It was around 10:30 p.m. on the third and final day of Event #51: $1,000 Tag Team that a championship team was crowned in Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. WSOP bracelets were awarded to both members of Team Savakinas, Michael Savakinas and Satoshi Tanaka, taking home their first WSOP bracelet and a first-place prize of $190,662.
Tanaka attributed their natural chemistry as friends as one of the main keys to their success. “I think we get along outside of poker too, so naturally, if things go wrong in poker, we help each other out, but not just poker-wise, with everything.”
The event gathered 1,282 teams, setting a new record, and 193 teams cashed for a minimum of $1,602. Team Savakinas started Day 3 with only 19 big blinds and managed to cruise to the 10-handed final table with 23 big blinds. Michael Savakinas and Satoshi Tanaka each took their turn, making their way through the final heads-up battle to secure the victory.
Tanaka also mentioned he felt their strategy of when and how often they tagged in and out gave them an edge. “When the final table started, we decided to switch on the levels, and I think that gave us an edge because no one else was doing that.”
Among the 193 teams who cashed, only 26 came back for the final day. The action was quite fast, as a redraw with 18 players left occurred within two levels.
Ramon Kropmanns and Jessica Serial of Team Kropmanns, the only non-American team among the final table, finished in tenth place just before regulars Justin Pechie and Ronnie Bardah of Team Pechie.
Then, players moved to a feature table, and the rail started to grow. Team Inukai (Carlos Inukai – Emmaniel Avila) and Team Williams (David Williams – Theo Tran) were the next to exit. Six-handed play lasted for a while before Team Stein (Marcus Stein – Amber Donatelli) were eliminated.
Team Ventre (John Ventre – Kenneth Gallo) lost a crucial flip against Team Moscati (Vincent Moscati – Tanner Bibat) who built a nice stack as a result. Team Evans (Rickey Evans – Roberto Valdez) took fourth place and Team Moscati held the lead when Jonah LaBranche of Team LaBranche (Jonah LaBranche – Dustin Wills) decided to put his stack in with king-seven of diamonds. He ran into aces, and Team Moscati started the heads-up battle with a huge advantage.
The heads-up play turned into an epic back-and-forth battle, with Team Savakinas staring down a four-to-one chip lead and at one point being down as much as eight-to-one. However, after three straight double-ups, Team Savakinas evened it up and would win the next two all-in confrontations, including the final one to take home the coveted gold bracelets and $190,662 divided between them.
Final table results:
Place Team/Players Country Prize
1 Michael Savakinas – Satoshi Tanaka United States $190,662
2 Vincent Moscati – Tanner Bibat United States $117,872
3 Jonah LaBranche – Dustin Wills United States $85,040
4 Rickey Evans – Roberto Valdez United States $62,090
5 John Ventre – Kenneth Gallo United States $45,884
6 Marcus Stein – Amber Donatelli United States $34,326
7 David Williams – Theo Tran United States $26,000
8 Carlos Inukai – Emmaniel Avila United States $19,942
9 Justin Pechie – Ronnie Bardah United States $15,492
10 Ramon Kropmanns – Jessica Serial Brazil $12,190
