Anthony Zinno's Heater Continues with Bay 101 $25,000 High Roller Victory
The last two months of Anthony Zinno's poker-playing career have been quite spectacular. In February, we told you about his victory in the World Poker Tour Fallsview Main Event that earned him his second WPT title. Shortly thereafter, Zinno went back-to-back to earn his third WPT title in the famous L.A. Poker Classic. If that wasn't enough, let's add in a Bay 101 $25,000 High Roller victory just for good measure because that's what Zinno did on Thursday.
After a field of 20 entries generated a prize pool of $490,000, the top three spots were set to pay out a minimum of $98,000. These $25,000 buy-in events tend to draw very impressive fields, and this event was no different. Despite the small turnout, the field was packed. Top players such as Nick Schulman, David "Doc" Sands, Dan Smith, Andrew Lichtenberger, Jake Schindler, and Jason Koon were in the field, but unfortunately none of them were able to cash.
Koon was coming off a $436,344 victory in the L.A. Poker Classic's $50,000 Turbo High Roller 6-Max, but he was unable to follow that performance up.
Four-handed bubble play involved Zinno, Paul Volpe, Praytush Buddiga, and Jonathan Jaffe. One of them had to go home empty handed, and that proved to be Jaffe when he was eliminated in fourth place. After Buddiga fell in third, Zinno and Volpe chopped up the prize money such that Volpe received $194,242 and Zinno $177,758. There remained $20,000 and the title left to play for, and those went to Zinno when he came out on top.
Bay 101 High Roller Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anthony Zinno | $197,758* |
| 2 | Paul Volpe | $194,242* |
| 3 | Praytush Buddiga | $98,000 |
*Denotes heads-up deal.
Volpe is having himself an impressive start to 2015 as well. Following a deep run in the LAPT Bahamas Main Event, Volpe won a $2,200 side event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $89,140. He then won the L.A. Poker Classic $1,600 Bounty for $27,570. All told, Volpe has amassed $318,932 in earnings in 2015.
As for Zinno, it hasn't even been a full three months and he's already having his best year ever on the felt. In 2013, Zinno won $1,089,470 in live earnings, and he's already at $1,552,762 in 2015. Zinno also has a solid grasp on the WPT's Season XIII Player of the Year award, as he currently sits over 300 points clear of Darren Elias in second place. You can find complete WPT Player of the Year information by clicking here.
After the WPT Bay 101 stop, the main tour will head to Thunder Valley Casino to complete the "California Swing" leg of the season. After that will be the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and then the WPT World Championship. No player has ever won four WPT titles, but there are three events to go and Zinno could make anything happen given the amount of momentum he has going right now.
Informtation courtesy of Bay101news.com, and photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
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