Alexander Farahi arrived at the final table of the $3,500 WPT Rolling Thunder Championship second in chips and left Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California, as the newest World Poker Tour champion.
Farahi beat Matt Salsberg heads-up for the title and $193,725, his share of a two-way deal the two struck before heads-up play began. Salsberg, a Southern California tournament grinder and TV writer, took $151,275 for second.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Farahi | $193,725 |
| 2 | Matt Salsberg | $151,275 |
| 3 | Arish Nat | $100,000 |
| 4 | Marco Johnson | $74,000 |
| 5 | Darrell Cain | $56,000 |
| 6 | Alec Gould | $43,000 |
Final Table Recap
All six players finished in the same order they started the day, with little movement among the chip stacks throughout. Alec Gould, who began with just 15 big blinds, was first out when his pocket kings lost to Marco Johnson's ace-queen. Darrell Cain, another short stack, picked up a pay jump before losing a race to Farahi and busting in fifth for $56,000.
Farahi then hit a flush to beat Johnson's top pair and sent him to the cage with $74,000 for fourth. The field went from six to three in 28 hands. Nine more finished it to two when Salsberg won a key race to send Arish Nat out in third for $100,000.
The Deal and Heads-Up Battle
With the stacks close, Farahi and Salsberg struck a chip-count deal, leaving $34,500 and a $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship in December to play for.
Farahi won seven hands in a row early to build a lead close to 4:1, though Salsberg still held 36 big blinds. Salsberg won pot after pot to nearly pull even. Farahi steadied with a check-raise on the flop, a bet on the turn, and a bet on the river that pushed Salsberg off a big pot and swung the match back his way.
Salsberg kept pressing but could not find the double-up or big pot he needed to take the chip lead. On the 93rd hand of the final table, with Salsberg down to eight big blinds, Farahi moved all in with A♦ 6♦. Salsberg called with A♣ 2♣. The board came 6♥ 5♠ 2♦ 7♥ 10♦, and Farahi's pair of sixes closed it out.
