Yaginuma registered late in the day yesterday after busting 19th in the $1,675 no-limit hold'em main event. He quickly amassed the biggest stack in the room and ended the day as the runaway chip leader.
When play resumed on Tuesday afternoon, it was more of the same for Yaginuma. He completely dominated the final table and was never short on chips. As the field was trimmed from 40 down to the final nine, Yaginuma's stack only kept growing and he started the final table with the chip lead.
He bested a final table that featured plenty of tough players. WSOP Bracelet winners Mike Leah and Barry Hutter were at the final table, as well as tough pros Ben Palmer, Michael Aron, and Joe Serock. Yaginuma navigated through the whole field and defeated Matthew Wantman heads-up to take home the title.
Yaginuma is a professional poker player from Maryland that now makes Los Angeles his home.
Here are the final table results:
1st: Jesse Yaginuma - $108,345
2nd: Matthew Wantman - $66,975
3rd: Mike Leah - $48,345
4th: Ben Palmer - $35,525
5th: Michael Aron - $26,555
6th: Qing Liu - $20,190
7th: Tom Braband - 15,610
8th: Barry Hutter - $12,260
9th: Joe Serock - $9,785