Event #59: $1,000 SUPER SENIORS No-Limit Hold’em

Massoud Eskandari threw his hands up in the air and embraced his rail as sealed his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in Event #59: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em.

Eskandari, known as the comeback kid (CBK) back home in Los Angeles, completed a final table comeback to defeat Jennifer Gianera heads up and take home $330,609 in prize money.

"It means the world to me because I've worked very hard for this," said an emotional Eskandari in the winner's interview. "I've been spending a lot of hours and put my life into this. Of course, it comes with a lot of luck and I can tell to all the grinders out there, just keep grinding and grinding and it will happen to you. If you put the effort, the time, and work hard on it, there's no reason for you guys not to get it. So best of luck to everyone."

Event #59: $1,000 Super Seniors No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Come Back Kid

Eskandari is from LA and plays a ton at a lot of the local casinos such as Commerce, Bicycle, and Hustler. Grinders call him CBK.

"They named me that because I'm never out until I'm out," said Eskandari. "I make a lot of comebacks. I know how to play short-stack and deep stack. Many many times everybody counted me out and I just went to the top and either won the tournament or came in second."

He referred to a second-place finish at World Poker Tour Legends of Poker in 2014. Eskandari has only played the senior event twice in his life, and this was his first time in the super seniors.

"I thought everybody was, excuse my french, but were an old fart and it's going to be an easy field," he said. "There are some fantastic players in there so it's not like a walk in the park."

During the final table, Eskandari swung between the chip leader and the short stack.

"I thought it was going to be an easy road today," he said. "But then I went down to like five million from twenty million and that's when I figured hey, it's not going to be as easy as I thought. Jen was a good grinder, she gave me some hard times. But honestly once I doubled up I had no doubt."

Age is just a number for Eskandari, who already had two WSOP circuit rings and nearly three million in results heading into the final table, but he feels like he finally got the monkey off his back. He said his next goal is to win a WPT title.

"Most of these guys are not my age and that's why a lot of them went on Twitter and didn't even know I was 60 years old until today," said Eskandari. "Because I grind with the younger kids. We are just going at it all day long with 21 and 25-year-olds and they don't expect that kind of move and aggressiveness from somebody like me, but I've been grinding for a while and I know what it takes. Not to mention I was a craps player and a blackjack player so I know how to gamble."

Eskandari had a rail of about a dozen people at his side today and said he loved how much he was meeting new friends at the series from grinding the late-night sit-and-gos.

"People make fun of me," he said. "I love the game. Not too many people will leave after 12, 13 hours of playing and go to the sit-and-go section and grind. By the way, shout out to all the floor people who do a fantastic job on the sit-and-gos. Reed, Dan, Janice, Brian, and Cindy."

Eskandari said that he hopes the WSOP will try to keep those tables runnings even when the massive fields start to take over the room.

"I can understand it I'm a businessman but there's a lot of people over there that their dreams of making good money, winning a bracelet, hitting a high score, comes from those sit-and-gos because they can't afford to play those 5k or 10k buy-ins. So they have to grind it out and I respect them because I've been one of them."

Humanitarian Message

Even though he was soaking in a huge victory, Eskandari wanted to talk about something much deeper.

'What I would really like to say that is more important than anything else to me is humanity," said Eskandari. "Being nice to one another. Racism is the worst thing that could ever happen to the humans in the world. It doesn't matter what color you are, what religions, what beliefs you have, we all have to be united and enjoy the many years that we have on earth. I hope all the big shots and the egos and the leaders of the countries of the world understand that and stop being greedy. Be more helpful to human beings."

Eskandari said that he wishes people would help more when it came to the homelessness issues around the city.

"Believe it or not but every night I take a walk out there and whatever I have in my pocket I give it to them," he said. "I don't care if they are drug addicts. Somehow something went wrong in their life and they became homeless. It's not a good spot to be, especially in a town where millions of dollars every second are being gambled and wasted on food. Which is ok I'm not against rich people, people work hard for their money and want to party but if you could help out and stop judging about why they are like this or that guy is a loser because he is a drug addict."

He called for action for anyone who happens to stumble upon others' misfortunes.

"Something happened to that human being and they are all human. So I hope anybody when you see these things you give whatever you can afford. Spend five minutes, give them a dollar, ten dollars, twenty dollars because they are still a human being like you and me.

Final Table Action

Only five players returned for Day 4 and Peter Mylenki ($85,940) was the first to fall when he shoved his short stack with pocket fours right into pocket kings of James "The Jammer" Jewell.

Sharri Crawford ($113,755) bowed out next in fourth when she got it in preflop with king-ten against the ace-deuce suited of Eskandari. Crawford paired her king on the flop, but an ace on the river sealed her fate.

Jewell ($151,822) was next to go after a failed bluff attempt against Jennifer Gianera left him with only a few blinds. He busted a few hands later against Eskandari. Jewell was the literal embodiment of the old saying chip and chair, he was down to just two big blinds at the end of Day 2, so to hold the chip lead at one point on the final table was an amazing spin-up.

Heads-up play went back and forth, Gianera entered with a 4-1 lead but Eskandari quickly doubled to find some breathing room. He slowly built out his own 4-1 lead and finally finished the deal when got it in with a pair of kings on the flop against the flush draw of Gianera. Gianera could not improve and she would have to settle for second and a fantastic payday of $204,293.

Congratulations to Massoud for winning his first WSOP gold bracelet and follow all of our continuing coverage right here on PokerNews.

In a limped pot, both players got it all in on the     for Gianera's last 12,000,000.

Jennifer Gianera:   
Massoud Eskandari:   

Gianera held a flush draw while Eskandari had the pair of kings.

The   hit the turn and   fell on the river as Gianera was eliminated.

Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	53,380,000	15,780,000
Jennifer Gianera	0	-15,800,000

Massoud Eskandari shoved the button and Jennifer Gianera called all in.

Jennifer Gianera:   
Massoud Eskandari:   

Both players held the same hand and the       runout chopped the pot.

Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	42,700,000	-3,400,000
Jennifer Gianera	11,300,000	4,000,000

Massoud Eskandari limped from the small blind/button and Jennifer Gianera checked from the big blind.

The flop was     and Gianera led out for 500,000. Eskandari called.

The   was the turn and Gianera fired 2,000,000. Eskandari called again.

The river was the   and Gianera slowed down by checking. Eskandari announced all in for 7,300,000 effective.

Gianera set off a big sigh and a sip of her coke before going into the tank. She said "I'm supposed to call but...". After thinking further she folded and said "Its hard to call for your tournament life".

Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	46,100,000	6,300,000
Jennifer Gianera	7,300,000	-6,700,000

Jennifer Gianera raised to 750,000 from the small blind/button and Massoud Eskandari called in the big blind.

The flop came     and action checked through.

The turn was the   and Eskandari check-called Gianera's 700,000 bet.

The   was the river and action checked through. Eskandari turned over    for the nuts while Gianera mucked. Gianera called out "Check with the nuts, tricky tricky."

Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	35,400,000	2,700,000
Jennifer Gianera	18,000,000	-2,700,000

Massoud Eskandari raised to 800,000 and Jennifer Gianera called.

The flop came     and there was a bet and a call of 1,100,000.

Both players checked the   turn to the   river.

Gianera bet 2,500,000. Eskandari min-clicked it up to 5,000,000 and Gianera folded after some thought.

Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	31,800,000	6,300,000
Jennifer Gianera	21,500,000	-6,400,000

Jennifer Gianera raised to 750,000 and Massoud Eskandari three-bet to 2,300,000.

Gianera called and the flop brought the    . Both players checked to the   turn and Gianera called a bet of 1,000,000. The river brought the   and Gianera called 1,000,000 more.

Eskandari showed    playing the two pair on board with an ace kicker and Gianera mucked.

A couple of hands later, Gianera limped and Eskandari checked to see the     flop. Both players checked to the   turn and Eskandari called a bet of 1,200,000. The river brought the   and Eskandari check-folded to a bet of 2,500,000.

Jennifer Gianera	31,330,000	1,330,000
Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	21,200,000	-2,180,000

Massoud Eskandari raised to 800,000 and Jennifer Gianera defended from the big.

Gianera led for 1,900,000 on the     flop and took down the pot.

On the next hand, Gianera limped in and Eskandari shoved to force a fold.

Jennifer Gianera	40,480,000	480,000
Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	12,900,000	400,000

Players will be heading into a 15 minute break as the heads up duel begins with Jennifer Gianera having a 4:1 chip lead over Massoud "CBK" Eskandari.

James Jewell raised to 600,000 from the small blind and Jennifer Gianera defended the big.

Jewell continued for 1,700,000 on the     flop and Gianera called.

The   turn paired the board and Jewell moved all in for roughly 20,000,000.

Gianera looked pained by the decision, she went into the tank and shook her head.

"I can't fold," she said repeatedly.

Gianera called and showed    for sevens full of jacks, Jewell meanwhile, was drawing dead with   .

The   bricked off on the end and Gianera went to hug her rail amidst an eruption of cheers.

She now holds the majority of chips in play.

Jennifer Gianera	43,080,000	21,780,000
Massoud "CBK" Eskandari	9,500,000	200,000
James "The Jammer" Jewell	800,000	-24,880,000