This Week's Big Winner: Taylor Paur Wins World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event

Taylor Paur started his career playing online poker, and quickly worked his way up the rankings to become one of the game’s best. In 2010, the California native was crowned the Card Player Online Player of the Year. In total, Paur has won more than $4.9 million online.

After crushing online, he began to turn his attention to live tournament poker, where he has also put up some impressive results. In 2012, he went deep in the WSOP main event, banking $236,921 for a 33rd-place finish. Then the next summer, he won his first WSOP bracelet and $340,260 in a $1,000 no-limit hold’em event.

Most recently, he topped a field of 708 players in San Jose at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star main event, earning his first WPT title and the $1,214,200 first-place prize. In total, the 26-year-old poker pro now has more than $2.8 million in live tournament earnings.

Here’s a look at the five biggest hands that propelled Paur to victory.

$1,214,200

Paur Increases His Chip Lead By Picking Off A Bluff

The Action

With nine players remaining at two separate tables, Taylor Paur had the overall chip lead, thanks in large part to having a good feel for how fellow big stack, Eric Werner, had been playing. In this particular confrontation, Paur completed from the small blind and Werner checked his option. The flop came down A 9 8, and Paur led for 35,000. Werner raised to 85,000, and Paur called. The turn paired the board with the 8, and Paur checked. Werner bet 125,000, and Paur called once again. The river was the 6, and Paur checked again. Werner bet 250,000, and Paur called with just second pair, 9 7. Werner mucked, and Paur increased his chip lead with a stack of more than 4 million.

Paur Continues To Punish Werner By Getting Value From Top Pair

The Action

At one point, Eric Werner had one of the top three stacks left in the tournament, but sitting at Taylor Paur’s table proved to be bad for his momentum. With nine players left in the tournament at two tables, Paur min-raised from under the gun to 80,000, and Werner called immediately behind him. The flop came down K 7 4, and Paur bet 120,000. Werner called, and the turn was the 2. Paur bet 185,000, and Werner once again called. The river was the 5, and Paur bet 280,000. Werner called, but mucked after Paur turned over his A K for top pair, top kicker. Werner was left with just over 1 million while Paur climbed to more than 4.5 million.

Paur Gets Very Thin Value From Two Pair

The Action

At the final table with just five players remaining, Taylor Paur min-raised to 100,000 from the cutoff, and Faraz Jaka three-bet to 250,000 from the button. Paur called, and the flop came down A K 10. Paur checked, and Jaka bet 320,000. Paur called, and the turn was the J. Both players checked, and the river was the 7. Paur bet 520,000, and after nearly two minutes in the tank, Jaka called with K 10 for two pair. Paur showed K J for a better two pair, leaving Jaka with just 23 big blinds, and giving Paur nearly half the chips in play. Jaka later stated that he thought Paur was turning A-X suited or J-10 into a bluff.

Paur Wins A Race To Take Out Mizzi

The Action

Jacob Bazeley raised to 240,000 in the cutoff, and Taylor Paur reraised to 600,000 from the button. Sorel Mizzi then moved all in from the small blind for 1,925,000. Bazeley folded, and Paur called with 5 5. Mizzi showed two overcards with the A J, but failed to connect on a flop of Q 3 2. According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, Mizzi had a 28 percent chance of coming from behind on the turn or river, but the Q 5 were blanks, sending him to the rail and giving Paur more than half of the chips in play with three left.

Paur Gets There On The River To Win The Title

The Action

Taylor Paur min-raised the button to 400,000, and Isaac Baron three-bet to 1,050,000. Paur called, and the flop fell 9 7 2. Baron bet another 1,050,000, and Paur called. The turn was the 3, and Baron bet 1,650,000. Paur again called, and the river was the 5. Baron then moved all in for 3,025,000, and Paur immediately called. Baron showed down A 9 for top pair, top kicker, but Paur’s 10 9 rivered a flush to give him the title and the $1,214,200 first-place prize. Baron settled for the runner-up consolation prize of $704,200.

1 Taylor Paur $1,214,200
2 Isaac Baron $704,200
3 Jacob Bazeley $461,470
4 Sorel Mizzi $310,060
5 Faraz Jaka $216,320
6 Ravee Mathi $168,260
7 Eric Werner $129,800
8 Imad Allahham $96,180
9 Ron Lewis $67,320