Last month, Chino Rheem finished 7th at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. This month, Rheem was able to overcome a 497 player field to win his first ever WPT title at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

The final table of the this event was stacked with many top pros including Amnon Filippi, Hoyt Corkins, Justin Young, and Steve Sung. Corkins was the first player to be eliminated from the event when his flopped pair of queens ran into a flopped pair of kings by Justin Young.

Amnon Filippi and Steve Sung were both eliminated from the event when when they were on the short end of a three way all-in against Justin Young. Filippi held pocket nines against the pocked kings of Sung and the pocket aces of Young. Young’s rockets were good and both Filippi and Sung hit the door. Sung started the hand with more chips and would become the 4th place finisher.

Evan McNiff was eliminated after a couple of hands against Chino Rheem. Rheem first outdrew McNiff when his A-9 spiked a nine on the turn against the A-J of McNiff. Later, McNiff was all-in against Rheem. Rheem miraculously was ahead with 10-9 suited against the 10-4 offsuit of McNiff. The board missed both players and the 10-9 played. At this point play was heads up between Chino Rheem and Justin Young.

Heads up play would last over five hours with both players taking their turn as the chip leader. The tide turned to Chino’s favor when he caught a better two pair against Young to take the chip lead. A few hands later Chino would move all-in over the top of a 4.4 million chip raise from Young. The board read Ks-7d-3d and Young went into the tank. Finally he let the hand go and Rheem showed Ad-4d for the nut flush draw.

The final hand between these two would come around 1:30 A.M. Pacific time when Young moved all-in on a Q-8-3 flop. Rheem snap called with pocket kings and Young showed Q-5 for a pair of queens. The turn and river missed both players and Chino Rheem became the champion of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

For his win, Chino Rheem took home $1.538 Million and his first WPT title. After finishing 7th in the WSOP Main Event, Rheem felt that this win was validation. This win will surely prove that his run in the WSOP Main Event was no fluke.