This Week's Big Winner: Roger Teska Wins World Poker Tour Gardens Poker Festival Main Event

Roger Teska has won the 2019 World Poker Tour Gardens Poker Festival $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event. The 34-year-old from Bloomington, Indiana outlasted a field of 373 total entries in the event to win his first WPT title, the top prize of $368,475, and a new 2019 BMW X1.

This was the third-largest score of Teska’s career, behind his fourth-place showing in the 2011 WPT Championship for $371,665 and his win in the 2018 Caribbean Poker Party MILLIONS World $25,000 buy-in high roller for $2 million. The high-stakes cash game regular now has career live tournament earnings of nearly $3.3 million.

“Having one win under your belt I guess adds a little motivation to try and win a second,” Teska told WPT reporters after his win. “Having a WPT and a partypoker Millions [title] feels pretty good. I’m definitely going to play a few more WPTs for sure. This was the first WPT I’ve played in a long time and they’ve done an incredible job fixing some flaws in the structure. Going to 90 minutes for the middle two days, and then going back down to 60 minutes, and adding the time banks and shot clock –that’s awesome. It’s a lot more enjoyable when people can’t just sit there and take all the time in the world in every single decision. As somebody who doesn’t play tournaments a lot, that really bothers the shit out of me.”

Here are the five key hands that propelled Teska to the title.

Tournament: WPT Gardens Poker Festival
Buy-In: $5,000
No. of Entries: 373
Prize Pool: $1,753,100
1st Place Prize: $368,475

The Action

Teska raised to 65,000 from the cutoff and then called a 450,000 three-bet shove from Vasilyev from the small blind. Teska held pocket sixes, which were slightly ahead of the A 9 of Vasilyev. The flop of K 8 7 gave Vasilyev a flush draw, and the 9 on the turn gave him a pair to take the lead. The river was the 5, however, giving Teska the winning straight. Vasilyev earned $35,340 for his ninth-place finish.

The Action

After seeing her stack dwindle to less than ten big blinds, Ho moved in from the button with J 10 and ran right into the pocket queens of Teska in the small blind. The board gave her a small sweat after she turned a flush draw, but the river bricked out to send the pot to Teska. She picked up $44,525 for her eighth-place showing.

The Action

Sitting four-handed, Teska got the rest of his chips in with pocket eights and managed to hold against the A K of Kamphues to double up. Just four hands later, the two battled again in yet another coin flip, with Kamphues and his pocket jacks going up against the A Q of Teska. The board fell 10 4 2 9 A, and Teska rivered a pair of aces to send Kamphues to the rail in fourth place, banking $128,320 for his run.

The Action

Teska wasted no time in getting his chips in the middle, raising all-in from the button for his last 2,650,000 with Q J. Molnar woke up with a monster of A Q, having his opponent dominated in a hand for the title. The flop of A 10 4 gave Molnar top pair and left Teska with just four outs to a straight. According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, that left him with just a 17 percent chance of doubling up. The turn was the K, however, giving him a Broadway straight. Molnar could still chop, but the river was the 10, putting Teska right back in contention.

The Action

Teska raised to 400,000 from the button and Molnar defended his big blind. The flop fell 10 7 7 and Molnar checked. Teska bet another 400,000, and Molnar called. The turn was the 3 and Molnar check-called another 1,000,000 from Teska. The river was the 7, and Molnar checked for a final time. Teska fired in a bet of 2,150,000, and Molnar called. Teska showed 8 7 for quads, and his opponent mucked. Molnar was left with just eight big blinds, which only lasted a few more hands before he was eliminated in second place, earning $235,615. Teska picked up the title, the trophy, and the $368,475 first-place prize.

Final Table Results

1. Roger Teska — $368,475
2. Laszlo Molnar — $235,615
3. Lior Orel — $172,770
4. Lars Kamphues — $128,320
5. Andrew Wisdom — $96,545
6. Cord Garcia — $73,600
7. Eric Hicks — $56,860
8. Maria Ho — $44,525
9. Vladimir Vasilyev — $35,340