2018 Review - November: Bathroom Bet, Vayo Loses, Sinclair Wins WSOPE
November was a big month for attention-grabbing poker headlines. There was a hard-to-believe $100,000 prop bet that generated incredible buzz, the return of a high-profile lawsuit between a WSOP Main Event runner-up and the largest online poker site in the world, and the conclusion of a handful of prominent live poker tournaments that found winners. Here are PocketFives’ top five stories from November 2018, plus a look at who won the PocketFives Monthly PLB title.
Rory Young Reveals Details of $100K Pitch-Black Bathroom Prop Bet
Poker players can be known to make wild prop bets, and that was certainly the case for Rory Young and Rich Alati. The two grabbed more than just poker headlines in November when their $100,000 bathroom prop bet was featured in headlines from several mainstream media outlets. It was one of the craziest prop bets we’ve ever heard of and will be one that is remembered for years and years to come.
The bet was made to see if Alati could live in a pitch-black bathroom with no human contact and no electronics, among several other stipulations, for 30 days straight. Soon after the bet was made and began making its way around the poker world, PocketFives spoke with Young about the details of the bet and how it came to fruition.
READ: Rory Young Reveals Details of $100K Pitch Black Bathroom Prop Bet
Vayo Dismisses PokerStars Lawsuit; Stars Counters Alleging Forgery
Back in May, it was made known that Gordon Vayo, runner-up in the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event, was suing PokerStars for the winnings the online poker site withheld from him from a 2017 Spring Championship of Online Poker tournament that was worth nearly $700,000. That story made headlines everywhere within the poker world, but it made even bigger news in November when a November 12 California court filing revealed that Vayo had voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit.
What really kicked things up a notch, though, were two things. First that the lawsuit was dropped amid accusations of forgery committed by Vayo. Second, PokerStars was seeking repayment of their attorney fees for nearly $300,000 – quite the tipping of the scales.
READ: Vayo Dismisses PokerStars Lawsuit; Stars Counters Alleging Forgery
Jack Sinclair Beats Laszlo Bujtas to Win WSOP Europe Main Event
A former eighth-place finisher in the WSOP Main Event in 2017 for $1.2 million, Jack Sinclair was back in the World Series of Poker spotlight in November 2018, only this time in Europe. Sinclair made his way to the 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event final table and emerged victorious atop the 534-entry field to win the €1.222 million ($1.277 million) first-place prize.
To claim victory, Sinclair had to defeat one of online poker’s toughest players in heads-up play, Laszlo ‘omaha4rollz’ Bujtas. The victory earned Sinclair the largest payday of his poker career and first WSOP gold bracelet.
READ: Jack Sinclair Beats Laszlo Bujtas to Win WSOP Europe Main Event
Patrick Serda Wins WPT Montreal for C$855,000
The World Poker Tour was in action in Canada in November for the Season XVII WPT Montreal. The event attracted 792 entries, and it was Patrick ‘prepprepprep’ Serda who came out on top after entering the final table with the chip lead. Serda defeated the first female winner of an open WPT Main Tour event, Ema Zajmovic, in heads-up play to take home the C$855,000 ($652,801) first-place prize, denying Zajmovic her second World Poker Tour title.
READ: Patrick Serda Wins WPT Montreal for C$855,000
Big Titles Won at partypoker Caribbean Poker Party in the Bahamas
While the WSOP and WPT were busy dishing out titles in colder climates, partypoker LIVE was down in the Bahamas for the much-anticipated partypoker Caribbean Poker Party tournament festival. The series was full of big buy-in events, notables faces capturing huge sums of cash, and nine seven-figure prizes awarded.
The first big tournament of the series to find its winner was the $25,500 buy-in partypoker MILLIONS World. The event generated 394 entries and fell just short of its $10 million guarantee, but enormous prizes were still to be had, including the $2 million first-place prize that Roger Teska took home after he defeated Steve O’Dwyer in second place. O’Dwyer scored $1.3 million for the runner-up result, and third-place finisher Charles La Boissonniere also took home seven figures, winning $1 million.
READ: Roger Teska Battles Back to Win partypoker MILLIONS World for $2M
We then saw a $3.685 million winner come from the partypoker $250,000 Super High Roller Championships event, and it was Steffan Sontheimer earning a new career-best score. The event generated a field size of 34 entries for a prize pool of $8.235 million. Sontheimer beat out Sean Winter in heads-up play, and David Peters finished in third place. Winter and Peters took home $2.43 million and $1.42 million, respectively.
READ: Steffan Sontheimer Wins partypoker $250K SHR Championships For $3.68M
In the $5,300 buy-in Main Event, another $10 million prize pool guarantee was on the line. The event fell short of the guarantee with just 1,815 entries, but the top three spots still gave out a million dollars or more each. Winning the event was Portugal’s Filipe Oliveira, taking home the $1.5 million top prize. Craig Mason finished second for $1.2 million, and Marc MacDonnell took third for $1 million.
READ: Filipe Oliveira Wins 2018 partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Main Event
Sweden’s ‘lena900’ Wins Another Monthly PLB Title in November
Sweden’s ‘lena900’ stayed hot and won another PocketFives Monthly PLB title in November after cashing 191 times for a total of $585,250. It was a dominating performance for ‘lena900,’ who racked up more than 4,900 points. The closest competitor was ‘girafganger7’ with a monthly point total of less than 3,900.
A couple of the notable November scores for ‘lena900’ included a third-place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Million on November 25 for $80,555 and 569.39 points and a win in the partypoker Sunday Super High Roller: $100K Gtd on November 18 for $41,480 and 387.30 points.
