James Romero Wins World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event

After six days of tournament action that saw a record tied for the most entries in a $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour event, the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio wrapped up Saturday night and crowned a new champion in Portland, Oregon’s James Romero.

Romero, a poker pro whose previous best tournament cash was for just $3,803, earned a massive $1,938,118 for topping the huge field of 792 players. He came into the final table with a sizable chip lead and at one point during six-handed play, he held more than half of the chips in play. Although the chips started to even out a bit during three-handed play, Romero was never in any real trouble at the final table.

To secure the title, Romero had to overcome a stacked final table that included the likes of Taylor Paur (8th), Chris Klodnicki (7th), Igor Yaroshevskyy (6th), Justin Bonomo (5th), Alex Condon (4th), Jake Schindler (3rd) and Ryan Tosoc (2nd).

Bonomo, who picked up $345,272 for his fifth-place finish, had a chance to pass current Card Player Player of the Year leader Fedor Holz with a win, but instead settled for jumping into third place overall.

Schindler, who pocketed $736,579 for taking third place, also made a huge leap up the standings. With his most recent score, he now sits in fifth place overall.

Other notables who finished in the money included Joe Hachem (63rd), David Pham (57th), Jesse Sylvia (45th), Antonio Esfandiari (43rd), Dan Smith (30th), David Sands (14th) and J.C. Tran (10th).

Three-time Super Bowl champion and seven-time Pro Bowl selection Richard Seymour finished in 18th place, earning a career-high $52,174. He has now cashed in five WPT events.

Here is a look at the final table results.

Winner photo courtesy of the WPT

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