Bin Weng has been virtually unstoppable since the beginning and the year and has now reached consecutive World Poker Tour (WPT) final tables.

The Philadelphia area poker pro is one of six players on Monday who made the WPT Choctaw final table, which will take place in Las Vegas at Luxor’s HyperX Arena on May 26. Weng will already be in town as he also made the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown final table, scheduled for May 25 in the same venue.

What’s even more impressive is that he’ll enter both final tables with the chip lead. But the competition will be stiff. In the Choctaw finale, he’ll be facing some tough opponents including former WPT Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz and another past WPT champion, Jared Jaffee.

What’s Going Right for Bin Weng?

In January, Weng took down a Borgata tournament for $1 million, then won a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring in February for over $200,000. He followed that up by reaching the Seminole final table last week with $1.1 million on the line, and on Monday he earned a spot in the Choctaw final table, which pays $400,740 to first place.

According to Hendon Mob, he has over $3.4 million in live tournament cashes. But 2023 has been an extraordinary year for the poker pro. PokerNews spoke with him at the conclusion of Day 3 to find out why he’s on such a heater.

“I was not doing so great in the second half of 2022,” Weng said. “I skipped a couple of events, I spent a month at home. I skipped a WSOP ring series, studying at home. So I changed my strategy a little bit. I hope that works, but I know I’m just running good, running pure this year in a lot of big spots.”

It may be true that he’s been on the positive side of variance this year, but we aren’t talking about one or two deep runs. Weng’s already won two large field events in 2023 and has a shot at two more later this month. So it can’t just be the cards, right?

“I will say I did change my strategy, I play a little more aggressive than what I used to be,” Weng explained. “I played kind of a passive type or tighter in the past. But I play more aggressive than in the past years.”

The focus on being more aggressive has clearly worked wonders for Weng’s game. He’s arguably the hottest player in tournament poker right now and could add even more hardware to his 2023 poker accomplishments.

Weng told PokerNews he began playing poker “about 12 years ago” and that he was disappointed in his play during the second half of 2022. Prior to taking up poker as a hobby and then career, he worked in the restaurant industry “doing every position — bartender, manager, chef, almost everything.”

The 40-year-old married father who came to the United States from China when he was 18 may have a good luck charm helping carry him to a memorable year of poker.

“My biggest supporter is my wife,” Weng said. “Without her, I would not go this far.”

Weng will have to focus on multiple final tables later this month, something that his opponents both days won’t have to concern themselves with. He said that could work as a disadvantage for him.

“Right now my mindset, my head is too excited, I just can’t believe it. I made back-to-back. I haven’t thought about that for now, but when I go home I’m definitely going to think about what the best strategy I’m most likely going to input,” Weng said in regards to potentially preparing differently for each final table.

The WPT Choctaw Final Table

When the WPT Choctaw final table begins May 26 in Las Vegas, Weng will be in the chip lead with 8,800,000 (88 big blinds). But his lead over Jaffee — who bagged 7,225,000 on Day 3 — isn’t that large. There’s a bit of a gap between those two players and the rest of the field, however. Mike Vanier, who finished second in the WPT Venetian last year, is in third place with 5,300,000.

There are no super shorty’s who will be in immediate desperation mode when the final table begins. Rusty Farrin has the smallest stack at 1,900,000 (19 big blinds), and everyone else has at least 31 big blinds.

Weng and Jaffee spent much of the day battling for the chip lead after initial Day 3 chip leader Brandon Guzman fell back to the pack and eventually busted in eighth place for $49,000.

Jaffee, who won his first and only World Poker Tour title 10 years ago, is glad to be back in position to add his name to the WPT Champions Cup a second time.

“It’s been a minute,” Jaffee said of potentially winning a second WPT title 10 years after his first one. “I got to a couple WPT final tables after that that I didn’t win, but I haven’t been to one of these televised final ones in a while. It feels great, I definitely have been wanting to get back. It’s been too long and, yeah, I’m not playing for second. I’m coming down there and I’m trying to win the title.”

Each player at the final table was paid the $81,700 guaranteed for sixth place before leaving Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, Oklahoma. The next pay jump is to $107,000 and the winner in the 612-entrant event will take home a nice cool $400,740.

WPT Choctaw Final Table Chip Stacks

_{*Images courtesy of WPT.}

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw $3,800 buy-in Main Event has dwindled down from 612 entries to the final 14 players. At around 3:30 p.m. CT, the tournament staff merged the remaining players to two tables and there has been some major chip leader shifts thus far on Day 3.

Alex Foxen began the day second in chips behind Brandon Guzman and well ahead of third place Bin Weng. But Foxen’s had himself quite the roller coaster session.

Just two hours into the day, the two-time GPI Player of the Year winner had given away around 75% of his stack from the start of the day. He called off a huge all in bet in one hand with pocket nines on the turn against the set of 10’s from Erkut Yilmaz, a former WPT Player of the Year.

Can Anyone Cool Off Bin Weng?

That hand set Foxen back but the high roller crusher would battle back to one of the biggest stacks when his pocket aces were called by the ace-queen of Adrian Buckley, and the best hand held up.

But the biggest story that is progressing is the historic run by Weng, who at the time of publishing was still among the chip leaders. Weng’s on the heater of a lifetime and has an opportunity to reach consecutive WPT final tables.

Last week in South Florida, the poker pro from Philadelphia reached the final table of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown with the chip lead playing for a $1.1 million first place prize. That event will wrap up in Las Vegas at Luxor’s HyperX Arena on May 25.

The WPT Choctaw event will take place in the same venue on the following day, and Weng very well could be seated at the table on both days. Should that happen, it would be one of the top accomplishments in World Poker Tour history. If he were to then go on and win both tournaments, we’re talking about one of the most impressive performances in poker history.

Weng’s heater spans beyond the WPT. He won the $5,300 buy-in Borgata Main Event for $1,000,000 in January and then a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring in February for $227,344.

Bin Weng Leads Final Table at WPT SHR Poker Showdown

Pay Jumps are Getting Serious

When the WPT Choctaw event ends later this month, the winner will take home $400,740. While everyone left in the field is hoping to claim that six-figure prize, there are some major pay jump considerations that will be in play the remainder of Day 3.

At the time of publishing, the minimum payout for those still in the tournament is $20,600. Slight bumps in pay will begin with 13th and 14th place taking home $25,020. But when the final session at Choctaw Casino & Resort concludes later tonight, the six players who bag chips will have a guaranteed minimum payout of $81,700.

_{*Images courtesy of WPT.}

The $600 RunGood Series Checkpoint Main Event has concluded after ten hours of play saw the 44 players that started the day, out of a field of 359, play all the way down to a winner.

Coming out on top with the $39,655 grand prize and getting the lion’s share of the $186,680 prize pool along with the RunGood Poker Series ring was Stacey Berger who captured the title in what became quite the story.

Berger is a Reno local realtor by trade, and she made no secret of the fact that she was not used to playing main events as this was only the second one she had ever played.

“I love the game; I love to play. But it’s just hard to find time to do so. I usually play about once or twice a month,” she said afterward. “I expected to come in today to win $900 dollars (the min-cash), and here I am with the ring!”

She said the moment where she thought that winning may be possible was when she clawed her way back from just two big blinds to survive and keep going in the middle part of the day. As she kept the momentum rolling, her supporting rail grew as her local friends rooted her on, which was a new phenomenon to Berger.

“I didn’t know what a rail was before today,” she was heard saying to her tablemates at the final table when her support was mentioned.

Final Table Results

Berger’s inexperience and freshness on the scene were a factor in the heads-up battle that eventually led to her win. She entered heads-up play with only 25% of the chips against Christian Vinluan, and she was nearly eliminated as runner-up just a couple of hands in as she blinked a river straight to stay alive and denied Vinluan the victory.

From there, it was mostly one-way traffic for her as she was using large preflop opens, as much as 7x in some cases, and making large 30-40 big blind jams on flops and turns, which kept Vinluan off balance. She compiled pot after pot this way and eventually whittled down her opponent to conquer the field and win the ring.

Action of the Day

The day began with 44 players and was trimmed exactly in half down to 22 before the first break of the day. That brisk pace of eliminations would continue as it was one after another all the way down until the final table, where things started to get interesting.

Paul Sampson was the first victim of the final table in ninth place to kick it off.

Pat Lyons entered the final table with a big chip lead as things were looking to be going his way. But his luck would change quickly as his aces were cracked by ace-jack to lose a significant portion of his stack. He would never quite recover from that as he lost some flips to complete his fall from chip leader to an eighth-place finish.

After the initial quickness of the day, play slowed down seven-handed as it took some time before Charles Himes was eliminated in seventh place. Harley Brooks followed him out the door in sixth and Tony Barrera went out in fifth, after he had been the one to deal the decisive early blow to Lyons and change the dynamic of the final table.

Dwight Englekirk went under the radar for most of the night and slid into fourth place.

Darrel Dier was eliminated next in third place as he has quite a story of his own, which he noted he would like to share at some point with the poker world.

That would set up the aforementioned heads-up match between Vinluan and Berger.

2023 RGPS Reno Ring Event Winners

Date Time (ET) Event Guarantee (GC) Entry (GC)

Sun May 7 2:00 pm Rattlesnake Opening GC 2,000,000 Freeroll [Turbo] 2,000,000  

Mon May 8 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 01-L: NLHE GC 4,000,000 Guaranteed 4,000,000 11,000

Mon May 8 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 01-M: NLHE GC 9,000,000 Guaranteed 9,000,000 33,000

Mon May 8 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 01-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed 20,000,000 99,000

Mon May 8 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 01-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed 2,500,000 11,000

Tue May 9 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 02-L: PLO GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 5,000,000 5,500

Tue May 9 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 02-M: PLO GC 9,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 9,000,000 11,000

Tue May 9 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 02-H: PLO GC 16,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] – Lost Sock Memorial Tournament 16,000,000 22,000

Tue May 9 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 02-L: PLO GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 3,500,000 5,500

Wed May 10 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 03-L: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [2R1A] 3,500,000 5,500

Wed May 10 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 03-M: NLHE GC 12,000,000 Guaranteed [2R1A] 12,000,000 22,000

Wed May 10 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 03-H: NLHE GC 25,000,000 Guaranteed [2R1A] 25,000,000 55,000

Wed May 10 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 03-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [2R1A] 2,500,000 5,500

Thu May 11 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 04-L: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Bounty] 3,500,000 11,000

Thu May 11 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 04-M: NLHE GC 8,000,000 Guaranteed [Bounty] 8,000,000 33,000

Thu May 11 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 04-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Bounty] 20,000,000 99,000

Thu May 11 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 04-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [Bounty] 2,500,000 11,000

Fri May 12 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 05-L: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max] 3,500,000 11,000

Fri May 12 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 05-M: NLHE GC 8,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max] 8,000,000 33,000

Fri May 12 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 05-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max] 20,000,000 99,000

Fri May 12 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 05-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max] 2,500,000 11,000

Sat May 13 3:00 pm GPC Rattlesnake 06-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 2,000,000 11,000

Sat May 13 4:15 pm GPC Rattlesnake 06-M: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 3,500,000 22,000

Sat May 13 5:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 06-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 15,000,000 99,000

Sat May 13 6:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 07-X: NLHE GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed [4-Max, Deep] 5,000,000 33,000

Sat May 13 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 08-L: NLHE GC 1,500,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] 1,500,000 5,500

Sat May 13 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 08-M: NLHE GC 8,000,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] 8,000,000 22,000

Sat May 13 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 08-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] 15,000,000 55,000

Sat May 13 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 08-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] 2,000,000 5,500

Sun May 14 3:00 pm GPC Rattlesnake 09-M: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 20,000,000 99,000

Sun May 14 4:15 pm GPC Rattlesnake 09-L: NLHE GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Deep] 5,000,000 22,000

Sun May 14 5:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 09-H: NLHE GC 30,000,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] – Mothers Day 30,000,000 99,000

Sun May 14 6:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 10-X: NLHE GC 750,000 Guaranteed [Live Stream, 2R1A, Turbo] 750,000 3,300

Sun May 14 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 11-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [Deep Turbo] 2,500,000 11,000

Sun May 14 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 11-M: NLHE GC 6,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep Turbo] 6,000,000 33,000

Sun May 14 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 11-H: NLHE GC 17,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep Turbo] 17,000,000 99,000

Sun May 14 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 11-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep Turbo] 2,000,000 11,000

Mon May 15 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 12-L: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, Deep Turbo] 3,000,000 11,000

Mon May 15 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 12-M: NLHE GC 7,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, Deep Turbo] 7,000,000 33,000

Mon May 15 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 12-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, Deep Turbo] 20,000,000 99,000

Mon May 15 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 12-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, Deep Turbo] 2,000,000 11,000

Tue May 16 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 13-L: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Bounty, 6-Max] 3,000,000 11,000

Tue May 16 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 13-M: NLHE GC 7,000,000 Guaranteed [Bounty, 6-Max] 7,000,000 33,000

Tue May 16 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 13-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Bounty, 6-Max] 20,000,000 99,000

Tue May 16 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 13-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Bounty, 6-Max] 2,000,000 11,000

Wed May 17 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 14-L: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 3,000,000 3,300

Wed May 17 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 14-M: NLHE GC 8,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 8,000,000 11,000

Wed May 17 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 14-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 20,000,000 33,000

Wed May 17 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 14-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy, 6-Max] 2,500,000 3,300

Thu May 18 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 15-L: PLO8 GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [8-Max] 2,000,000 11,000

Thu May 18 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 15-M: PLO8 GC 6,000,000 Guaranteed [8-Max] 6,000,000 33,000

Thu May 18 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 15-H: PLO8 GC 8,500,000 Guaranteed [8-Max] 8,500,000 55,000

Thu May 18 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 15-L: PLO8 GC 1,500,000 Guaranteed [8-Max] 1,500,000 11,000

Fri May 19 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 16-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [6-Max] 2,500,000 11,000

Fri May 19 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 16-M: NLHE GC 7,000,000 Guaranteed [6-Max] 7,000,000 33,000

Fri May 19 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 16-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [6-Max] 20,000,000 99,000

Fri May 19 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 16-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [6-Max] 2,000,000 11,000

Sat May 20 3:00 pm GPC Rattlesnake 17-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 2,000,000 11,000

Sat May 20 4:15 pm GPC Rattlesnake 17-M: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 3,500,000 22,000

Sat May 20 5:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 17-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 15,000,000 99,000

Sat May 20 6:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 18-X: FLHE GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed 5,000,000 33,000

Sat May 20 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 19-L: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty] 3,000,000 11,000

Sat May 20 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 19-M: NLHE GC 6,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty] 6,000,000 33,000

Sat May 20 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 19-H: NLHE GC 17,500,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty] 17,500,000 99,000

Sat May 20 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 19-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty] 2,000,000 11,000

Sun May 21 3:00 pm GPC Rattlesnake 20-M: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 20,000,000 99,000

Sun May 21 4:15 pm GPC Rattlesnake 20-L: NLHE GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Deep] 5,000,000 22,000

Sun May 21 5:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 20-H: NLHE GC 30,000,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] 30,000,000 99,000

Sun May 21 6:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 21-X: NLCP GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [8-Max] 3,500,000 33,000

Sun May 21 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 22-L: NLHE GC 1,500,000 Guaranteed [6-Max, Turbo] 1,500,000 11,000

Sun May 21 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 22-M: NLHE GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed [6-Max, Turbo] 5,000,000 33,000

Sun May 21 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 22-H: NLHE GC 13,000,000 Guaranteed [6-Max, Turbo] 13,000,000 99,000

Sun May 21 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 22-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [6-Max, Turbo] 2,000,000 11,000

Mon May 22 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 23-L: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy] 3,000,000 3,300

Mon May 22 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 23-M: NLHE GC 8,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy] 8,000,000 11,000

Mon May 22 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 23-H: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy] 20,000,000 33,000

Mon May 22 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 23-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Rebuy] 2,000,000 3,300

Tue May 23 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 24-L: NLHE GC 2,500,000 Guaranteed [Ante Up] 2,500,000 11,000

Tue May 23 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 24-M: NLHE GC 6,000,000 Guaranteed [Ante Up] 6,000,000 33,000

Tue May 23 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 24-H: NLHE GC 10,000,000 Guaranteed [Ante Up] 10,000,000 55,000

Tue May 23 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 24-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Ante Up] 2,000,000 11,000

Wed May 24 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 25-L: NLHE GC 4,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance] 4,000,000 11,000

Wed May 24 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 25-M: NLHE GC 9,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance] 9,000,000 33,000

Wed May 24 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 25-H: NLHE GC 25,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance] 25,000,000 99,000

Wed May 24 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 25-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance] 2,000,000 11,000

Thu May 25 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 26-L: PLO GC 4,000,000 Guaranteed [2R1A, 6-Max] 4,000,000 11,000

Thu May 25 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 26-M: PLO GC 10,000,000 Guaranteed [2R1A, 6-Max] 10,000,000 33,000

Thu May 25 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 26-H: PLO GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [2R1A, 6-Max] 20,000,000 55,000

Thu May 25 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 26-L: PLO GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [2R1A, 6-Max] 3,000,000 11,000

Fri May 26 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 27-L: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Bounty] 3,000,000 11,000

Fri May 26 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 27-M: NLHE GC 7,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Bounty] 7,000,000 33,000

Fri May 26 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 27-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Bounty] 15,000,000 99,000

Fri May 26 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 27-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Bounty] 2,000,000 11,000

Sat May 27 3:00 pm GPC Rattlesnake 28-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 2,000,000 11,000

Sat May 27 4:15 pm GPC Rattlesnake 28-M: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 3,500,000 22,000

Sat May 27 5:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 28-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 15,000,000 99,000

Sat May 27 6:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 29-X: NLHE GC 3,000,000 Guaranteed [Shootout, Heads-Up, Turbo] 3,000,000 33,000

Sat May 27 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 30-L: NLHE GC 2,750,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance, 6-Max] 2,750,000 11,000

Sat May 27 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 30-M: NLHE GC 6,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance, 6-Max] 6,000,000 33,000

Sat May 27 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 30-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance, 6-Max] 15,000,000 99,000

Sat May 27 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 30-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [2x-Chance, 6-Max] 2,000,000 11,000

Sun May 28 3:00 pm GPC Rattlesnake 31-M: NLHE GC 20,000,000 Guaranteed [Deep] 20,000,000 99,000

Sun May 28 4:15 pm GPC Rattlesnake 31-L: NLHE GC 5,000,000 Guaranteed [Super Deep] 5,000,000 22,000

Sun May 28 5:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 31-H: Main Event NLHE GC 40,000,000 Guaranteed [1R1A] 40,000,000 99,000

Sun May 28 6:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 32-X: NLHE GC 3,500,000 Guaranteed [Hyper-Turbo] 3,500,000 33,000

Sun May 28 7:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 33-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max, Turbo] 2,000,000 11,000

Sun May 28 8:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 33-M: NLHE GC 6,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max,Turbo] 6,000,000 33,000

Sun May 28 9:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 33-H: NLHE GC 15,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max, Turbo] 15,000,000 99,000

Sun May 28 10:30 pm GPC Rattlesnake 33-L: NLHE GC 2,000,000 Guaranteed [Progressive Bounty, 6-Max, Turbo] 2,000,000 11,000

When Sunday’s Day 2 session began at noon CT in Durant, Oklahoma, there were 187 players remaining in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw $3,800 buy-in Main Event. Twelve hours of play later and the field had dwindled down to the final 28 players, all of whom still have a shot at the $400,740 first place prize.

One of those individuals is none other than the great Alex Foxen, one of the top tournament players in the world. The two-time GPI Player of the Year recipient is not only on to Day 3 at noon CT on Monday. When play resumes inside the Grand Theater at Choctaw Casino & Resort, he’ll have 3,380,000 chips, good for 135 big blinds. Only Brandon Guzman, who secured his first ever WPT cash, has more (3,600,000).

Bubble Bursts on Day 2

Just before 7 p.m. on Sunday evening, with 78 players remaining on the stone bubble, three players were eliminated at separate tables — Megan Moore, Joey Gargiulo, and Ashkan Massahi. They each received a $4,653 payout.

The trio of eliminations took some pressure off the remaining 75 players knowing they’d, at the very least, go home with some money. But there was still much to play for the rest of the day — and will be even more to play for on Monday.

There a number of notable players who reached the money but busted prior to the conclusion of the session. That list includes Eric Baldwin (74th place for $6,980), Anthony Zinno (48th place for $9,600), Jeremy Joseph (42nd place for $9,600), Andrew Moreno (38th place for $10,860), Fabian Quoss (36th place for $10,860), and Josh Reichard (34th place for $10,860).

PokerNews Interview With Anthony Zinno at WPT Choctaw

Foxen Seeks Second World Poker Tour Title

When play resumes on Day 3, each remaining player has a guaranteed minimum payout of $12,480. But when the day concludes, the field will be down to the final table of six, all of whom will win at least $81,700. That final table, however, won’t take place until May 26, and instead of playing it out in Southern Oklahoma, the players will travel to Las Vegas and compete inside the HyperX Arena at Luxor.

One day prior in the same venue, Bin Weng will enter the final table of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown with the chip lead playing for a shot at $1.1 million.

If Weng continues to stack chips at WPT Choctaw, he could end up playing in WPT final tables in consecutive days. If that were to happen, regardless of the outcome in each final table, it would go down as one of the most impressive accomplishments in poker history. The poker pro who is on a dream heater bagged 2,000,000 chips on Day 2, which puts him in third place. But there’s a sizable gap between Weng and the top two stacks — Foxen and Guzman.

Foxen is chasing his second WPT Main Tour title. He won the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for $1,694,995. The former college football athlete has been big stacked for most of his first two days of play.

Other familiar faces moving on to Day 3 include Loni Hui (975,000), Jared Jaffee (935,000), Hunter Cichy (925,000), and former WPT Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz (595,000).

Top 10 Day 2 Chip Counts

_{*Images courtesy of WPT.}

Anthony Zinno, who recorded his 37th World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Tour cash at Choctaw on Sunday, is unquestionably one of the top players in the game today. His poker tournament resume is comparable to some of the best, but does he get the recognition he deserves?

Who better to ask that question to than the poker player himself? And that’s exactly what we did on dinner break of Day 2 at WPT Choctaw where Zinno was sitting on 14 big blinds two spots away from the money with 79 players remaining in the $3,800 buy-in tournament.

“No, I wouldn’t, I get a lot of good recognition, people will say, ‘hey, I saw you on TV,'” the always humble Zinno told PokerNews. “My first WPT wins, I definitely felt a little underappreciated, but once I got some (World Series of Poker) bracelet wins in the mix events, I started to get some more respect in the pro community.”

Anthony Zinno’s Poker Resume

Zinno, 41, became eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame in 2022. Only one member is inducted each year and common names that have popped up as potential candidates over the past couple of years include WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage, Brian Rast, Mike Matusow, and a few others — all deserving candidates.

But there’s another individual who is also building a worthy resume for induction one day, and that is Zinno. What exactly has he accomplished in this game? Three WPT titles and four WSOP bracelets. The list of players who’ve reached both milestones begins and ends with Zinno, who has over $11 million in live tournament cashes, according to Hendon Mob.

The Northeasterner who now resides in Las Vegas ranks second all-time in WPT titles (3) and WPT Main Tour cashes (37), both trailing Darren Elias, who is widely considered the greatest player in World Poker Tour history with four wins, 46 cashes, and a third record — 13 final table appearances. Zinno is hoping to reach his eighth WPT final table, which would put him in a tie for third place with Scotty Nguyen.

Like Nguyen, the 1998 world champion, he’s had great success in the two most prestigious poker series/tours — WSOP and WPT. On top of the four bracelets, he’s cashed 103 times overall in bracelet events and has 34 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) cashes to boot. PokerNews asked the poker star to compare the difficulty in similar events between the WPT and WSOP.

“That a good question,” Zinno paused for a brief thought before answering. “But overall, to compare a World Series at the same buy-in to the WPT, it’s about the same. That’s the cool thing. The structure of the WPT tends to be slightly better. Okay, now what that means is as you get deeper in the tournament, it becomes a tougher tournament because if it’s a good structure you’re going to see the cream rise, more pros with chips.”

“In a World Series event, the average stack (late in the tournament) is going to be something like 30 bigs, so you’re not going to see too much intricate play with those stack depths. Whereas in the WPT, if the average stack is 60 big blinds, there can be some fun and creativity.”

Anthony Zinno Wins 4th WSOP Bracelet

Poker Hall of Fame Induction Coming Soon?

Zinno doesn’t appear to expect Poker Hall of Fame induction in 2023. Savage, Rast, and others will be the likely names who surface at the top of most ballots this coming summer. But he did acknowledge that it would do wonders for his poker career.

“Yeah, it would be cool,” Zinno said of one day reaching the Poker Hall of Fame. “I’ve been grinding since 2007, so all those early years of grinding, to see it pay off in probably the most tremendous way, that is the ultimate accolade. You can win the (WSOP) Main Event, you can win the (WSOP Poker Players Championship), you can win eight WPT’s, but it’s not going to compare to being a Hall of Famer because it speaks volumes to a lot, it’s not just skill but it’s also your character.”

Speaking of character, with all the drama and bickering that has gone on in the poker community over the past month, one player you’ve likely never heard a bad word about is Zinno, who most poker players would argue he belongs in the Poker Hall of Good People. If he were to add another WPT title or two or win WSOP Player of the Year one of these years, there’s a high probability he’ll one day also end up in the Poker Hall of Fame.

At just after 6:30 p.m. CT at the Southern Oklahoma casino, the bubble officially burst in the WPT Choctaw, and Zinno was still seated with chips, meaning he secured his 37th WPT Main Tour cash.

_{*Images courtesy of WPT.}

In just under 60 hours of play over 10 sessions, Matt Berkey has finished off the trash talking Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot in a high-stakes heads-up poker match at Resorts World in Las Vegas.

The contest began last month and the two poker players were slated to play 100 hours, but there was a $1 million stop-loss in play. On Saturday afternoon, the seven-figure deficit was reached and the challenge abruptly came to an end at around the 59-hour mark. Nik Airball posted a brief congratulatory tweet along with the final results.

All Bark, No Bite

Prior to the start of the heads-up battle, Airball had called out Berkey, referring to the Solve for Why founder as a “scammer” and trashed his poker game. He challenged Berkey to a heads-up match and predicted victory.

Early on, Airball had some success. In fact, through the first few sessions, he was up about $90,000 and riding high. The Hustler Casino Live regular couldn’t sustain that run-good, however.

Over the final seven sessions, Berkey won approximately $1.1 million in a $200/$400 no-limit hold’em game. He entered the match as the heavy favorite and then proceeded to back the truck up.

According to Eshaan “Brownballa” Bhalla, Airball’s friend who sat with him at Resorts World during much of the match, the dagger was a set-over-set cooler that Berkey won in a $300,000 pot.

Adelstein Wants a Piece

With the match against Berkey over and done with, Garrett Adelstein is ready to return to poker to face the player he despises, Nik Airball. On Twitter, “G-Man” called for a heads-up match at $500/$1,000 blind stakes.

Adelstein was the most popular player on Hustler Casino Live and Live at the Bike but hasn’t appeared in a public game since Sept. 29 when he infamously accused Robbi Jade Lew of cheating him out of a $270,000 pot on HCL.

The Los Angeles high-stakes poker legend referred to Nik Airball as a “bad person” on Twitter earlier this year. Airball then went on the Doug Polk Podcast to defend his character and trashed Adelstein, who is no longer permitted to play on Hustler Casino Live, for controlling the lineups on HCL so that he would only face weak opponents.

The ball is now in Airball’s court to either accept Adelstein’s challenge or just take his ball and go home.

After just over 11 hours of play on the final day of the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️, Belarus’ Mikita Badziakouski defeated Ben Heath in heads-up play to take the title in the prestigious €25,000 High Roller and the €938,042 first-place prize after a deal was made.

Badziakouski came into Day 3 in third position and kept his foot on the pedal the whole way to become victorious after a lengthy heads-up battle.

With over $40 Million in live tournament earnings, Badziakouski is no stranger to these high-roller fields. Having just finished runner-up for €1,009,853 a week ago in the €100,000 No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller here in Monte-Carlo, Badziakouski finishes the series with a staggering €1,947,895 in total cashes.

A total of 211 entries joined the field over the first two days of play to create a massive prize pool of €5,066,110, beating last year’s numbers by 32 players.

Some of the biggest and best names in poker joined the action which included high-stakes regulars Timothy Adams, Aleksejs Ponakovs, Artur Martirosian, Justin Bonomo, and unfortunate bubble boy Isaac Haxton, who got his stack in with top pair against a gut shot for Badziakouski who hit the river to send Haxton out in 32nd place.

The final 31 players were all guaranteed a minimum cash of €43,550, but with much more to play for. Some notables who were fortunate enough to make a return on their investment included PokerStars Ambassador Sam Grafton (31st – €43,550), Orpen Kisacikoglu (28th – €43,550), Nick Petrangelo (27th – €50,150), Patrik Antonius (23rd – €57,600) and PokerStars’ Alejandro Lococo (17th – €76,200), who managed to spin up a stack of only two big blinds to ladder his way up to a 17th place finish.

EPT Monte Carlo €25,000 High Roller Final Table Results

*- denotes final two chop deal

Day 3 Highlights

A total of 21 hopefuls returned to the blue felts on the final day with dreams of a deep run to victory. Lithuania’s Dominykas Mikolaitis came into the day in the chip lead position and maneuvered his stack to the final nine players. Unfortunately for him, he picked up six-five suited in a heads-up pot against Steve O’Dwyer who held king-deuce suited, and when both players rivered a flush, Mikolaitis was sent to the rail in ninth place.

The eight-handed final table got off to a hot start with many big pots going back and forth. The first casualty came when Igor Yaroshevskyy moved in with king-jack but was up against the pocket queens for Enrico Camosci who held up to send Yaroshevskyy out in eighth place.

A short while later, Roman Samoylov was on a short stack and moved in with queen-ten. Daniel Dvoress made the call with king-jack and when the board flopped two pair for Samoylov but Broadway for Dvoress, it was the end of the road for the Israeli who fell in seventh place.

Dvoress couldn’t continue his run good when he got in a big pot against Badziakouski and committed his whole stack except for a single-5,000 chip. Dvoress got caught bluffing and would make the fold when Badziakouski shoved over the top. Two hands later, Dvoress would hit the rail in sixth place when he couldn’t spin up his one chip.

Five-handed play went on for a while before Felipe Ketzer moved in with ace-ten but was called by the ace-queen for Badziakouski. When the board ran out ace-high it was the better kicker for Badziakouski that took the pot to send Ketzer to the exit in fifth place.

Soon after, O’Dwyer would run into a cooler when he four-bet jammed his 1,800,000 in the middle and was snapped off by Badziakouski with pocket aces. The board didn’t improve either player and O’Dwyer was forced to settle for a fourth-place finish.

Camosci nursed a short stack for much of the final table and was able to stay alive up until three-handed play when he got his last chips in with pocket nines against the jacks for Badziakouski. The flop saw a jack and the rest of the runout was no help to Camosci who finished in third place.

Heads-up play started with Badziakouski having an almost 4-1 chip lead on Heath, and what looked to be a short heads-up match was definitely not the case. Badziakouski started strong, chipping away at Heath and extended the lead to just under 9-1. The turning point for Heath, however, was when he found ace-four against the queen-nine for Badziakouski and scored the double up when all the chips hit the middle preflop.

After another hour of a back-and-forth battle, Heath found another double up when he called off his tournament life on an ace-high board with ace-queen and was up against the flush and straight draw for Badziakouski. The river bricked off and Heath took the lead for the first time in the match.

Badziakouski didn’t give up and managed to climb his way back to close to even before taking down a massive pot with queen-jack after making the nut-straight on the river. Badziakouski fired a big bet of 2,000,000 and got paid when Heath made the call with a worse holding.

After close to three hours of heads-up play, both players discussed an ICM deal and would flip for the trophy. The dealer dealt out five-four to Heath and three-deuce to Badziakouski. The flop saw a three and when the turn and river didn’t match Heath’s hand the tournament was over and Badziakouski was the winner.

That wraps up the coverage from the 2023 EPT Monte-Carlo. Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team throughout the month of May and beyond for live reports from your favorite events all over the world.

There were exactly 300 entries on Day 1b at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw $3,800 buy-in event, but only 92 of them will be advancing to Sunday’s Day 2 session.

While there were a number of big name players who bagged, and multiple monster stacks, everyone finished with an inferior stack compared to Jesse Jones who won a massive pot against Megan Moore late on Saturday that catapulted him into the chip lead.

The WPT’s live reporting team caught the action on a board of 4♠10♦7♥Q♠6♥ in an already bloated pot. Jones had bet 243,000 chips on the river and Moore frustratingly folded her hand. Neither hands were exposed so we can’t tell you if he was bluffing or what she folded. But the pot was crucial as it put him over the 600,000-chip mark. He finished the session with 631,000 (252 big blinds). Moore had a setback but still finished with a healthy 301,000-chip stack.

Bryan Campanello, who busted former WPT Player of the Year Ray Qartomy twice in the same day, is the only other player over 600,000 — he finished with 610,000.

Huge Paydays are on the Horizon

The official Day 1b chip counts weren’t available at the time of publishing, but we do have the payouts now that registration has closed. First place will take home $400,740 and the runner-up will receive $261,000. All six players who reach the final table, which will take place in Las Vegas on May 26, will have a guaranteed minimum payout of $81,700. A min-cash — 71st to 77th place — is worth $6,980.

There were 95 survivors on Day 1a and 92 on Day 1b, which means 187 will return to the Grand Theater at Choctaw Casino & Resort on Sunday at noon CT. The bubble will burst before the day concludes.

Andrew Moreno finished Day 1a with the biggest stack at 510,500, which would have been good for fourth place on Day 1b.

WPT Choctaw, as is always the case, attracted some of the top players in the game to Durant, Oklahoma. That includes some past World Poker Tour champions such as Eric Afriat and Erkut Yilmaz. ClubWPT qualifier Felipe Diaz, a 36-year-old butcher from Wisconsin, ended the day with 188,000 chips. Both ClubWPT qualifiers, the second being Jonathan Powers, are on to Day 2 with above average stacks.

Jones has just four previous small cashes on the World Poker Tour totaling $36,000. But he has over $500,000 in overall live tournament cashes, according to Hendon Mob. He would nearly double that if he were to go wire-to-wire for the title at Choctaw.

_{*Images courtesy of WPT.}

The poker Twitter Spaces conversations over the past week have apparently been mostly productive. Doug Polk and Charlie Carrel both aired out their grievances over the phone instead of via 280 characters on the blue bird app, and it appears they’ve mended fences.

Earlier this week, it seemed as if there was no hope for the poker pros to ever be cordial. A few days later and the anger seems to have subsided following a lengthy Carrel tweet and Polk response.

What’s the Backstory?

In a Twitter Spaces conversation with Will Jaffe and Matt Berkey last weekend, Polk took criticism over his bullying tactics in YouTube videos and on social media.

Carrel then entered the audio conversation to lash out at Polk over some hurtful videos Polk made about him in the past, and that is when the situation escalated.

In a 2018 video, Polk took shots at Carrel for, as he claims, empathizing with pedophiles. But he was bashing an admitted child molestation victim. For that reason, many poker fans listening to the Twitter Spaces conversation trashed Polk for failing to have sympathy for a victim of such an awful act.

Everyone then began to pile on the Upswing Poker founder. Even Phil Galfond, who rarely engages in poker Twitter drama, wrote a lengthy blog post criticizing Polk’s bullying tactics.

Poker Twitter Spaces Serves a Purpose

The aforementioned video Polk created had hundreds of thousands of views. As Carrel explained in a heartfelt, fiery exchange, he received thousands of DMs from people who attacked him for empathizing with pedophiles. It caused him great harm.

One day later, Polk issued a brief apology on Twitter and then took the infamous video down from his YouTube channel. But many poker fans didn’t buy the apology or feel that he’d done enough to make things right. As such, Twitter Spaces conversations has become a daily thing in poker, with a seemingly never-ending discussion about Polk’s behavior lasting for nearly a week.

Polk’s former rival Daniel Negreanu entered the audio chat on Thursday. While the two have mended fences and become friends since their highly publicized heads-up match in 2021, “DNegs” explained to Polk how his social media attacks and trolling can cause others harm.

A few years back, a trolling Polk helped spread a meme that included a picture of Negreanu’s car parked in a handicap spot at the Rio, the former home of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Due to the incessant trolling, Negreanu received cruel messages from poker fans for taking up a handicap spot when he’s perfectly able to walk just fine.

But the problem with the meme is, as “Kid Poker” explained in a recent Twitter Spaces chat, he only parked in that spot on that day because most of the massive parking lot had been closed off to the public and only those who were involved in a closed TV filming for the WSOP were parked in that area anyway.

Negreanu and Polk buried the hatchet long ago. Polk has since said that he grew respect for the Poker Hall of Famer because he was willing to take on a nearly impossible-to-win heads-up challenge and see it through to the end.

There’s no way to know if Polk and Carrel’s relationship will end up with the same outcome. But it’s certainly headed in that direction. Carrel explained in a tweet why the person he trashed in a recent Twitter Spaces discussion “is not a monster” and defended Polk against those who bash him for “bullying” others.

“He was hurt, and he learned that hurting other people was necessary to survive,” Carrel wrote.

Carrel is now empathizing with Polk, who has said in the past he was bullied growing up over his weight.

“He has deeply hurt me, and with no good reason. If I can forgive him, and see the beauty in him, so can anybody and everybody else,” Carrel said of the poker pro who spent years trashing him.

While the constant drama within the poker community has been tiring to many, there might be a valuable lesson learned, and that is disputes can be settled more easily by picking up the phone and talking into it rather than by writing out a tweet.