Radoja and his new friend Yasuhira Waki

Poker can be a cutthroat game.  Preying on opponents’ weaknesses is an integral part of the game and with concepts like bounty tournaments and Shootouts, complete evisceration of your opponents is not only expected; it is encouraged.

That is why it was a bit unusual to see Yasuhiro Waki railing Mark Radoja to victory at the final table of the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event.  One would think Waki wouldn’t be Radoja’s biggest fan considering the Canadian poker pro was the one who eliminated Waki during Round 2 and kept him from the final table.  Instead, Waki was there alongside Radoja’s friends cheering him on as he claimed his first career WSOP bracelet after several final tables, cashes, and near-misses.

“I would say no one has ever had a heads-up match like ours before.  I had him 500,000 to 50,000 and he had me 500,000 to my 50,000 and I came back and won,” Radoja recalled after his win.

That epic match saw its fair share of yelling and celebrating, but Radoja insisted there were no hard feelings and even came to his opponent’s defense when it came to matters of the excessive celebration rule.  ”As poker players, we have to stick together,” Radoja explained.  And stick together they did, through a tough 11 hour-long final table that resulted in a marquee victory for the Sit-N-Go grinder whose style is particularly well-suited to the tough field and unique format of the event.

Even with Waki’s support, the 10-handed final table, whittled down from a starting field of 400,  started out rough for Mark Radoja, but the experience of being in this position before, combined with picking up aces at an opportune time resulted in him doubling through 2011 bracelet winner Sean Getzwiller. Getzwiller took to shoving all-in preflop with frequency, but his short stack didn’t deter anyone else at the final table from clashing in big pots. Just such a big pot resulted in the elimination of Dan Smith in tenth place. He got it all-in preflop holding QQ to Adam Junglen’s AK. Junglen turned a king and Smith was the first player eliminated.

Getzwiller was the next to go, also at the hands of Junglen. The two got it all-in for the remainder of Getzwiller’s stack with Getzwiller holding A8 to Junglen’s 22. Getzwiller failed to improve and instead of picking up a second bracelet, Getzwiller picked up a ninth place finish.

Tom Marchese exited in eighth place when he cold four-bet all-in with AQ and Radoja called with AK. The bigger ace prevailed and one of the more accomplished players at the table headed home. The table continued to pick up big preflop holdings and the all-in situations tended to happen preflop. Both Jeff Gross and Scott Baumstein picked up pocket aces to double up. Baumstein’s big double through Junglen gave him the chip lead, but Junglen would seize it back with a double-up of his own.

Radoja jumped out to the chip lead after tangling in a massive three-way all-in against Todd Terry and Junglen. Radoja’s KK held up against Junglen’s TT and Terry’s Q9. Radoja scooped the giant pot, eliminating Terry in the process.

Junglen chipped back up in no time, picking up pocket kings to eliminate Nikita Lebedev in sixth plave. Following Lebedev’s bust, there was a lengthy stretch without an elimination. Several players doubled and the stacks evened out, resulting in just about everyone at the table sitting on twenty big blinds.

After that long stretch, it seemed like every player was moving in over the top of opening raises. Radoja surged well above twenty big blinds though when he doubled up holding pocket queens to Junglen’s pocket nines, leaving Junglen on the short stack. Junglen busted a short while later when Nicolas Fierrogottner shoved in from the small blind with pocket nines and Junglen called out of the big blind with A4. He flopped a wheel draw, but failed to improve and exited in fifth place. Shortly after that, Baumstein headed home in fourth when his A7 ran into Jeff Gross’ AQ.

With Radoja in control, Gross and Fierrogottner were both looking to double and shoving all-in at a relatively high frequency. Fierrgottner was the first player to get called during three-handed play. He got it all-in holding A5 to Radoja’s AQ. The board ran out ace-high, and when Fierrogottner failed to pair his kicker, he headed home in third, setting up a lopsided heads-up battle between the big-stacked Radoja and Gross.

Gross never evened things up, but he did narrow Radoja’s once-substantial lead, pulling to a less than 2-1 chip disadvantage.  Despite the progress, it was not to be for Gross, as on the final hand of play he got it all-in preflop holding AJ to radoja’s KT.  The QT2 flop gave Radoja the advantage and Gross was drawing dead byt he T on the turn.  The river A sealed Radoja’s victory and he ran to his rail for a round of hugs and songs in celebration, plus some celebratory pictures with Waki.

Here are the final table results from the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout:

1st: Mark Radoja – $436,568
2nd: Jeff Gross – $269,742
3rd: Nicolas Fierrogotner – $198,096
4th: Scott Baumstein – $146,639
5th: Adam Junglen – $109,406
6th: Nikita Lebedev – $82,287
7th: Todd Terry – $62,370
8th: Tom Marchese – $47,636
9th: Sean Getzwiller – $36,669
10th: Dan Smith – $28,447

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