Vanessa Selbst Wins North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun Main Event AgainSelbst Successfully Defends her Title in a Tough Heads-Up Match Against Dan Shak |
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The back-to-back victory is rare in the world of sports. The feat is seen even less in the world of poker. That is what makes the victory of Team PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst at the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun main event such an impressive achievement. For the second year in a row she topped a field of hundreds of players to win hundreds of thousands in prize money.
Selbst was awarded $450,000 for topping a field of 387 players and in the first two years of this event she has now defeated 1,101 opponents to win a combined $1.2 million. The victory claimed Selbst her sixth career title and she now holds $4,365,277 in career earnings. Selbst also took home 1,872 Card Player Player of the Year points and she now holds a total of 2,400 for the year, which puts her in a tie for sixth place in the standings. Read on below to see how she won her second NAPT Mohegan Sun title.
Here is a look at the chip counts when the final table began:
Seat 1: Joe Tehan (1,238,000)
Seat 2: Thomas Hoglund, Jr. (541,000)
Seat 3: Dan Shak (1,571,000)
Seat 4: Vincent Rubianes (1,711,000)
Seat 5: Steve O’Dwyer (1,032,000)
Seat 6: Tyler Kenney (3,021,000)
Seat 7: Aaron Overton (373,000)
Seat 8: Vanessa Selbst (2,249,000)
Steve O’Dwyer was the first player to fall on the final day in eighth place, which was good for $32,330. The professional was all in preflop with A-7 against the Q-10 of Vincent Rubianes but the board ran out Q-J-2-Q-10. Aaron Overton was out next when his K-Q failed to catch up to the A-2 of Selbst. She found an ace on the flop and Overton was awarded $50,000 in seventh place.
The eliminations went on a hiatus for a while after that before another professional hit the rail. This time it was Joe Tehan who busted in sixth place, which was good for $70,000. His K-6 lost a race to the pocket eights of Thomas Hoglund Jr. Dan Shak then made his move to the top of the leader board by doubling up through Selbst to grow his stack to more than 4 million.
Tyler Kenney kept pace with Shak by taking out Rubianes in fifth place ($90,000). Kenney disposed of Rubianes with trip kings. A few minutes later Hoglund Jr. took his leave. His Q-9 was behind the A-7 of Kenney during the entire hand. Hoglund Jr. was awarded $120,000 for his fourth-place finish.
Although Kenney held a healthy 3.5 million at that point he didn’t make it to the heads-up final. Selbst rode her three-handed stack of 1.28 million to the final, and she took 3.025 million into battle against Shak, who held 8.685 million after busting Kenney in third place ($170,000). Shak had Kenney dominated with A-Q over A-7 and the board even gave him a flush to completely settle the matter.
The two finalists then took a one-hour dinner break before returning for heads-up competition. That break proved to be a good decision because the heads-up match lasted for three hours. Selbst pulled closed to even at the start before Shak began to pull away again, but then Selbst doubled up to take the chip lead with nearly 9 million and it was Shak who found himself on the ropes. Selbst was close to 10 million when Shak decided to shove but he doubled up to survive with 2.39 million.
Selbst kept winning most of the small pots, but Shak doubled up when he needed to a second time to take his stack to 4 million. The third time Shak decided to move all in was the charm for Selbst though. Shak shoved with J
7 in the hole on a flop that showed K
7
3. Selbst made the call with K
7 in the hole and the 5 on the turn and the 2 on the river led Selbst to back-to-back tournament titles at Mohegan Sun.
She took home $450,000 and her second NAPT title. Shak was awarded $254,000 for a strong runner-up performance and a solid effort during heads-up play, but the day went to Selbst, who celebrated her win with family and friends.
Final-Table Results:
1. Vanessa Selbst, USA, $450,000 (1,872 CP POY Points)
2. Dan Shak, USA, $254,000 (1,560 CP POY Points)
3. Tyler Kenney, USA, $170,000 (1,248 CP POY Points)
4. Thomas Hoglund Jr., USA, $120,000 (936 CP POY Points)
5. Vincent Rubianes, USA, $90,000 (780 CP POY Points)
6. Joe Tehan, USA, $70,000 (624 CP POY Points)
7. Aaron Overton, USA, $50,000 (468 CP POY Points)
8. Steve O’Dwyer, USA, $32,330 (312 CP POY Points)
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