button and Feldman moved all in for about 23 big blinds out of the big blind. Tosoc took a couple minutes in the tank before calling.
It was the biggest pot of the tournament up to that point with Feldman’s pocket sevens flipping against Tosoc’s king-10. The king came in the window and Feldman didn’t improve any further than a pair of sevens.
Feldman’s elimination gave Tosoc a slight chip lead over Maio as the two started their heads-up battle. Over the course of a few levels, Tosoc extended that lead and opened a 2-to-1 advantage, which then steadily became a 3-to-1 and eventually 4-to-1 lead.
Maio fought back to cut the lead to about 2.5-to-1 before doubling into the chip lead. Maio raised on the button and called a shove from Tosoc. Maio was all in for about 25 big blinds with pocket 10s against Tosoc’s ace-six off suit.
Maio flopped a set, nearly ending the hand, but Tosoc turned a bunch of equity with the nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. Maio faded both draws and won the pot.
Tosoc wasn’t done battling. He scored a double when his eight-nine out-flopped Maio’s ace-king of clubs and they were back to nearly even in chips.
Having battled for multiple levels heads-up, the stacks were getting shallower and any hand that went to showdown was going to be significant. Maio won a couple showdowns in a row to open up about a 3-to-1 lead and completely turn the tables from Tosoc’s peak.
Tosoc cut that down to a 2-to-1 deficit and then retook the chip lead again when his won a race against Maio’s pocket fives. The chips continued to fly and leads continued to change hands. Just a few hands later, Tosoc moved all in with jack-five and was called by Maio’s pocket kings. Tosoc flopped a jack, but never improved any further and for the fourth time heads-up, the chip lead changed hands.
The fourth time wasn’t the final one. Tosoc doubled back into the chip lead when he got all in on the flop with top pair and top kicker against Maio’s flush draw. Tosoc faded a diamond and took the chip lead back.
The fifth time was the final time. Tosoc grinded Maio down and then finished him off when his ace-jack bested Maio’s ace-nine after getting all in preflop.
That ended a nearly two-hour heads-up battle and almost a four-hour final table. Complete results will be posted later when all of the accounts are able to be properly linked up with their respective WSOP profiles.
Final Table Results:
1st: Ryan ‘toosick’ Tosoc - $283,778
2nd: Anthony ‘flawlessbink’ Maio - $175,206
3rd: Joel ‘AjaWilson22’ Feldman - $124,570
4th: James ‘5.56cal.’ Robinson - $89,777
5th: Justin ‘LappyPoker’ Lapka - $65,391
6th: Markus ‘thegreatrise’ Gonsalves - $48,306
7th: Russell ‘AntonChigurh’ Powers - $36,190
8th: Aurelian ‘Winamax’ Guiglini - $27,337
9th: Aditya ‘pokerpop76’ Sushant - $20,968
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