On Wednesday, the ultimate six gamers from a 1,541-entry area returned for remaining desk motion within the World Poker Tour (WPT) 2022 Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO) $3,500 Major Occasion at Seminole Onerous Rock Resort & On line casino in Hollywood, Florida.
England’s Andy Wilson started with a wholesome chip lead however confronted some stiff competitors within the type of the defending champ, a three-time WPT winner, and a two-time WPT champ not solely on the lookout for back-to-back titles but in addition the Season 20 Participant of the Yr lead.
Wilson, who minimize his chops taking part in on-line however post-pandemic has begun competing on the reside stage, managed to climate the onslaught and end because the final participant standing to win a $785,800 high prize, a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship, and etch his title on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
2022 WPT RRPO Closing Desk Outcomes
| 1st | Andy Wilson | $785,800 + $10,400 WPT World Championship seat |
| 2nd | Josh Kay | $525,000 |
| third | Chad Eveslage | $390,000 |
| 4th | Brian Altman | $290,000 |
| fifth | Gediminas Uselis | $219,000 |
| sixth | Robel Andemichael | $167,000 |
“In all of those close to misses, I’ve often been the chip chief in most of those tournaments. Despite the fact that I’ll have fallen brief, it often does get me to the very far finish, so I’ve been on this state of affairs so much, particularly on-line,” Wilson mentioned in his winner interview. “I get pleasure from having the ability to play a couple of extra arms, play extra pots submit, and attempt to apply strain to individuals. That’s type of the place I really feel just a little bit extra snug.”
He added: “You needed to battle for each pot as a result of these guys weren’t going to roll over in any respect. So far as WPT remaining tables are involved I feel that is positively one of many more durable ones … All of those guys have had success reside and I assume they’ll proceed to take action sooner or later.”
What’s much more unimaginable is that Wilson practically didn’t make the journey to South Flordia from the UK.
Andy Wilson celebrates along with his pals.
“I used to be in England watching the World Cup, and I used to be nonetheless of two minds of whether or not or not I needed to remain and watch with my pals,” Wilson shared. “I made a decision to kickstart myself by coming to play this WPT when I’ve a Platinum Go for January. I wanted to kick myself again into poker mode … a single bullet later it’s been fairly the choice.”
Wilson additionally confirmed that he’ll now head to Las Vegas for the WPT World Championship on the Wynn, one thing he deliberate to do even earlier than profitable a seat.
“It’s going to be probably the greatest tournaments of the yr. I’m actually enthusiastic about that match.”
With the reside six-figure rating, the primary of his burgeoning profession, in a single fell swoop, Wilson surpassed his earlier $620,071 in profession earnings in keeping with the Hendon Mob. That included a previous career-best $99,742 he obtained for ending runner-up within the 2021 World Collection of Poker (WSOP) Occasion #86: $1,000 Tremendous Turbo. In the summertime of 2020, he additionally positioned second within the WSOP On-line GGPoker Occasion #76: $400 Forty Stack for $169,128.
Closing Desk Motion
Issues bought off to a scorching begin with the primary elimination occurring on simply the fifth hand of play. It occurred when the short-stacked Robel Andemichael three-bet jammed with ace-four and was referred to as by Wilson, who held ace-queen. The higher ace held and Andemichael was ousted in sixth place for $167,000.
Defending champ Gediminas Uselis.
Defending champ Gediminas Uselis, who received the 2021 WPT RRPO for $778,490, got here up brief in his title protection bid after falling on Hand #12. It occurred when his ace-ten did not get there in opposition to the 2 pink kings of Wilson. Uselis’ spectacular run resulted in fifth place, good for $219,000.
Simply 4 arms later, Brian Altman noticed his hopes of capturing a record-tying fourth WPT title finish courtesy of Josh Kay. It occurred in Stage 30 (100,000/200,000/200,000) when Kay raised the button to 575,000 and Altman defended the large blind to see a flop, which each gamers checked.
The flip put 4 to a straight on the board, and Altman check-called 300,000. The river put a straight on the board and Altman checked. Kay guess 2 million and Altman check-raised the minimal to 4 million. Kay proceeded to maneuver all in and Altman snap-called with for a king-high straight. Sadly for him, Kay had the one hand that might beat him with the for an ace-high straight.
Chad Eveslage took over the WPT S20 POY lead.
Altman’s elimination in fourth place assured that Chad Eveslage moved forward of Steve Buckner on the WPT Season 20 Participant of the Yr leaderboard with simply the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas to go.
Eveslage’s try at back-to-back titles got here up two spots brief as he bowed out in third place. He had been clinging to a brief stack earlier than working pocket jacks smack dab into the aces of Wilson, who then took a greater than 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play in opposition to Kay.
He prolonged that to 10:1 at one level, however Kay managed to battle again and even briefly take the lead himself. Nonetheless, the tide turned again in Wilson’s favor and he was again within the lead in Stage 35 (300,000/600,000/600,000) when the ultimate hand occurred.
It started when Kay raised to 2.2 million with the and Wilson three-bet to 7 million with two pink kings. Kay referred to as, the flop fell , and Wilson continued for six.5 million. Kay moved all in for twenty-four.3 million and Wilson snap-called. Neither the flip nor river modified a factor and Kay needed to accept runner-up and $525,000 in prize cash.
Runner-up Josh Kay
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*Photos courtesy of WPT/Drew Amato.
Chad Holloway
Government Editor U.S.
Government Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
