After a long two days of poker, it was time to gather the final six players on the poker stage to play down to the DeepStacks Poker Tour Western New York Poker Champion. Billy Vogel and Lou Procopio had a significant chip advantage over the four other players at the table but the structure allowed even the shortest stack a chance to work their way up the leaderboard.
Steve Przybyl began the day looking to improve on his 2nd place finish from this event last year but had a lot of work to get there. With just a small fraction of the chips in play, he didn't wait long to get his chips in the middle. Lou Procopio raised from the cutoff on the second hand of play and Przybyl moved all in from the big blind with [As][Jh]. Procopio called with [Qd][4d] and went ahead for good on the Queen-high flop. Przybyl was eliminated in 6th place for $13,359.
Tom Krol was the next to exit and never really had a chance to get much going from the start. He found a spot to double up but ran a big hand against Billy Vogel. In a limped pot, blinds versus blinds, Krol opened for 50,000 on the [Jd][Ts][7c] flop and Vogel put him all-in. After some contemplation, Krol called his last 193,000 with [Jh][3s] for top pair versus Vogel's [Qc][9h] and open ended straight draw. The turn [Ks] locked up the hand for Vogel and Krol was eliminated in 5th for $17,802.
Michael Wachowski began with the second shortest stack but that did not stop him from splashing those chips around. Some three-bet shoves and a well timed river bluff gave him some chips to play with 4-handed but he tried it one too many times. Wachowski check raised the [Qh][4d][2h] flop against Billy Vogel and then shoved his last 343,000 on the [2c] turn. Vogel thought for a bit before calling with [Qc][9s] for top pair Wachowski just said, "You got me". His [Kh][7s] needed a miracle King on the river which did not appear. Wachowski was knocked out in 4th place for $22,245.
Three handed play began with Vogel and Procopio holding most of the chips while Nick Goetz behind more the 2-to-1 against both. Sensing neither of the big stacks wanted to play big pots against each other, Goetz built his stack up with a series of all-ins to get himself back into contention. Play continued with very few flops and even fewer showdowns until Goetz lost a big pot to Procopio leaving him once again short. He open shoved his remaining 425,000 and was called by Billy Vogel in the small blind with Procopio folding after long consideration.
Goetz found himself far behind Vogel with [Qh][Tc] versus [Ah][Ts]. The flop was [9c][4d][2s] was little help but the [Jd] gave him a good sweat on the river. The [Td] on the river was no help and jovial 21 year old was eliminated in 3rd place for $31,161.
After a quick dinner break, Vogel and Procopio returned for the Championship heads up battle with near identical stacks. Procopio with the small lead at 2,845,000 against Vogel's 2,620,000 with blinds at 20,000/40,000 and 5,000 ante.
With such deep stacks in play, we did not expect fireworks too early in the match but were proven wrong. Procopio limped from the small blind in an early pot only to have Vogel raise it up to 100,000. Vogel led out for 90,000 after the [Ac][Kc][7s] flop which Procopio called, and another 200,000 bet after the [6d] on the turn. Procopio cut out his chips several times before making the call to see a [Ts] river. Vogel bet 640,000 giving Procopio plenty to think about, and eventually call. Vogel tabled [9h][8h] for a straight and Procopio mucked his hand. That put Vogel up to 3,700,000 and Procopio down to 1,700,000.
There were only a few minor hands where chips were shuffled back towards Procopio before he finally lost enough to three-bet his last 700,000 chips in the middle with [Qs][Jd] and Vogel called with [Kh][4h]. The board ran out clean with [8h][8d][3s][3h][9d] eliminating Lou Procopio in 2nd place for $43,928 and making Billy Vogel the DeepStacks Poker Tour Western New York Poker Champion.
Vogel collects his title along with the trophy and $71,825.
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