A millionaire was made on Tuesday at Wynn Las Vegas in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Championship final table, and that individual was Calvin Anderson, who defeated Aaron Pinson heads-up for the trophy.
The $1,100 buy-in tournament had a $5 million guarantee, but the prize pool hit $10,196,640 with 10,512 entrants, nearly double last year's turnout when Stephen Song won it for $712,650. Song's payout in 2022 barely would have beat third place money this year.
Final Table Action
The tournament played down to six players on Dec. 13, but the final table didn't take place until the 19th for live-streaming purposes. When the final session began, Jay Lu held the chip lead with 77 big blinds. But Anderson, a four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, wasn't far behind.
Early at the final table, Anderson made the other four players happy when, with pocket kings, he busted Valeriy Pak, who took sixth place for $290,000. Pinson then won a race to send Bob Buckenmayer home in fifth place, which paid $380,000.
Shortly after, it was Jon Glendinning's time to go when he jammed with middle pair and was called by Anderson's top pair. Glendinning received $505,000 for his impressive deep run.
Three-handed play was quite a grind, and the top two chip stacks at the start of the day were still in the same position. Pinson was quite a bit behind Anderson and Lu, but he won a series of mid-sized pots to relatively quickly move into the chip lead.
The hand of the final table involved an insane run-out. From the small blind, Lu called the 3,000,000 big blind with 4♥3♥ before Anderson raised his 5♠4♦ to 10,000,000, but that didn't convince Lu to fold. When the flop came out 3♦3♣Q♥, Lu checked his trips and his opponent, with five-high, made a 6,000,000-chip continuation bet.
Lu decided to refrain from slowplaying his big hand, so he raised to 14,000,000. Anderson refused to fold his almost nut low hand, so he called and then picked up an open-ended straight draw with the 6♣ on the turn. Lu bet 19,000,000 this time and again received a call.
The river 7♠ completed the backdoor straight, but Lu, with no reason to believe his trips were no good, put his opponent all in for just over 50 million chips. Anderson snap-called and took over the chip lead at the time.
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Lu, the shortest stack, would move all in a while later for 75,000,000 chips with A♠3♣ and get called by Pinson, the chip leader, who was holding A♦10♦. Both players hit top pair on the 9♠A♥J♥ flop, but the short stack had kicker issues. The 7♣ on the turn and 6♠ on the river brought Lu no help, and he was eliminated in third place for $675,000.
That created a heads-up match between Anderson and Pinson, who was out in front nearly 3-1 in chips. But Anderson, who entered the tournament with over $3.8 million in The Hendon Mob cashes, would quickly battle into the chip lead after turning the nut straight against a lesser straight.
On the final hand, Pinson was all in for his tournament life and ahead with KxQx against Qx7x, but trip 7's would appear on the board for a suckout to end the tournament. Pinson took home $910,000 as a consolation prize, while the champion received $1,386,280, more than $1 million higher than his previous highest score.
WPT Prime Championship Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calvin Anderson | $1,386,280 |
| 2 | Aaron Pinson | $910,000 |
| 3 | Jay Lu | $675,000 |
| 4 | Jon Glendinning | $505,000 |
| 5 | Bob Buckenmayer | $380,000 |
| 6 | Valeriy Pak | $290,000 |
*Image courtesy of World Poker Tour.