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Home / Uncategorized / WSOP 2018: Zobian out in sixth, takes $1.8 million but no regrets

Aram Zobian’s final hand in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was 8♦ 6♦ . After 76 hours of play, through nine days at the Rio Hotel & Casino, the 23-year-old Rhode Island native got the last of his chips in with eight high.

Does he have any regrets? “Zero,” Zobian said. “I don’t think that’s any secret: From the beginning of the final table I was going for the win.”

Aram Zobian: Out in sixth after falling to Dyer

Zobian became the tournament’s sixth-placed finisher within the first level of play here in Las Vegas, open-pushing his last 17 big blinds after action folded to him in the small blind. Michael Dyer picked him off in the big blind with A♥ 8♣ and Zobian didn’t get any help. He takes $1.8 million.

He was also bullish in the immediate aftermath of elimination, happy to have stuck to his game-plan and put himself in a position where he was a legitimate challenger for poker’s ultimate prize.

“It gave me a lot of confidence, to pull the trigger,” Zobian said of his deep run. “It was intense, fun and amazing. I met a lot of people, I played a shit-ton of hands…The fact they didn’t give us a little time off before the final table was a little brutal, but it taught me that I can really push through mentally and physically and still play well after enduring all that.”

Zobian said he’ll now start travelling a lot more as a poker player, and pledged to give some of his money to charity and to help out some family members. Many of his cousins from California were among his battalion of supporters, who have watched from the rail wearing T-shirts bearing his face and the legend: “Aggro Aram.”

“It’s pretty awesome,” he said. “It’s an awesome shirt for sure. It just really appreciated that. It’s awesome to see these people in general.”

Seasoned poker observers have been impressed by Zobian’s play over the past week and a half, and he said his performance was the culmination of years honing his craft.

“It’s definitely not easy,” he said. “It’s a lot of hours, a lot of pain, a lot of stress and at times doubt. But you have to shoo that away and just keep pushing through, work on your game mentally, theoretically, which I did in many ways.”

Aram Zobian: Last moments at the 2018 WSOP

With the huge stack of Dyer sitting to his left, he knew he would need to work to find opportunities to build from the overnight short stack.

“In years past I’ve watched it and I’ve seen people folding hands that in my opinion shouldn’t be folded, trying to ladder up,” he said. “I respect that, that’s their life. My decision was to go for the win because I felt I deserved to give myself that opportunity.”

The opportunity has now passed for Zobian, leaving just Nic Manion, John Cynn, Tony Miles and Joe Cada to see what they can do about Dyer, whose stack continues to grow ever more imposing.

Latest chip counts

Blinds: 500,000-1 million

Name Country Chips/Payout
Michael Dyer USA 181,925,000
Nicolas Manion USA 70,000,000
John Cynn USA 54,675,000
Tony Miles USA 59,650,000
Joe Cada USA 27,525,000
Aram Zobian USA 6th – $1.8 million
Alex Lynskey Australia 7th – $1.5 million
Artem Metalidi Ukraine 8th – $1.25 million
Antoine Labat France 9th – $1 million

Selected previous 2018 WSOP coverage:

Party shifts from Amazon Room as Lynskey departs
Metalidi takes the fall as Zobian hits twice
Antoine Labat killed by the kings that once saved him
Final table player profiles
Two Miles: Jim and Tony
Is Hellmuth closing in on bracelet #15
As England departs World Cup, a new hero emerges
From the archive: Kassouf is finally silenced
Short stories of long nights at the poker table
The payout process
Then and now: Jake Cody
From the archive: K.L. Cleeton’s inspiring run
Inside the ideas factory: Jason Somerville’s Run It Up Studios
Stop, start, break, start, bubble for Matt Hopkins
Then and now: Barry Greenstein
A comprehensive guide to the WSOP bubble
Untangling the cake riddle to discover the key to Liv Boeree’s heart
Meet Muskan Sethi: India’s presidential poker ambassador
Then and Now: Daniel Negreanu
A flippin’ fantastic way to enter a poker tournament
Jeff Gross: A momentary pause in the perpetual motion
From the archive: Stages
Moneymaker surveys the world he created
Negreanu continues preparations for PokerStars Players Championship
Then and Now: Andre Akkari
Then and Now: Maria Konnikova

WSOP photos by PokerPhotoArchive.com.

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