On Saturday, action at the 2013 World Series of Poker in scorching hot Las Vegas featured the finale of the $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Roller. While temperatures approached 120 degrees outside the Rio, inside, the big news of the day was the possibility of Antonio Esfandiari(pictured) scoring back-to-back One Drop titles. He was 4/4 entering Saturday’s conclusion and seemed destined to win it all once again in what would likely be considered one of the top poker feats of all-time.

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However, it wasn’t meant to be for Esfandiari, who busted five hands into Saturday’s play. After moving all-in on the first hand and forcing the other three players to fold, Esfandiari 3bet for his tournament life on hand #5 and Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki (pictured) looked him up.

When the cards were revealed, Esfandiari was in a race with pocket eights against A-9. The flop came K-7-6, keeping “The Magician” out in front with two cards to come, and another six on the turn left Klodnicki drawing to three outs. Sure enough, one of the remaining aces in the deck came on the river and Esfandiari was eliminated.

As coverage found on WSOP.com detailed, “Stunned, Esfandiari threw his hands on top of his head and walked slowly to where his seat had been. After a few handshakes, the still shell-shocked Esfandiari left the mothership and a massive, 20 million-chip pot was pushed Klodnicki’s way.” Esfandiari took away $1.4 million for his fourth place finish. Last year after winning the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop, Esfandiari banked $18 million and became poker’s all-time tournament money leader.

Bill Perkins, who entered Saturday’s conclusion as the chip leader, exited in third place a few hands later. After doubling up Tony TonyG_Gregg (pictured) when he ran A-10 into A-J, Perkins committed his remaining chips before the flop with A-5, but ran smack into Gregg’s A-Q. Perkins hit a five on the flop to pull out in front, but once again a miracle river card, this time a queen, sent him away in third place for $1.9 million. Fans of the “PokerStars Big Game” will likely be familiar with the businessman and amateur player.

Gregg was up 3:2 in chips entering heads-up play against Klodnicki and ultimately pulled ahead by about 5:1. Klodnicki got his chips in with 7-5 on a board of 4-3-9 against Gregg’s 9-2 on the final hand. The turn was a 5, pushing Klodnicki closer to Gregg’s top pair, but a benign 3 on the river gave the title and a massive $4.8 million payday to Gregg. The final four took just 90 minutes to play down to a winner.

Gregg plays as wwwBTHEREcom on PokerStars and won a SCOOP title last month in a $2,100 No Limit Hold’em Cubed tournament for $218,000 officially. The Maryland native has $1.5 million in tracked online cashes in his PocketFives profile and became the 15th bracelet winner from our community this year in Las Vegas.

Here were the final table results from the WSOP One Drop High Roller:

1. Tony TonyG_ Gregg – $4,830,619
2. Chris SLOPPYKLODKlodnicki – $2,985,495
3. Bill Perkins – $1,965,163
4. Antonio Esfandiari – $1,433,438
5. Richard Fullerton – $1,066,491
6. Martin Jacobson – $807,427
7. Brandon Steven $621,180
8. Nick Schulman – $485,029

In other WSOP news, Stephen stevie444Chidwick, Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond, Dani ansky451Stern, Kevin 1SickDiseaseEyster, Todd tbt4653Terry, David BakesBaker, Shannon ShannonShorrShorr, and Christian charderHarder all remain with 18 players left in Event #52, $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max.

The final three tables will play out on Sunday from the Rio and a massive $1.2 million top prize is on the line for the Six-Max champion. The tournament’s money bubble burst with 18 players to go, so everyone left is guaranteed a minimum payout of $53,000.

Check out our WSOP coverageof online poker players for more details, sponsored by BetVictor.

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