Ivan Luca Wins 2015 WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Event

Argentinian poker pro Ivan Luca was already having an incredible year on the live tournament circuit, with a title under his belt and five final table finishes. He took his 2015 run to the next level today by taking down event no. 30 at the 2015 World Series of Poker, a $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament.

For the win the 23-year-old from Buenos Aires earned his first WSOP gold bracelet, the $353,391 first-place prize and 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points. As a result of this huge win Luca has catapulted into second place on the overall POY leader board with 3,117 points and $1,172,535 in year-to-date earnings.

Luca overcame a sizable field of 2,150 players in this event, contending with a number of accomplished opponents down the stretch including Antonio Esfandiari (18th – $12,893), Jason Koon (17th – $12,893), Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier (11th – $20,423) and Chris Moorman (10th – $20,423).

In the end it came down to a heads-up battle between Luca and Artur Rudziankov of the Czech Republic. The event was scheduled to last three days, but the heads-up battle only got underway just before 2:00 AM local time, so the decision was made to pause and have the final two return at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, June 17th.

Luca held a chip advantage of roughly 5-to-2 going into day 4, but Rudziankov was able to fight back and even take the lead at one point. Luca wrested the advantage back soon enough though, and by the time the final hand arose he held a solid lead.

With blinds at 80,000 – 160,000 with an ante of 20,000 Rudziankov limped in from the button and Luca made it 480,000 to go. Rudziankov then moved all-in for around 4.3 million and Luca made the call with the A10. He had Rudziankov’s A3 dominated and maintained his advantage through a runout of J88AJ. With that Luca locked up the pot and the title, sending Rudziankov to the rail as the runner up with $219,976 for his deep run.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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