Steve Zolotow and Nick Schulman won the first two WPT Five Diamond events
The annual WPT Five Diamond series started at the Bellagio at the end of the first week of October. The central event of the series will be an event with a guarantee of 5 million USD and buy-in of 10,400 USD. In addition to the main event, there are many other major events for players of the highest level. Four such tournaments have already ended, each of which an outstanding poker player won. Steve Zolotow and Nick Schulman won the first two WPT Five Diamond events.
The first high roller in the schedule was an event on unlimited hold’em, with the cost of participation of 25,000 USD. It took place last Saturday, October 8. The tournament attracted a small number of participants, only 9, but each of them had a bunch of titles and gaming experience. The prize fund was 225,000 USD.
The first event champion was 2-time bracelet winner Steve Zolotow, who was stronger than Mikita Badziakouski in the heads-up. Zolotow received 135,000 USD for first place. It was the fourth biggest win in Zolotow’s career. Now the American’s tournament earnings are 3.4 million USD.
Mikita Badziakouski, who received 90,000 USD for 2nd place, increased his lifetime earnings to 40.6 million USD. This year, the Belarusian has already received PokerGO Tour points for the 10th time, having won two titles and earned more than 4.2 million USD. The 54 points that were credited to him in this event turned out to be enough to take the 9th place in the above mentioned PokerGO Tour rating.
The Bellagio Championship is scheduled to end on October 22
The second high roller cost 10,000 USD and collected a prize pool of 150,000 USD. It is not difficult to calculate that 15 entries were registered in the event. The money was divided by the top three players, with the largest part of the fund going to 3-time WSOP champion and WPT winner Nick Schulman. In the heads-up, Schulman beat the best player of the recent Poker Masters and the owner of the purple jacket, Sean Winter.
- Nick Schulman — 68,256 USD
- Sean Winter — 57,744 USD
- Justin Bonomo — 24,000 USD
Now Schulman’s career earnings are close to 15 million USD. Since the beginning of September, the player has entered the prize zone of tournaments 9 times, earning a total of 585,000 USD. Winter got 57,744 USD for 2nd place, thanks to which his career earnings increased to 23 million USD. This year, Winter was in the prize zones 18 times and managed to earn more than 3.5 million USD. In the PokerGO Tour ranking, Winter is in 6th place.
3rd place went to 3-time WSOP champion and 3-time Super High Roller Bowl winner Justin Bonomo. One of the most successful players in the history of poker was content with 24,000 USD. Now Bonomo’s lifetime earnings are 58,526,194 USD, which makes him the most profitable player in history. Bryn Kenney, who occupies the 2nd line, is 1.2 million USD behind him. The Bellagio Championship is scheduled to end on October 22.