Nine Bigs and a Dream: China’s Lei Yu Spins Short Stack to Win WSOP Paradise $5K NLH

On Thursday, the final table of the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise Event #6: $5,000 Deepstack No-Limit Hold’em returned to action.

The tournament attracted 363 entrants and awarded a $1,815,000 prize pool, and when play resumed China’s Lei Yu, part of the Red Dragon Poker Team, was the short stack with just nine big blinds. Thanks to a pair of early doubles right out of the gate, Yu found himself in position to make a run, and after five hours of play he had all the chips!

“I’m so excited. So pumped,” Lu told reporters via a translator. “Not too much in terms of plans [for the money]. I’ve been playing for years and what matters is the bracelet.”

Prior to the win, Lu had $1,071,665 in live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob, including a prior career-best $135,186 for winning the WPT Korea Single Day High Roller back in March. He celebrated his victory with fellow Red Dragon Poker Team members and GGPoker Ambassador Ren Lin, who took a break from high-stakes action to congratulate the 38-year-old champion.

WSOP Paradise Event #6 Final Table Results

Among those to finish in the top 51 and make the money leading up to the final table were John Ripnick (11th – $23,890), Frank Bannan (19th – $15,300), Nick Maimone (20th – $15,300), Christoph Vogelsang (28th – $13,190), Zhen Cai (38th – $11,370), Hossein Ensan (40th – $11,370), and Ana Marquez (41st – $11,370).

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Final Table Action

Argentina’s Ezequiel Kleinman was the first player eliminated at the final table after flopping top pair only to be set up by Blaz Zerjav’s deuces. Kleinman turned a flush draw to give him hope, but the river was a brick to send him out the door in ninth place.

The short-stacked Archibald Seaton then fell at the hands of Yu before Gleb Tremzin tangled with Zerjav. Tremzin had flopped to pair and shoved on the turn, but Zerjav had flopped a set of fives that improved to quads. Tremzin, who vlogged his demise, had to settle for seventh place and $61,530 in prize money.

Bulgaria’s Fahredin Mustafov exited in sixth after shoving the turn with a double gutter and failing to get there against Zerjav, who had flopped another set. Brazil’s Bruno Volkmann then got his short stack all in with ace-six and was ahead of Vlad Darie’s ace-five, but a five spiked on the flop to end the Brazilian’s run in fifth place.

Unfortunately for Darie, he followed him out the door in fourth place when he got aggressive with king-queen suited only to run it smack dab into the ace-king of Rokas Asipauskas. Darie was the last remaining bracelet winner in the field, so his elimination ensured a first-time bracelet winner would be crowned for the sixth straight tournament at WSOP Paradise.

Three-handed play was a battle with Zerjav and Asipauskas not shying away from butting heads. In arguably the biggest hand of the tournament, and one sure to make PokerNews’ ‘Hands of the Week’ recap, Asipauskas saw his chips go to Zerjav, who took a more than 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Yu.

Yu won a flip with ace-queen against pocket tens to double into the lead, but Zerjav clawed it back. Upon returning from a break, the two got it in once again and Zerjav was one card away from winning, but Yu spiked the river to stay alive and take a 2:1 chip lead.

In the final hand of the tournament, Zerjav got his chips all in with top pair and an open-ended straight draw, while Yu held pocket aces and a spade flush draw. An eight on the turn gave Zerjav the lead with trips, but a fourth spade peeled off on the river to give Yu the flush and the win.

Zerjav Denied Again

For Zerjav, it was another close call to victory. He began 2024 with a big score at the EPT Paris in the €1,100 FPS Main Event finishing second for $316,484, and once again he had to settle for a runner-up finish. Notably, the $225,720 in prize money put him over $1 million in lifetime earnings becoming just the third player from Slovenia to cross that seven-figure mark behind Rok Gostisa ($2,438,553) and the late Casey Kastle ($2,201,725).

All of that is in addition to Zerjav’s online prowess, where he is known as ‘Scarmak3r’. Back in 2018, when he turned a $5.50 satellite seat into $1,364,688 by finishing third in the MILLIONS Online. In September 2020, he would finish fourth in the WPT Online World Championship Main Event for $552,006.

Despite not claiming his first bracelet, the future is certainly bright for the young Slovenian player.

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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