Chino Rheem Wins 2016 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale Main Event

Chino Rheem has had many highs and lows in his poker career. The 36-year-old professional player from Los Angeles has accrued millions in live tournament earnings, but he has also been at the center of financial responsibility and debt repayment disputes. The now defunct Epic Poker League went so far as to put him on probation as a result of alleged failure to pay back debts owed to other players.

As hard as it is to overlook Rheem’s troubled past it is just as difficult to ignore the incredible success he has had on the tournament circuit. Rheem’s latest win came in the 2016 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Finale $10,000 buy-in tournament, the final WPT open-field main event of the tour’s 14th season. Rheem outlasted a field of 342 players to secure the first-place prize of $705,885 and become only the fourth player in poker history to win three WPT main event titles.

Rheem won the 2008 WPT Five Diamond main event for $1,538,730 and the 2013 WPT Championship for another $1,150,297. With this latest victory he joins the likes of Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen and Anthony Zinno in the WPT’s triple-title club. Rheem, who also finished seventh in the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, now has over $7.8 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.

Rheem entered the final day in second chip position among six remaining players. Rheem was able to win several big pots and overtake the chip lead despite not knocking out any of the first three players eliminated at the final table. When he did score his first knock out, eliminating Richard Leger in third place, it increased his stack to 8.6 million of the 13,675,000 chips in play.

Rheem was able to quickly stretch his advantage over Aditya Prasetyo, and just 39 hands later the final cards were dealt. With blinds of 60,000 – 120,000 with an ante of 20,000 Rheem moved all-in from the button. Prasetyo called with the K9 which was ahead of Rheem’s 76 for the moment. The flop kept Prasetyo ahead when it brought the J104. Rheem jumped ahead when he paired his seven on the 7 turn. The river completed the board with the 7, giving Rheem trip sevens to secure the pot and the title. Prasetyo was sent to the rail as the runner-up, earning $484,130 for the largest payday of his career.

In addition to the title and the money Rheem was also awarded 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, but it was enough to see him move into a tie for 40th place in the overall standings. Fifth-place finisher Bryan Piccioli was at his fourth final table of the year. The 400 POY points he earned brought his total for the year to 2,216 and catapulted him into sixth place on the leader board.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Winner photo courtesy of WPT / Joe Giron.

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