Top 3 moments from the Big One for One Drop tournament

The Big One for One Drop is officially in the books, and what a four days this tournament gave us! From the satellites on Saturday to the three-day tournament itself, the Big One for One Drop was the biggest positive in poker I can remember since perhaps Phil Ivey made the final table of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

In this column I’ll take a look at three moments from the Big One for One Drop that will likely live on for years to come:

Rast Eliminated by rivered quads

Even though there was a more infamous hand involving quads (see below) Brian Rast’s elimination at the final table of the Big One for One Drop tournament was one of the most heartbreaking eliminations a player could face, especially with the difference between 6^th place and 1^st place being over $16 million.

Rast found himself in the perfect spot, holding the nut-flush on the flop against the aggressive Sam Trickett, who bet the flop and turn, before moving all-in when the river paired. Rast who was trying to trap Trickett and let him either bet a lesser hand or bluff off his chips. Unfortunately Trickett had the one hand that Rast needed to be afraid, a flopped set of 3’s, which turned into quads on the river.

Folded Quads FACE-UP!

The absolute craziest hand I’ve ever heard of (perhaps the greatest soul-read since Stu Ungar called with 10-high) occurred at the Big One for One Drop tournament during the first day of play when Mikhail Smirnov folded Quad 8’s Face-Up to John Morgan’s river all-in on a board of Js-8c-7s-8s-Ks. The only hand that could beat Smirnov was specifically the 9/T of spades making this perhaps the greatest lay-down in the history of poker if he was in fact correct.

Antonio Wins

Of course the biggest moment was when Antonio Esfandiari captured the One Drop title, defeating Sam Trickett in heads up play. The win vaults Antonio to the top of the all time money list, while Trickett moves into the Top 5.

Antonio was incredibly emotional after the win, and it’s hard not to root for him to succeed after all he has done for the poker world, one of the game’s true ambassadors.

Here is a look at the final table payouts from the Big One for One Drop tournament:

1. 1.       Antonio Esfandiari — $18,346,673
2. 2.       Sam Trickett — $10,112,001
3. 3.       David Einhorn — $4,352,000
4. 4.       Phil Hellmuth — $2,645,333
5. 5.       Guy Laliberté — $1,834,666
6. 6.       Brian Rast — $1,621,333
7. 7.       Bobby Baldwin — $1,408,000
8. 8.       Richard Yong — $1,237,333