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Vivek Rajkumar came into the final table of the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open with an overwhelming chip lead and quickly went to work at capturing his first WPT title. It took the 22-year-old only 48 hands to end the proceedings in Atlantic City.
The first to go was Andrew Knee on only the sixth hand of play. Knee moved all-in from UTG with Ah-4d only to have Jason Strochak call with pocket tens. When the board ran out without an ace it meant the end of the night for Knee. For finishing sixth Knee collected $237,500.
Next on the chopping block was Mark Seif. Despite coming into the day second in chips Seif suffered a horrible beat that crippled him and propelled Rajkumar to the victory. After three-betting all-in Seif, holding pocket aces, was called by Rajkumar with pocket tens. Rajkumar flopped a set, turned a full house and all but eliminated Seif when the river failed to produce one of the two remaining aces. Three hands later Rajkumar took the last of Seif’s chips. The double bracelet winner from 2005 took home $287,500 and Rajkumar stayed behind with over 13.5 million in chips.
Rajkumar claimed another victim when he eliminated Strochak in fourth. Strochak put his tournament life at risk with Jd-2h after calling a pre-flop raise from Rajkumar who held Qc-Jh. When the flop brought a queen, it also brought an exit for Strochak that came with $337,500 cash.
As the next few hands progressed it became clear that the man known online as “Psyduck” would not, could not be stopped. His next victim was Dan Heimiller who moved all-in from the button with Qd-3d and called by Rajkumar with Ad-5c. The flop brought a five giving Rajkumar a pair and he sealed Heimiller’s fate on the turn with a second five. Just to add to the legend of Rajkumar’s run at the quickest final table in WPT history the river also brought a five giving him quads. Heimiller walked away with $387,500.
Heads-up battle was more like heads-up cakewalk. Holding a 4.3:1 chip lead against Sang Kim when heads-up play began it only took seven hands to declare champion and he did it in typical steamroller, do-no-wrong fashion. The two players put all the chips in the middle pre-flop with Kim holding As-Qh and Rajkumar holding a dominated Ad-Js.
But of course the flop brought a jack and Kim was forced to recognize that destiny had already declared the champion, the cards were just getting in the way. When his hand failed to improve on the turn or river it meant Kim was out and Rajkumar had captured the title. Kim earned $750,000 as the runner-up.
For Rajkumar it’s his second live tournament victory, his first coming in a preliminary event at the L.A. Poker Classic last February. He banked $1,424,500 plus a seat in the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship event next April.
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