Doctor Goes to Work Before Playing Final Table, Ends Up Winning $136,054

One hand changed Kyle Smith’s destiny. He would either have a big chip lead, or, as he called it, he would make the “biggest punt in tournament poker history.” Smith, though, wound up on the right side of that sharp dividing line, and it made all the difference today at the final table of the Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event.

Smith’s double up off start-of-day chip leader Patrick Martorella right at the beginning of the final table gave him a massive chip lead and propelled him on to victory as the family doctor took down the title and $136,054 top prize after agreeing to a heads-up deal with Phong Nguyen.

Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event Final Table Results

_{*- denotes heads-up deal}

Hospital Before Final Table

“It’s so exciting. The money means more than the trophy, but it’s fun saying you took down a field of 280 people. All respect to my opponent, you know, he put me in a very, very difficult spot heads-up. We agreed to a chop. But it’s nice bringing home a little bit of hardware,” Smith said after taking home the trophy for beating out the 280-entry field.

Smith describes himself as a recreational player. Originally from Michigan, he now works as a family doctor in Bethesda, Maryland. He even went to work this morning before coming to play the final table. He had only around $90,000 in live earnings before this event, according to the Hendon Mob, with his largest career score coming here at the MGM National Harbor when he finished second in a $320 Mystery Bounty event at the 2023 Potomac Poker Open for $51,000. His score today vastly exceeded all his previous earnings combined, but it’s not going to change much in his poker career.

“I’m a recreational player. I got up and went to work this morning after sleeping four hours last night, so it’s not going to change my poker career. It might make a few differences financially,” he said.

Smith Makes the Right Diagnosis Against Martorella

Smith began the final table in fourth place as six players returned at 1 p.m. local time to battle for the trophy. On one of the first hands, he was faced with an all-in shove from Martorella on the turn. Smith tanked for several minutes before calling with a pair of eights, while Martorella had straight and flush draws. Smith held on, and he earned the massive double up to take a big chip lead over the rest of the final table.

“What was going through my mind is, if I call this off and I’m wrong, it’s one of the biggest punts in tournament poker history. But I made the right call, and thankfully faded a bunch of outs,” he said. “It gave me a lot more confidence and patience. I didn’t feel like I needed to be in a rush, and I was able to put other people in more difficult situations.”

Smith then spiked a straight on the river to bust Chris Kiani in sixth, while Martorella got some chips back when he called Jonathan Moritz’s shove with two fives. Moritz was looking for an ace to survive, but he couldn’t connect with the board and the BetMGM online qualifier busted in fifth place.

Martorella then moved all in for 1,270,000 and Smith called in the small blind. Smith hit top pair on the flop, while the river gave Martorella kings and sevens. He began to celebrate a double up, but Smith then pointed out he had aces and jacks to win the pot. Martorella’s day came to an end with a fourth-place finish, and Smith took 60 percent of the chips in play into three-handed action.

Justin Liberto entered the final table as the most accomplished player left in the field. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner is a regular in some of the biggest buy-in events on the poker calendar and had compiled a stellar resume with more than $8 million in live earnings. But he couldn’t beat the doctor today. Liberto dropped multiple pots to Smith before he moved all in for his last 1,000,000 from the small blind. Nguyen woke up with nines in the big blind and snap-called, and Liberto’s eight-high couldn’t come from behind as he had to settle for third place.

Nguyen Mounts a Comeback Before Deal is Reached

Smith led 13,400,000 to 3,400,000 at the start of heads-up, and the two opponents agreed to look at the numbers and discuss a deal. Nguyen was offered an additional $12,000 on top of the $112,048 second-place prize, but he turned it down. “I don’t have anything to lose,” he said, and they went ahead with heads-up play.

Smith turned a pair of kings to beat Nguyen’s pocket tens in a big pot, and Nguyen fell below 2,000,000 before he doubled up after flopping top pair of queens against Smith’s pair of nines. Nguyen hit a flush and nut straight on back-to-back hands to take the chip lead for the first time at the final table. Just as the players were going to head off on a break, they saw a board featuring two tens when Smith bet 1,700,000 on the river. Nguyen called with queen-ten, but Smith had ace-ten to win the big pot and move back in front.

When they returned from break, they agreed to take another look at the numbers. It didn’t take long for them to reach a deal, with Nguyen taking home around $130,000 and Smith $137,000. They even shared the trophies, Smith taking the glass MGM National Harbor one and Nguyen the black BetMGM trophy. Smith, though, got to sit in the spotlight and take the winner’s photos as the official champion.

Smith explained that, even when Nguyen started to come back and claim the lead during their heads-up match, he never lost hope. “I told myself to just be patient and play my game. It’s easy to feel like everything is slipping away, but ultimately, we were still very, very deep with a lot of poker left to play. So I told myself to just be patient, let it come,” he said.

Tomorrow it’s back to work at his medical practice, but for today, Smith got to call himself a champion after making the biggest diagnosis of his poker career.

That concludes PokerNews‘ coverage of the Potomac Summer Poker Open Main Event. Stay tuned for more coverage of events from around the world.