June 20, 2019 (Las Vegas) - Aristeidis Moschonas is the winner of the $600 No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha event. He wins $194,759 and the World Series of Poker bracelet, his first.
The 37-year-old professional poker player from Greece, beat a field of 2,403 entries and a prizepool of $1,261,575.
Moschonas was holding a melon and the melon played a predominant role in the winner's photo. He says it comes from playing online. He would refer to opponents that give him bad beats as melons, so he brought this one just in case. He believes his online experience gives him an edge in this tournament format.
“My main game is PLO, I’m a PLO cash player. I also play No-Limit tournaments so it’s like the perfect format for me. I have an edge against the No-Limit players who don’t know how to play PLO,” Moschonas said.
Moschonas has a PHD in Molecular Biology and Bio-Medicine, but is now a tournament poker player. He has plans to play more events this summer, but couldn’t play one of the events he had circled on his calendar.
“I wanted to play the $25K PLO but I went to deep on this one, but it’s OK I guess.”
At one point, Moschonas was left with less than a big blind. He worked his way back up and found himself with pocket jacks on the button. It was three-handed and all three remaining players got all in with Moschonas the shortest of the stacks.
Raghav Bansal held the chip lead and had a chance to close out the tournament and win the tournament on this hand. It was not to be. Moschonas won the hand and Dan Matsuzuki won the side pot, leaving Bansal short and propelling Moschonas into the chip lead.
“I have to get it in. Of course when there is a delay your heart is pounding, but I had to get it in. I was lucky to win,” he said about the three-way all in.
After that hand, Bansal was quickly eliminated in third place and Moschonas finished off the tournament, defeating Matsuzuki heads up.
This was the third day of play in Event #42. The players returned today with eight players and Daniel Moravec was the first to bust. He took home $21,469 for his finish.
The players continued seven-handed for a while and then quickly lost two players.
Adam Lamphere, who entered the day as the chip leader, fell in seventh place. He got all in against Rainer Kempe and Kempe flopped trips. Lamphere couldn’t catch up and was sent home in seventh, taking home $28,006 for his effort.
Stephen Ma hit the rail in sixth place. He won $36,852 for his finish after being eliminated by Kempe as well. With five remaining, Kempe held the chip lead.
Matsuzuki got all in against Ashish Ahuja holding aces. He won the hand and eliminated Ahuja in fifth place. Ahuja won $48,914. That left Matsuzuki in the lead with four players left.
Moschonas was the short stack, but managed to ladder up when Kempe was eliminated in fourth. Kempe missed a flush draw on the river and was eliminated in fourth by Bansal. Kempe takes home $65,482.
Bansal was now holding the chip lead three-handed with Matsuzuki in second and Moschonas in third.
Then came the big three-way hand that helped Moschonas take the lead and he didn’t look back. He is the newest WSOP bracelet winner and he won his first event on only his second recorded cash. The win brings his total WSOP winnings to $196,838 and his career tournament winnings to $449,130.
Final Table Payouts: (Click here for a list of the full results)
1) Aristeidis Moschonas ($194,759)
2) Dan Matsuzuki ($120,374)
3) Raghav Bansal ($88,410)
4) Rainer Kempe ($65,482)
5) Ashish Ahuja ($48,914)
6) Stephen Ma ($36,852)
7) Adam Lamphere ($28,006)
8) Daniel Moravec ($21,469)
9) Simon Samokovski ($16,603)