Tom Koral Wins 2019 WSOP $1,500 Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em Event

Tom Koral has won the 2019 World Series of Poker $1,500 no-limit hold’em double stack event, defeating a field of 2,589 total entries to win his second bracelet and the top prize of $530,164.

In addition to the hardware and the money, Koral also earned 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points. He now sits in 162nd place in the 2019 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

The final table began with Freek Scholten holding the chip lead with 26,000,000. Koral began his day as the second shortest stack of the eight remaining players.

The first to hit the rail was Kalyan Cheekuri. He got all-in on a J65 flop holding pocket fours, only to find that he had run into the set of sixes of Adam Hendrix. Cheekuri earned $56,850 as the eighth-place finisher.

Kunal Punjwani was the next to go. With a flop of 773 Philip Scaletta bet 2,200,000 with pocket sixes. Punjwani shoved for 5,150,000 holding the 87. Scaletta called and was in rough shape, until the 4 turn and 5 river gave him a runner-runner straight. With that Punjwani was knocked out in seventh place ($74,401).

Darren Rabinowitz began the day in second chip position but had fallen to the bottom of the leaderboard during the early action. It folded to the small blind and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Shulman moved all-in with 1010. Rabinowitz called for his last six big blinds with 106. Rabinowitz paired sixes on the flop, but failed to improve any further and was eliminated as the sixth-place finisher ($98,274).

The next major clash took place between the two largest stacks. Freek Scholten and Adam Hendrix got all-in preflop after a series of raises. Scholten had pocket queens, which were ahead of the pocket tens of Hendrix. Neither player improved and Scholten’s superior overpair earned him the massive pot. Hendrix was awarded $131,001 as the fifth-place finisher.

Philip Scaletta got his last chips in with AQ, only to find out that Scholten had been dealt the AK. Scholten called and made kings and tens by the river to secure the pot. Scaletta took home $176,219 for his deep run.

Barry Shulman was the clear short stack heading into three-handed play, with his two opponents having more than three times as many chips. Shulman battled it out for half an hour before his final hand was dealt. Scholten shoved from the small blind holding 1010. Shulman called with A7. The board ran out J10835 and Shulman was sent to the rail in third place ($239,187). This was his second final table of the WSOP, having finished second in the Super Seniors event for $222,295.

Scholten began heads-up play with 76,100,000 to Tom Koral’s 53,500,000. Koral was able to quickly fight his way into the lead. He then stretched his advantage to more than a 4-to-1 lead by the team the final hand was dealt.

Koral limped in with AA and Scholten moved all-in from the big blind for 20,800,000 with the Q3. Koral quickly called and the board came down K10945. Koral secured the pot and the title, while Scholten earned $327,563 as the runner-up.

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

For more coverage from the summer series, check out the 2019 WSOP landing page, complete with a full schedule, results, news, player interviews, and event recaps.

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