The Thrilla for Failla: Will Failla Wins the Legends of Poker Main Event

As Will “The Thrill” Failla’s rail of friends will tell you, you can’t stop destiny. And at this first televised final table of Season X, you certainly couldn’t stop Failla. The East Coast grinder came into the final table with the chip lead, got low on chips early, and rallied back to win his first WPT title with a performance that can be summed up in one word: thrilling.

It only took a single orbit of play at the Legends of Poker final table for Failla to lose the chip lead after dropping a pot to Joshua Pollock. He bled some more chips in a hand where he flopped trip queens to Jeff Vertes’ full house, but somehow managed to avoid the catastrophe that tends to come with flopping a monster when your opponent flops a bigger one.

Failla jumped back to the top of the counts when he eliminated Owais Ahmed in sixth place. The California poker pro moved all-in from the small blind with [Js7s] and Failla called out of the big blind with [Ac5h]. Failla’s hand held and Ahmed was the first player to hit the rail. Adam Aronson would take some of Failla’s chips off his hands when he doubled thru him, but he would be the next player to head home for the night. The short stack at the table, Aronson moved all-in with [6c6s] only to run into Jeff Vertes’ [AdAh]. Aronson hit the [8h6h3s] flop hard, but Vertes backdoored a winning flush as the turn brought the [7h] and the river the [9h] to eliminate Aronson in fifth.

Fourth place honors went to Pollock, who busted out when his flush draw couldn’t get there against Ken Aldridge’s top pair after they got it all-in on an [AdKc4d] flop. That hand propelled the man known as “Teach” up the counts, while Pollock made an abrupt exit.

Failla took a chunk out of Aldridge’s bounty when his [6s6c] held up against Aldridge’s [9c10h] after an all-in preflop confrontation, and Failla doubled again when his [Ad5d] got lucky against Vertes’ [As9d]. When the flop paired up Failla, his rail began to cheer, “You can’t stop destiny.”

After a long stretch of three handed play, Vertes and Failla would clash again in a similar situation, this time with Vertes getting it all-in for his tournament life holding a dominating [AhQd] to Failla’s [AdJc]. Again, destiny seemed to be on Failla’s side as the [AcJd10c] board gave him two pair, which held up to send Vertes home in a disappointing third place exit.

Busting Vertes gave Failla a slight chip advantage over Aldridge going into heads-up play and Aldridge willingly admitted that he was just an amateur compared to his opponent. The affable Teach assured the cameras that they had both already won. Even though there was still money and a title on the line, the smiles on both players’ faces attested to that fact.

Aldridge drew first blood heads-up, raking in a nearly 10 million-chip pot to take the chip lead, but there was a sudden reversal of fortune that swung all the momentum in Failla’s direction. After a raise from Aldridge preflop, he two saw a flop of [Jc5d2h]. Failla checked, Aldridge bet 500,000, and Failla called. Once the turn brought the [9h], Failla checked a second time. Aldridge bet 2 million and, again, Failla called. After the [7h] came on the river, Failla bet out 4 million and Aldridge quickly moved all-in. Failla called in a flash, tabling [6h8h] for a flush that bested Aldridge’s overpair, [AdAs].

Left with just six big blinds after the hand, it took just minutes for Aldridge to call all-in for the last of his chips. Unforunately for him, his [4h6s] was dominated by Failla’s[Jh6c]. The board ran out clean for Failla, who threw his hands skyward, elated to be the latest WPT Champion.

Failla told Mike Sexton that the win was one of the greatest moments of his life, second only to the birth of his son.  In addition to the $758,085, Failla earned the recognition and respect that come with being a WPT title holder.  Even though Failla has been on the grind for years, his moment in the WPT spotlight got him a little choked up. After years of hard work and perseverance, Failla finally showed the world that you can’t stop destiny and you most certainly can’t stop the man known as The Thrill.

Here are the results from the final table of the Legends of Poker Main Event:

1st: Will Failla – $758,,085
2nd: Ken Aldridge – $365,800
3rd: Jeff Vertes – $186,400
4th: Joshua Pollock – $128,500
5th: Adam Aronson – $102,800
6th: Owais Ahmed – $77,100