Shrikant Pillamarapu Turns Freeroll Satellite into WPT Prime Lodge Championship Victory for $148,527

Poker is one of the few games on Earth where players can turn $0 into life-changing money. For Shrikant Pillamarapu, that exact dream became reality as he won the WPT Prime Lodge Championship. After topping the 1,074-entry field, which generated a $1,051,480 prize pool for the top 137 players, Pillamarapu won $148,527 after a heads-up deal.

This was one of the first major events held at The Lodge in Round Rock, Texas, after it was unlawfully closed after a raid that took place on March 10, a day following the Lodge Championship Series Main Event.

From Worst to First

Despite starting the nine-man final table in last place with just 25 big blinds, Pillamarapu was patient and rode his stack to victory on one of the most memorable final tables to date.

There were some pretty big names on the final table but none bigger than David Pham, who has over $11 million in career live tournament earnings, which overshadowed the rest of the field by some margin. Pillamarapu, meanwhile, had just one career live tournament cash for $381. Yet, the underdog story was on.

Pillamarapu was able to get a hefty addition to his stack by knocking out Michael Jones in ninth place, with Pillamarapu picking up pocket aces against Jones’ ace-king.

Despite starting as the chip leader with 118 big blinds, Pranay Patlolla ended up falling in eighth place. Pillamarapu, once again, picked up pocket aces against Patlolla’s pocket kings.

After Matthew McDowell lost a flip with pocket sevens against Vladyslav Shovkovyi’s ace-jack, Shovkovyi busted in sixth with ace-seven against Pillamarapu’s pocket jacks. Pham hit the rail in fifth after running his queen-jack into Preston Duron’s ace-jack.

Pillamarapu had another one go his way to send Duron packing in fourth, spiking an ace after getting in with ace-deuce against Duron’s pocket eights.

In three-handed play, one hand after rejecting a three-way ICM chop, Urban was the next to go, losing with pocket queens against Quattrocchi’s ace-seven to create the unlikeliest of heads-up battles.

Though Quattrocchi took a slight lead into heads-up play, the underdog hero took the heads-up match back to virtually even before one of poker’s greatest hands of the year played out.

Pillamarapu three-bet preflop with A♦️J♣️ against Kenneth Quattrocchi’s A♣️5♣️. Miraculously, the board ran out K♦️9♣️8♣️T♣️Q♣️, giving Pillamarapu a straight flush. Quattrocchi snap-called and was left with crumbs.

After a short spin-up, Pillamarapu won the deciding flip, with his pocket fives holding against Quattrocchi’s ace-jack to win $138,527 plus a $10,000 WPT World Championship seat. After winning the title, Pillamarapu was visibly emotional, bursting into tears with his head in his hands.

WPT Prime Lodge Championship Final Table Results

* Players agreed to a heads-up ICM deal