Michael Vela Wins World Poker Finals
Mike Vela (Credit: World Poker Tour)
As the final six players sat down at their table on Tuesday afternoon, two wondered if they were about to make WPT history. Nenad Medic and Nick Schulman have each won this exact same tournament before. Nenad won in 2006; Schulman in 2005. Never before on the World Poker Tour has anyone won the same event twice. If Nenad did it, he'd add the distinction of being the first person to win the same Main Event twice since Johnny Chan won the WSOP Main Event in 1987 and 1988. Unfortunately, Medic was the short stack at the table with only 555k in chips. The chip lead belonged to one Tom “Durr” Dwan. Luckily for Medic and Schulman, Dwan lost a good chunk of his chip stack early on to each of these former champs. The chip infusion gave Medic some much-needed confidence and helped him score the first elimination of the evening. On the fourth hand, Medic had Mark Weitzman dominated with his Ah,5h. Things only got better for the young pro as the river netted him the nut flush. Weitzman took home $189,142 for his sixth place finish although we bet he'd have enjoyed spending at least a few more hands in front of the cameras. However, Mike Vela, an executive in an investment company who resides in upstate New York with his family, took over from here on in. Vela, who finished 13th in this very same event last year, had a good stack of chips as the day began. The talented amateur kept adding to his heap, knocking out local favorite, Mike White from Hartford, CT, in fifth position. Vela then took out former chip leader Tom Dwan with a pair of jacks on the river. Dwan received over $320k for the fourth-place finish, and Vela became a monster chip leader with 10 million plus in his stack. Nenad Medic went on the attack but came up short. On his final hand, he held A,7 against Vela's dominant A,J. The turn and the river gave Vela a set of hooks, sending Medic to the rail in a disappointing third. As heads-up play began, Nick Schulman was truly up against it. Vela had more than a three-to-one chip lead. It only took Vela seven hands to dispatch of the Takeover. Here are the final results: 1) Michael Vela - $1,704,986 2) Nick Schulman - $864,652 3) Nenad Medic - $486,367 4) Tom Dwan - $324,244 5) Mike White - $243,184 6) Mark Weitzman – $189,142