WSOPC Event #7: $400 Monster Stack

The second tournament with over one thousand entries this week saw the newest winner crowned as the field of 1,053 was reduced to just one. A massive prizepool was built worth $347,490, which saw the final 53 players divide the majority of it up on Day 2. 

As the dust settled, it was Anwar Baig who claimed his second WSOPC ring worth $55,932 after beating Oliwer Sankiewicz heads up. Baig who won his first ring 2 years ago to the day here at Grand Victoria, now has a new high score to sit atop his Hendon Mob resume. 

"To be honest with you, this one makes a big difference," Baig said shortly after he was crowned champion "the first time it can alway be a fluke. Second time you kind of try harder. But it has a lot to do with luck. Early in this tournament I cracked aces with my sevens for my tournament life. You do the best you can and hope to get lucky." 

Baig has been a regular around the Chicagoland circuit for many years, playing all assortment of buy ins ranging from $20 to $1,000 buy ins and has amassed lots of respect among his peers for his play and class at the tables. 

"To be honest with you, poker is more about the people than anything else," the new champion continued as to why he plays as many tournaments as he does at the many different buy ins. "You get to play with people and get to know them. I could easily just go play cash or blackjack, but you make friends here and you also want to compete and beat them. It's not about soft-playing against your friends, but competing in a respectful way that is still competitive. If you just play soft against your friends then that defeats the whole point. Poker is never personal." 

"$55k is a lot of money, now I can use that money to play more tournaments. I just love the game." Baig continued beaming with pride "I've been gambling my whole life, but then I stopped gambling and started playing poker. Poker is not really gambling as much as it is a game. I'd always much rather win a tournament then play cash, because a lot of times it's not about the money. It's about the accomplishment about outlasting and beating everyone else." 

Baig wins his seat to the 2025 Tournament of Champions, a trip which he is happy to do. 

Final Table Results

1. Anwar Baig - $55,932
2. Oliwer Sankiewicz - $34,567
3. Jeffrey Stephens - $24,843
4. Anthony Veckey - $18,134
5. David Araza - $13,448
6. Menderes Osmani - $10,135
7. Maurice Nelson - $7,764
8. Natan Lidukhover - $6,047
9. Marcos Gomez Pelayo - $4,790
10. Michael Kamenjarin - $3,860

Final Table Action

Once the final table was reached Michael Kamenjarin became the first to fall as his jacks fell to Oliwer Sankiewicz' ace-king. An ace on the flop brought his chances to a close and he was eliminated from the tournament while Sankiewicz overtook the chip lead from David Araza. 

Sankiewicz would furth extend his lead, this time by knocking out Marcos Gomez Pelayo when his fours held up against Pelayo's ace-king. With the two shortest stacks falling early, the other players all sat with over 30 big blinds. 

24-year old Natan Lidukhover looked set to double up through Menderes Osmani when he held aces against Osmani's queens, but the board running out all hearts would see Osmani make a flush against Osmani and the youngest player at the table fell in eighth place.

 Maurice Nelson seemed unable to gain any momentum as his threes seemed unable to hold up against Anthony Veckey's ace-king. The pot was just one of many that Veckey took down in his upward trend to the chip lead while Nelson fell in seventh place. 

Despite an early boost to his stack, Osmani could not maintain the momentum and he ended up moving in his last couple of big blinds in from the small blind with pocket threes against Veckey who called with six-two. The six came on the river to eliminate Osmani from the tournament to give Veckey a massive chip lead. 

Araza lost a few key pots to Veckey to leave him as the shortest stack of the five that remained and he moved in his last chips with jack-ten from the button and in the big blind, Jeffrey Stephens called with aces. No help was brought to the jack-ten and Araza was eliminated from the tournament in fourth. 

Despite holding the lead during several parts of the final table, Veckey lost key pots to Anwar Baig and Sankiewicz to fall down to the bottom of the counts, which saw him jam ace-three on the button and Baig call him from the small blind with ace-queen and hold to take a commanding lead of the final three. 

Stephens would be next to fall to Baig as he moved in his last chips with ace-four against Baig's ace-six and could not find any improvement to survive and Baig and Sankiewicz were heads up with Baig in the lead. 

Only a few hands passed of heads up before the two of them were all in for nearly all the chips in the tournament. Baig held ace-king and Oliwer held jacks. An ace-high board rolled out to give Baig top pair. Sankiewicz and Baig shook hands as Sankiewicz finished in second place while Baig took home his second ring. 

Stay tuned to PokerOrg for all of the exciting updates on the ground at Grand Victoria Casino. 

Day 2 of Event #7: $400 Monster Stack saw a total of 1,043 entrants try their hand at the tournament over the past couple days of flights. Just 53 players have survived to the second day of the tournament with the final numbers for prizes confirmed. They will return at 12:00 P.M. to play. 

Payouts:

• 1st: $55,932
• 2nd: $34,567
• 3rd: $24,843
• 4th: $18,134
• 5th: $13,448
• 6th: $10,135
• 7th: $7,764
• 8th: $6,047
• 9th: $4,790
• 10th-12th: $3,860
• 13th-15th: $3,166
• 16th-18th: $2,643
• 19th-21st: $2,247
• 22nd-24th: $1,946
• 25th-27th: $1,717
• 28th-30th: $1,544
• 31st-33rd: $1,416
• 34th-36th: $1,325
• 37th-45th: $1,265
• 46th-53rd: $1,234

Leading the way is Alex Uribe with 2,220,000 who will be looking for his first ring. 

Chip Counts

1. Alex Uribe - 2,220,000
2. Alexander Fortcamp - 2,205,000
3. Aron Estas - 1,850,000
4. Maurice Nelson - 1,760,000
5. Mousa Haddad - 1,745,000
6. Lindsey Reyna - 1,425,000
7. Shivprasad Nomula - 1,320,000
8. Milan Patel - 1,310,000
9. Menderes Osmani - 1,255,000
10. Oliwer Sankiewicz - 1,235,000
11. Louis Panico - 1,185,000
12. Carlos Marquez - 1,145,000
13. Anthony Veckey - 1,105,000
14. Edgar Bernal - 1,020,000
15. Theodore Witt - 1,010,000
16. Michael Kamenjarin - 1,000,000
17. Ian Behr - 985,000
18. Richard Crooks - 965,000
19. Timothy Heng - 910,000
20. Natan Lidukhover - 845,000
21. Jeff Stephens - 800,000
22. Anwar Baig - 790,000
23. Corey Blomdahl - 760,000
24. David Araiza - 760,000
25. Steven Dascott - 720,000
26. Luke Williams - 690,000
27. Todd Clark - 665,000
28. Matt Buhler - 640,000
29. Benjamin Krauss - 605,000
30. Roi Ohana - 600,000
31. Pawel Kotara - 600,000
32. Marcos Gomez Pelayo - 595,000
33. Juan Bunces - 575,000
34. James Carroll - 560,000
35. Justin Gutierrez - 550,000
36. Antonio Modacure - 550,000
37. Daniel Aloia - 475,000
38. Joe Russo - 470,000
39. Evan Bethyo - 450,000
40. Andrew Skiles - 450,000
41. Bradley Nitzsche - 405,000
42. Dominick Fashoda - 400,000
43. Lee Rzentkowski - 395,000
44. Mariusz Oledzki - 360,000
45. Patrick Quinn - 335,000
46. Brett Bird - 305,000
47. Oleg Dichenskyi - 290,000
48. Joseph Goosinow - 275,000
49. Tony McNeal - 270,000
50. Frank Swierczynski - 260,000
51. Michael Suggs - 260,000
52. Zong Zhang - 255,000
53. Jon Eisenbrock - 250,000