Tim Krauskopf took down the top prize in the PokerAtlas Tour Title Event when the final five players agreed to a chop to bring the inaugural tour stop at Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip to a close. The tournament series awarded more than $865,000 in prize money across ten tournaments that ran from March 7-18.
Krauskopf is usually a $3-$5 and $5-$10 NLHE cash-game player back home in Chicago, so here is what had to say about adjusting to the tournament this week: “I used to play tournaments when it was still legal everywhere in the U.S. I almost had to learn my way out of that to come back and play tournaments. I had this block of time where I came out here to Vegas for St. Patty’s Day weekend, and I was like ‘wow – wait, there’s a $300k guarantee starting on Saturday? And I can play until Monday?”
“It’s wonderful, the trophy is one of the big parts of it,” Krauskopf continued. “It’s hard to take too much credit for it. You play a big stack, and then you play a little bit of a bully. You limp in, because you can afford the limp, and then if you hit you can really do some damage, and inflict some pain. And then once you get a couple they’re afraid of your bets. So I was able to get a couple of bluffs through too.”
Some of the other marquee titles claimed during the tournament series were the $500 NLHE Madness Kickoff Event, and the $400 Mystery Bounty. All three of the top events awarded five-figure paydays to the winner. All three of the tournaments with six-figure guarantees hosted during the series also surpassed their guarantees.
Las Vegas cash-game player Benton Blakeman captured the title in the Madness Kickoff event despite logging a bunch of hours at the cash tables during the same stretch of days.
We caught up with Blakeman just after the win for an exit interview about his path to victory and tournament experience here at the PokerAtlas Tour. Here is what he had to say about the win. “Oh man, it was tough. I’ve been playing cash in between so it’s been like four or five days straight of 12-13 hour days. I don’t play many tournaments so this is different. I play maybe three or four tournaments a year. I’m mainly a cash-game player at Bellagio,” said Blakeman.
When he was asked about how he adjusted from his hours playing cash to tournaments so quickly, Blakeman responded, “It all just depends, but I usually play four to 10 hours. Yesterday I played for 13 hours because there was a big game that was a crazy game for a while at Bobby’s Room at Bellagio and I couldn’t leave. I did Bobby’s Room, came here and played the tournament, and then I went back and played Bobby’s Room cash and came back here to finish the tournament today.”
Take a look below at the full payouts for the tournament series. The PokerAtlas Tour heads to Texas for the next tournament series hosted at Texas Card House Houston from April 10-22.
PokerAtlas Tour Resorts World Tournament Series Champions:
Event 1: $500 NLHE Madness Kickoff – Benton Blakeman ($42,460)
Event 2: $400 Giant Stack – Xiang Zou ($9,000)
Event 3: $260 NLHE Night Cap – Jackson Holtgraves ($4,121)
Event 4: $400 Mystery Bounty – Joseph Koreski ($22,970)
Event 5: $400 Omaha 8OB – Adam Lieberman ($7,505)
Event 6: $400 HORSE – Daniel Anton ($9.736)
Event 7: $400 Omaha 8OB/Stud 8OB – Nicolas Milgrom ($9,072)
Event 8: $800 PokerAtlas Tour Title Event – Tim Krauskopf ($45,968)
Event 9: $260 NLHE Night Cap – Scott Sisler ($4,580)
Event 10: $260 NLHE Night Cap – Justin Ouimette ($4,580)
Ryan is one of the original PokerLiveUpdates team members, a veteran poker tournament reporter who provides live updates reporting from the World Poker Tour, along with other tours and locations. He developed the FunTour2.0 concept of providing tremendous tournament coverage while exploring the world's best craft beer venues.
