Players continue to capture gold as the poker tournament series unfolds
The World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship’s main event hasn’t started yet, but several winners have already taken home big prizes at the Wynn Las Vegas series.
The $40-million guaranteed tournament series is the largest prize pool in poker history, kicking off on December 12. But in the days leading up to that historic event, we look at those players who’ve won the Wynn replica trophies awarded so far during the festival.
Top Canadian grinder Mike Leah took another title last week, winning the $2,200 8-Game for $78,841 and increasing his career cashes to more than $8.2 million. Leah had to conquer a challenging final table to come out on top. Matthew Vengrin finished seventh for $10,950, Alan Myerson took sixth place for $14,016, and David “Bakes” Baker was fifth for $18,688. Dzmitry Urbanovich finished fourth, taking home $25,258.
After Caleb Shumard was eliminated in third place ($34,018), Leah would beat Pennsylvania native Luigi D’Santoro ($48,676) heads-up to win the title over 146 entrants for the biggest share of the $291,000 pot.
The $1,600 Mystery Bounty at Wynn drew 3,421 entrants vying for the $500,000 first-place prize and the mystery bounties available. George Tomescu would outlast the field, taking a total of $564,202, including bounties, the largest cut of the $3,215,740 prize pool.
The Romanian beat Jiacong Zhang ($324,347) heads-up to take the title. Jack Hardcastle finished in third place ($249,761), and Matthew McEwan took fourth place ($192,754).
The $1,100 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em event at Wynn brought in 146 players, with David Larson winning $141,385 over Renyong Hu, who secured $92,548 for second place. George Heim finished in third place for $71,182.
Emma Rodriguez is the Proofreader at the Big Blind, with seven years of experience and five years in online gambling. She plays a crucial role in maintaining content quality by ensuring error-free, reader-friendly information about the gambling industry.