Event #11: $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack

The World Series of Poker Event #11: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack was full of excitement and at the end of the day, there could only be one winner: Raj Vohra.

Vohra, a former pro tennis player turned seasoned poker pro from Lake Worth, Florida, navigated a huge field of 5,715 players to claim his first WSOP gold bracelet at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas and the top prize of $335,886.

Vohra's now earned over $1.7m in live earnings to go along with millions earned online.

His previous best finish at the World Series of Poker came back in 2008 when he finished fifth in the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em event.

Vohra did not have it easy as he came to the final table in eighth place but nobody could put out his fire. His rail, which included his wife Sherry, cheered him on with every winning hand, with Vohra clearly feeling the love.

Event #11: $600 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack Final Table Results

Winner's Reaction

"It's a dream come true. It's the best moment of my life. I've waited for so many years, at least 15 years, for this moment, and it's finally arrived. This is just a blessing, having all my friends and family here, my wife, it doesn't get any better than this. This is it. But this is not the end, this is just the beginning. We got the first one, let's see how many more we're gonna get."

Path to Bracelet

Interestingly, despite being a pro for nearly two decades, Vohra has largely stayed away from poker for the last three years, only occasionally playing a few tournaments both live and online while the coronavirus pandemic has raged on.

For Vohra, the $600 Deepstack is far below his usual buy-in and was supposed to only serve him as a warmup event to get used to being back in front of live opponents again. In fact, Vohra and his wife nearly canceled their trip to Las Vegas but decided amid all the existing health scares that were finally going to get out of the house and arrive on July 5th.

He opted to fire in the $600 Deepstack and after bagging for Day 2, he admitted that his mindset was going fully on the bracelet.

Following his victory, he discussed his thought process heading into the final table with a below-average chip stack.

"I just wanted to pick out my spots. That's all. I just had to wait for the right moment and that happened with the nine-deuce. That was the big spot there."

Vohra also discussed the magical moment when the ace hit on the turn to make him a 95% chance to win the tournament after getting all-in with ace-king against pocket eights.

"Oh my god, when he had eights and the board came nine-high, I thought there's no way it's happening this way. No way. It has to freakin come. I knew the ace was coming or the king was coming. I was 100% sure. It didn't matter if it would've been the river, they've sucked out on me for the last 15 years of my life."

When asked if would ever play any more $600 tournaments moving forward, everyone laughed and he answered: "Definitely. Text me the next one."

Final Table Action

The first player out was short-stacked Bohdan Slyvinskyi ($24,883), who got his ace-two in good against Qing Liu, who called without looking with queen-jack. Unfortunately for Slyvinskyi, his adventure came to an end, and had to settle for tenth place when Liu spiked a queen on the river.

Not long after, Renaud Cellini ($31,574) ran his ace-seven offsuit into the pocket nines of Stanislav Snitsar. Though he picked up a straight draw on the turn, Cellini couldn't catch up and he was eliminated in ninth place.

Out in eighth was the aforementioned Snitsar ($40,378), who ran into a huge cooler against Liu when he ran his black jacks into Liu's black aces. Snitsar couldn't improve and exited the stage with a cool 40 grand.

In seventh place was Ralph Marquez, ($52,035) who shoved from the small blind with ace-deuce and ran into Vohra's pocket aces, giving the Canadian only a 6.5% chance to win. He wasn't able to find a miracle and exited in seventh.

A few hands later, Junxiu Zhang exited in sixth ($67,572), having spun it up and successfully laddering a place after being down to one big blind. Zhang was eliminated by Liu as her queen-ten of diamonds was no match for Liu's ace-jack suited.

Michael Lin would be eliminated by Hung Tran to earn fifth place ($88,417) as he shoved his flush draw with ace-seven suited into Tran's top-bottom two pair. He couldn't find a third spade and he would take home a juicy cash.

Nicole Limo Greene finished in fourth place ($116,568), when her ace-six cutoff shove was eventually called off by Vohra's ace-eight in the big blind after a 90-second tank. The board bricked for Greene and she walked away with an incredible six-figure cash.

After doubling up through Liu and having the chip lead for most of the final table, it was Tran who finished in third place ($154,831) when he got all-in on the river with a straight while Liu had runner-runnered a flush of his own.

While he was the chip leader for most of the second half of Day 2, it would be fellow poker crusher Qing Liu to fall just short at the end. Having a nearly identical stack as Vohra, his pocket eights got all-in pre-flop against Vohra's ace-king. Liu was two cards away from a nearly-insurmountable chip lead but Vohra spiked the ace on the turn to deny Liu his first-ever WSOP bracelet.

Qing Liu raised to 6,000,000 and Raj Vohra called.

The flop was     and Liu led for 5,000,000. Vohra then stacked up a raise to 15,000,000.

Liu sat back in his chair in thought for a minute and then laid it down.

Raj Vohra	94,400,000	21,400,000
Qing Liu	76,600,000	-21,400,000

Qing Liu raised to 5,000,000 and Raj Vohra called. The flop came down     and Vohra check-folded to a bet of 4,000,000 from Liu.

On the next hand, Liu limped in, Vohra made it 6,000,000 more and Liu folded.

After that, Vohra raised to 6,000,000 and Liu came along to the     flop. Vohra led for 5,000,000 and took it down.

Qing Liu	98,000,000	500,000
Raj Vohra	73,000,000	-950,000

After a short break, both players are now seated and the WSOP gold bracelet is on the table.

Liu will take nearly a 2-1 chip lead into heads-up play.

Qing Liu raised to 5,000,000 from the small blind and Raj Vohra called.

The flop came     and Liu bet 4,000,000. Vohra returned with a raise of 11,000,000, which Liu snap-raised all-in.

Vohra instantly folded, and Liu took down a huge pot.

Raj Vohra	69,500,000	-2,900,000
Qing Liu	58,000,000	22,000,000

Nicole Limo Greene shoved her final 15,400,000 chips from the cutoff and after about 90 seconds, Raj Vohra called from the big blind.

Nicole Limo Greene:   
Raj Vohra:   

The flop came     to lessen the potential for a chop. The turn came the   to eliminate the possibility and a   on the river sealed Greene's fate.

Greene, playing just her second-ever WSOP event, cashes for fourth place and $116,568 in her first-career cash.

Raj Vohra	72,400,000	400,000
Nicole Limo Greene	0	-20,000,000

On a flop of    , Raj Vohra found himself heads up in the big blind against Qing Liu in the small blind, who was the chip leader.

Liu checked his action, and Vohra bet 2,500,000, which Liu called.

On the   turn, Lui checked to Vohra, who bet again for 4,000,000. But then Liu check-raised to 10,000,000. After a few moments, Vohra called.

Then on the   river, Liu shipped it all in, covering Vohra by a large margin. This sent Vohra into the tank.

After a while debating with himself, Vohra stood up, breathing heavily.

"I call," he announced, as he threw in some chips.

Liu tapped the table as he tabled his    for bottom pair.

"Yes!" shouted Vohra as he flipped over    for a larger pair, winning him the massive pot and putting a huge dent in Liu's stack.

Raj Vohra	63,000,000	29,300,000
Qing Liu	62,000,000	-1,000,000
Hung Tran	42,000,000	-6,000,000
Nicole Limo Greene	20,000,000	-2,800,000

Nicole Limo Greene shoved on the button for her remaining 9,400,000 and Hung Tran called to put her at risk.

Nicole Limo Greene:   
Hung Tran:   

Tran was pumped up as he beckoned on his pair to hold but the     had other plans and Greene paired up. The turn   and river   sealed the double for Greene.

Hung Tran	48,000,000	-9,750,000
Nicole Limo Greene	22,800,000	-2,700,000

In a raised pot preflop, Michael Lin and Hung Tran found themselves heads up on a flop of    .

Lin checked his action, then Tran bet 4,000,000, sending Lin into the tank.

After a couple of moments, Lin announced he was all in, and Tran snap-called.

Lin tabled    for the nut flush draw and Tran showed    for two pair and a huge favorite.

The   turn gave Lin some chop outs to go with his flush draw but the   river left him high and dry.

Lin was eliminated in fifth place for a nice payout of $88,417.

Hung Tran	73,000,000	48,000,000
Michael Lin	0	-25,500,000