Mohsin Charania Wins Second WPT Title at Five Diamond World Poker Classic

At the start of Day 4 at the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic there were 78 players remaining in the hunt for the title from the original field of 586 players. Mohsin Charania was in 78th place among those players. Charania prepared himself well for tonight’s heads-up match by pulling off a comeback to make the final table that saw him rise from a stack of 30,000 with blinds at 2,000-4,000 to make the final table with 2,415,000 (fifth chip-position).

Things didn’t improve much for Charania by the start of heads-up play, and he took a stack of 3,325,000 into battle at a 9-1 chip disadvantage against BLUFF.com Ones to Watch Garrett Greer. Charania saved his greatest comeback in this tournament for the heads-up final as he doubled up five times to take a dominant chip lead and ultimately win the tournament. Charania has now won two WPT titles. His first came at the bwin WPT Grand Prix de Paris during Season XII, and Charania becomes just the 21st player to win multiple WPT titles. He now holds close to $2.5 million in career earnings on the tour.

Here were the chip counts when cards got into the air today at 4:00 pm PT:

Seat 1. Tobias Reinkemeier – 3,625,000 (60 bb)
Seat 2. Ryan Julius – 940,000 (15 bb)
Seat 3. Ryan Fee – 3,055,000 (50 bb)
Seat 4. Garrett Greer – 3,260,000 (54 bb)
Seat 5. Mohsin Charania – 2,415,000 (40 bb)
Seat 6. Brett Shaffer – 4,290,000 (71 bb)

The eliminations came quick to get us down to the final three players on the final day of this six-day tournament. The only hiccup in that plan came when Ryan Julius doubled up on the fifth hand of play.

Hand 36 saw Tobias Reinkemeier all in after Greer put him on a decision for his tournament life preflop. Reinkemeier called with A10 in the hole but he was behind the JJ of Greer. The board was dealt 10625Q and Reinkemeier was eliminated in sixth place, good for $218,842.

The final table took a break after that but soon after the players returned Ryan Fee got the last of chips into the middle on Hand 43. Fee min-raised to 200,000 from the cutoff to start the hand and Greer called on the button. The flop was dealt J102 and Fee bet 400,000. Greer tanked and called. The turn brought the 3 and Fee bet 1,000,000. Greer tanked again and then shoved all in. Fee called all in for 3,885,000 with AA, but he was behind the JJ of Greer. The J fell on the river and Fee was out in fifth place, good for $272,842.

Just six hands later another Ryan was all in, and this time it was Ryan Julius, who was all in preflop with pocket nines. Brett Shaffer had him covered and he held the lead with pocket aces. The board changed nothing and the pocket aces held up to eliminate Julius from the tournament in fourth place, good for $562,736.

The action hit a big speed bump after that when Charania scored a double up at the expense of Greer. That set in a lull in play that lasted another 58 hands before Charania doubled up again, this time at the expense of Shaffer on the 108th hand of play.

Shaffer got the last of his chips into the middle a few hands later. On Hand 114 he reraised all in for 2.55 million after Garrett Greer opened the pot with a min-raise to 300,000. Greer called with KQ and he was behind the 99 of Shaffer. The board ran out AJ3A3 to give Greer a flush and Shaffer was eliminated in third place, good for $562,736.

Play was paused again after the elimination to rearrange the television set for the final heads-up battle between Greer, who would start the final with a chip lead worth 14.25 million; and Charania, who held 3,325,000 as the short stack.

Charania faced a large deficit with a 9-1 chip disadvantage, but this is where his comeback began in earnest. Charania doubled up four times through Greer to bring the chip counts close to even, but it was the fifth double up that really decided the outcome of the tournament. On Hand 180, Greer raised to 750,000 and Charania reraised all in for 8,225,000. Greer called and they flipped over their cards. Greer held AK and Charania showed 33. The board was dealt 952J2 and Charania doubled up to take a huge chip lead with 16,550,000.

Greer was down to 1,025,000, and although he doubled up once, Greer just didn’t have enough ammo to make the same comeback that Charania had just pulled off. The final hand was the 184th at the final table. Greer moved all in preflop for 1.45 million with 22 in the hole and Charania called holding 96. The board fell Q1084J to give Charania a straight and the win. Greer was out in second place, and he earned $869,683 for his deep run in the tournament.

Charania’s prizes include $1,477,890, a Hublot King Power Unico watch, a pair of gold Monster 24K headphones, and a WPT Champions Trophy. Charania’s name will be engraved for a second time on the one-and-only WPT Champions Cup, and his prize money includes a $15,400 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship in Atlantic City. Congratulations to Mohsin Charania!

Final Table Results:

1st: Mohsin Charania – $1,477,890
2nd: Garrett Greer – $869,683
3rd: Brett Shaffer – $562,736
4th: Ryan Julius – $383,684
5th: Ryan Fee – $272,842
6th: Tobias Reinkemeier – $218,842

That concludes our coverage from the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic. This is the final WPT event of the year, but you can check out the action for the first WPT Event in 2015 at the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open from January 25-30. Thanks to the Bellagio for hosting another great event, and thanks to Joe Giron for providing tonight’s great photos. You can see more of his work here.