Benjamin Zamani Wins 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit Planet Hollywood Main Event

Benjamin Zamani has won the 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit Planet Hollywood $1,675 no-limit hold’em main event. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner outlasted a field of 610 total entries to win $192,152 and his first WSOPC gold ring.

After surviving to the final day of this event Zamani had to contend with a stacked final table that included a number of accomplished poker pros like 2010 WSOP main event third-place finisher Joseph Cheong, Jesse Yaginuma, WSOP bracelet winner Barry Hutter and Benjamin Palmer. That being said, Zamani essentially ran away with this event. He came into the day in second chip position but took the lead early by scoring a couple of knockouts, including sending Cheong to the rail in eighth place ($22,436). Zamani stretched his advantage when he picked up pocket kings against Aaron McEvoy’s pocket tens and held up in an all-in preflop confrontation.

Zamani kept up the pressure and expanded his lead dramatically during four-handed play. At one point he had increased his stack to over 10 million, with his three opponents collectively having less than 2 million total chips between them. As a result of the huge chip disparity Zamani was able to score a double knock out, calling the short-stacked all-ins of Scott Powrie and Barry Hutter from the big blind with the 84. He was up against Powrie’s KQ and Hutter’s A7, but he ended up making the best hand on a 104339 to send Powrie (4th – $64,489) and Hutter (3rd – $86,907) to the rail and taking a massive lead into heads-up play against Benjamin Palmer with more than a 20-to-1 chip advantage.

On the very first hand of heads-up play Zamani moved all-in from the button and Palmer called for his last 480,000 with the J2. Zamani held the 107. The flop kept Palmer in the lead when it brought the AKJ, but the Q on the turn gave Zamani a straight. The 3 on the river sealed the deal for Zamani, securing him the pot and the title. Palmer earned $118,849 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photo courtesy of WSOP.

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