Hands #87-89: Nino Marotta Eliminated in 3rd Place (AUD $413,873)

Photo:  Nino Marotta seemed pretty happy until that ace hit the river, when he threw up his arms in disgust.

HAND #87  –  Richard Lee raises from the button to 600,000, taking the blinds and ante.

HAND #88  –  Everyone folds to Richard Lee, giving him a walk in the big blind.

HAND #89  –  Martin Kozlov moves all in from the button, and Nino Marotta calls all in from the big blind for about 2,200,000 with .

Kozlov turns over , and Marotta needs his hand to hold to stay alive.

The flop comes , and Marotta picks up a gutshot straight draw.

The turn card is the , and Marotta picks up a club flush draw.

But the river card is — the !

Kozlov spikes an ace on the river to win the pot and eliminate Nino Marotta in third place.

Nino Marotta  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  (AUD $413,873)

There will be a 20-minute break before the start of heads-up play. Here are the official chip counts for the start of heads-up play, followed by the remaining payouts:

Richard Lee  –  21,900,000  (88 bb)
Martin Kozlov  –  8,475,000  (34 bb)

1st:  AUD $854,890*  (~US $550,267*)
2nd:  AUD $559,672  (~US $360,244)

* First-prize amount includes the winner’s US $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship in Las Vegas.

NOTE:  For worldwide consistency across all WPT events, the amounts on the Payouts page are in U.S. dollars. For this event, payouts have been converted using a rate of AUD 1.00 = US $0.64367.