ShareImage courtesy of PokerGO.com
The 2021 Poker Masters Series saw a completely new face in the winner’s circle, with internet entrepreneur Miles Rampel not only playing a buy-in 250x bigger than his previous biggest, but going on to take it down – a $365,500 scoop ahead of the poker world’s biggest names.
Event 9 of the 12-tournament series saw 43 entries for the $25k PLO, with Erik Seidel, Ali Imsirovic, Alex Foxen, Daniel Negreanu and Stephen Chidwick all looking to pick up points as the Purple Jacket leaderboard race started to heat up.
Only Chidwick would make the paid spots from among those illustrious names, Negreanu falling to Cary Katz in 10th, with the PokerGO founder bubbling the money at the hands of AP Louis Garza.
Garza was looking to add to his three cashes and the 3rd spot finish of the previous day and took the chip lead into the final table of five on day two, Sean Winter, Ben Lamb, Jeremy Ausmus and Rampel rounding out the quintet.
By the time they reached heads-up, it was Rampel – who confesses to being a regular at $1-$2 and $2-$5 No Limit Hold’em cash games – who was vying for the trophy, facing Garza, who had already booked top slot in the leaderboard with his run.
The deciding hand saw all the chips go in on the flop...
Rampel: J♣ 10♣ 2♠ 2♥
Garza: A♥ K♥ 8♦ 7♠
Flop: J♥ 9♦ 4♥
Turn: 4♦
River: Q♦
...and that was enough to give the newcomer to the big time tournaments an incredible victory.
Final results:
| 1 | Miles Rampel | $365,500 |
| 2 | Lou Garza | $236,500 |
| 3 | Sean Winter | $161,250 |
| 4 | Ben Lamb | $118,250 |
| 5 | Jeremy Ausmus | $86,000 |
| 6 | Stephen Chidwick | $64,500 |
| 7 | Jake Daniels | $43,000 |
“It hasn’t hit me yet, but I feel great, I feel great,” Rampel told PokerGO reporters afterwards. “I ran really hot. I picked up aces a bunch of times, and I ran hot.”
He explained a bit of his poker background, “I started playing PLO this year and enjoyed it a lot. It’s fun to think a little bit more. Then my friends and I just came to Las Vegas on a whim and saw that this tournament was here. I thought, ‘You know what, I’ll take a shot.’”
That shot paid off for Rampel, and for Garza the 4th deep run of the series launched him to top spot in the race for the Purple Jacket and the $50k bonus that goes with it.
