Just last April, Aaron Frei won his first MSPT trophy after winning the first $360 MSPT Golden Gates Regional Event of Season 10 and now he joins the club of back-to-back winners as he successfully defended his title to win the second $360 MSPT Golden Gates Regional Event of the season after a four-way shop, earning $36,607 as well as his second MSPT trophy and the title.
"It's really hard to go wire-to-wire like that. I've never done this before. I've never done back to back. I can't really believe it with so many players. I just feel very fortunate, I ran really well, I got away with a couple of good plays, but overall just pretty lucky. My friends tell me that I definitely run better in this Casino than I should," Frei said after his win.
The tournament attracted a field of 915 players but only 131 of them returned on Day 2. Aaron Frei was sharing the overall lead with Ryan Brown heading into the final day and between his run of good cards, and his game on point, he never really relinquished that chip lead and kept extending instead.
With the fast-paced structure, the pressure was on early and chips were flying in all directions. Players were heading to the payout desk in succession and within a few hours, the final table was reached.
"The structure was really fast so it was a lot of gambling, a lot of pressure," Frei commented.
Indeed, having almost one-third of the chips in play when the final table started, Frei didn't waste any time and was seen jamming on his opponents left and right. He proved at multiple times that he wasn't afraid to put his chips in the middle. His big bluff when he shoved with queen-high on the river against Sergio Ruiz, who was the second biggest stack, was a confirmation of that.
"I just kind of knew when he checked back he just didn't want to continue after that and I just went for it. I just didn't think he could call that big of a bet with us being the two biggest stacks. Everybody else was kind of short so I didn't think he would want to risk it unless he really had it."
Frei doesn't plan on stopping here. In fact, he plans on chasing another MSPT trophy.
"I will definitely play this Main."
Final Table Action
Johnny Ambrosio was the first casualty of the final table. Ambrosio only had three big blinds left and he three-bet jammed with deuces. Frei added the remainder to call with six-four suited and flopped aces and sixes to win the pot, ending Ambrosio's run in 9th place.
Ambrosio was followed to the payout desk by Gary Schneider. Schneider was also short and needed to find a spot to double up. When Corey Zedo moved all in from middle positon with ace-queen suited, he called for less from the big blind with fours. However, Zedo flopped a queen and Schneider couldn't improve, heading to the exit instead in 8th place.
Abhinav Parakh was eliminated in 7th place when he three-bet shoved his last four big blinds with king-ten suited after a raise from Frei with five-three suited. Fried called, rivered a five, and that was it for Parakh's deep run.
Ben Berman was next to go. He three-bet jammed with king-ten and got called by both Sergio Ruiz who held king-ten suited and Aaron Frei who had queen-jack. Frei rivered a jack, scooping the pot and sending Berman to the exit in 6th place.
Michael Hinde was the last bustout before the four-way deal was reached. He moved all in from the small blind for his last four big blinds with five-three and got called by Griffin Malatino with king-six. Malatino flopped a pair of kings and took down the pot, eliminating Hinde in 5th place.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews coverage of the MSPT Golden Gates Regional Event.