This Week's Big Winner: Pat Lyons Wins WPT Legends of Poker Main Event

Pat Lyons has won the 2016 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker $4,000 no-limit hold’em main event at the Bicycle Hotel & Casino, defeating a field of 687 entries to win his first WPT title and the first-place prize of $615,346.

The poker player from Hillsborough, California also earned 1,260 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second title of 2016, having also won the Arizona State Poker Championship $1,100 main event for $241,700. He has climbed to 39th place in the overall POY standings as a result of his two huge scores.

Lyons defeated Benjamin Zamani heads-up for the title. This was Zamani’s third WPT final table of the season, having finished second in both the 2015 WPT bestbet Jacksonville Bounty Scramble and the 2016 WPT Choctaw main event just a month ago.

Here are the five biggest hands that propelled Lyons to the win.

Tournament: WPT Legends of Poker
Buy-In: $4,000 • No. of Entries: 687 • Prize Pool: $2,465,643 • 1st Place Prize: $615,346

The Action

With five players remaining, Lyons had two players within a few blinds of his lead. He raised to 205,000 from under the gun and William Vo called from the big blind. Vo checked in the dark and the flop fell K Q 4. Lyons bet 205,000 and Vo called. The turn was the K and Vo checked again. Lyons bet 505,000 and Vo called. The river was the 5 and Vo checked for a third time. Lyons bet 2,000,000 and Vo thought it over for about 45 seconds before folding. Lyons dragged the pot and put some distance between himself and his opponents.

The Action

With four players remaining, Upeshka De Silva raised to 250,000 from under the gun and Pat Lyons three-bet from the button to 850,000. Todd Peterson then cold four-bet all in for 2,450,000 from the big blind. De Silva folded and after getting a count, Lyons made the call with pocket tens, which was flipping against Peterson’s A Q. The flop was Q 7 4, giving Peterson the lead and leaving Lyons drawing slim, but the turn and river fell 5 10 and Peterson was eliminated in fourth place, taking home $149,715.

The Action

During the three-handed battle, Upeshka De Silva completed from the small blind and Pat Lyons checked his option in the big blind. The flop came down 7 4 4 and De Silva bet 175,000. Lyons called and the turn was the 3. De Silva bet 515,00 and Lyons called again. The river was the J and De Silva bet 895,000. Lyons moved all in and De Silva tanked for about 90 seconds before folding. Lyons showed the A and took down the pot, giving him more than half of the chips in play.

The Action

Upeshka De Silva raised to 485,000 on the button and Pat Lyons moved all in. De Silva immediately called with pocket jacks and was in great shape to double up against Lyons’ Q 10. However, the board ran out 9 8 2 A Q and after being just one card away from the chip lead, De Silva was eliminated in third place, earning $198,720. The pot was enough to give Lyons a nearly 2.5:1 chip lead entering heads-up play.

The Action

After 17 hands of heads-up play, Pat Lyons had widened his lead to nearly 5:1. Lyons had the button and was first to act, and just moved all in. Zamani only had 12 big blinds and opted to call off the rest of his stack with A 2, but Lyons had him dominated with A 8. According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, Zamani only had a 23 percent chance of doubling up, but the pot would also be split about 22 percent of the time. The flop came down 9 9 7, giving Zamani even more outs to a chop, but the J on the turn gave Lyons a straight draw for the win. Zamani needed a deuce for the win, or a seven, jack, queen, king or ace to chop, but the river was the 10, giving Lyons the pot. Zamani picked up $341,412 for his second WPT runner-up finish in a row and Lyons pocketed $615,436 for winning his first WPT title.

Final Table Results

1. Pat Lyons — $615,346
2. Ben Zamani — $341,412
3. Upeshka De Silva — $198,720
4. Todd Peterson — $149,715
5. William Vo — $113,105
6. Rafael Oliveira — $85,760
7. Jeremy Kottler — $66,895
8. Garrett Greer — $52,190
9. David Pham — $39,940