2007 WSOP Event #49 – Chandrasekhar Billavara Wins $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

Chandrasekhar Billavara almost didn’t play in the 3,151 player $1,500 no-limit hold’em tournament.  In his only other event at the 2007 WSOP, he busted out on the third hand.  But using a run of good fortune, he won $3,200 at the craps tables and decided to give it one more shot.  Good thing he did, as he took him $722,914 as a result.

Billavara needed that luck from the pit to carry over to the poker table, as he was last in chips going into the final table.  He wasn’t way behind, though, so, as he said, “…if I could just double up once I might have a chance.”

Well, he didn’t double-up right away, but he did get dealt A-A on his very first hand and at least got off to a good start.  That win was a spring board to a series of double-ups over the course of five hours.  He seemed to always come out ahead, regardless of whether or not he put his chips in with the worst or best of it.

His only real bump in the road was about an hour before the end of the tournament, when he doubled-up John Hunt when he lost a coin-flip.  No matter.  He eliminated Leandro Pimentel shortly thereafter and then got revenge on Hunt, knocking him out of the tournament in 3^rd place.

Going into heads-up, he had about a 5.5 million chip to 4 million chip advantage on Taylor Douglas.  Billavara got the best of the cards during heads-up play, and after bowing to Douglas’s all-ins once Douglas was short-stacked, Billavara finally caught his opponent with his hand in the cookie jar.  Douglas pushed with Q-9 and Billavara called with A-7.  He caught an Ace on the turn to clinch the victory and earn a nice check with which to pay off some of his mortgage.

Final Table Standings

1. Chandrasekhar Billavara -- $722,914
2. Taylor Douglas -- $467,101
3. John Hunt -- $292,476
4. Leandro Pimentel -- $189,249
5. Duane Felix -- $131,184
6. Cort Kibler-Melby -- $96,775
7. Ray Spencer -- $75,270
8. Greg Mueller -- $55,914
9. Lewis Titterton -- $45,162