WPT Foxwoods: Online Phenom Becomes Youngest WPT Winner

It should also be noted that Cunningham started the day in 45th place in Card Player's Player of the Year standings. A strong finish here would move him into the top ten, and a victory could put him in a close second place behind John Phan.

These were the opening chip counts for the final table:

1. Nick Schulman - $3,502,000 (seat 2)
2. Tony Licastro - $1,412,000 (seat 3)
3. Allen Cunningham - $795,000 (seat 5)
4. Lenny Cortellino - $773,000 (seat 4)
5. Bill Gazes - $693,000 (seat 6)
6. Lyle Berman - $659,000 (seat 1)

This was an unusually quick final table, in terms of time, number of hands, and the speed with which all the chips went into the pot. It took a little over three-and-a-half hours to play the 89 hands required to declare a winner. There were only 18 flops the entire night -- and nearly half of them (8) were all in preflop.

Tony "All In" Licastro easily earned his new nickname, as he moved all in preflop 16 times. He was only called five of those times, and he went 3-2 in those matchups. On day three, Berman said he hoped Licastro would make the final table, so he could see what hands he moves all in with. We didn't have access to the hole cams, but in the five hands where he was called, he was holding pocket tens, pocket queens, A-J suited, K-10, and A-9. Perhaps he got lucky that he was only called when he had good hands, or maybe he only moved in with good hands; only the hole cams know for sure.

Nick Schulman started the day with nearly 45% of the chips in play, and he made the most of them. After Licastro eliminated Cortellino in sixth place, Schulman took over the final table and consumed everyone else, busting Berman, Cunningham, and Gazes before going heads-up with Licastro for the title.

Schulman had $5.15 million to Licastro's $2.69 million at that point, so it was still anybody's game. But on the fourth hand of heads-up play, both players limped to see a flop of As-Ks-8d. Licastro checked, Schulman bet $120,000, and Licastro check-raised to $300,000. The turn card was the 2s, and both players were immediately all in; Licastro with 8h-2d (two pair), and Schulman with 9s-6s (flush). Licastro had four outs to survive, but the river card was the 5s.

Nick Schulman, just 21 years old, had won the Foxwoods World Poker Finals, instantly becoming a multi-millionaire.

Here were the payouts for all six final-table finishers:

1. Nick Schulman - $2,142,000
2. Tony Licastro - $1,035,000
3. Bill Gazes - $759,000
4. Allen Cunningham - $483,000
5. Lyle Berman - $345,000
6. Lenny Cortellino - $276,000

Source: http://www.kinston.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=32180&Section=Local

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