The ongoing World Poker Tour(WPT) Festival has attracted many players from different countries and states. Some of them are anticipating the WPT World Championship that has a $40 million guarantee. Still, other players have already cashed in different tournaments.
David Larson Tops the $1,100 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Tournament
The Seniors event featured 146 players above 54 years and it had a $780,850 prize pool. David Larson was one of many spectators’ top favorites. He didn’t disappoint his rail as he beat Renyong Hu in the last battle of the blinds to win $141,385 and increased his live poker earnings to more than $1.9 million.
Hu took home $92,548. George Heim was third with $71,182 and Scott Buller finished in fourth position with $55,784.
The Top Players’ Prizes
- David Larson $141,385
- Renyong Hu $92,548
- George Geim $71,182
- Scott Buller $55,784
- Larry Gerek $43,279
- Lawrence Greenberg $32,941
- Ryan Biggar $24,580
- Ira Friedman $18,241
- Juli Black $13,059
George Tomescu Is the $1,600 Mystery Bounty Champion
The $1,600 Buy-In Mystery Bounty attracted 3,421 players who formed a $3,215,740 prize pool that surpassed its initial $2 million guarantee. However, only the leading 427 participants got a share of the pool. WPT offered bounties worth $1,710,500.
George Tomescu stunned his fans when he won the $500,202 first-place prize to increase his recorded cashes to $654,000. It was the largest live payout in his poker career.
Besides winning the cash and title, Tomescu amassed 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year(POY) points. Still, it was the champion’s second POY-qualified score in 2023. It improved his position in the ongoing POY race to the top 500.
David Hipperson bagged the largest bounty in the tournament worth $250,000. Still, there were four $100,000 bounties left and Shannon Shorr won one of them. Some of the players with deep runs who missed a seat at the final table included Calvin Anderson, Tony Tran, Xuan Liu, Jacob Ferro, Eric Froehlich, and Justin Young.
Ubaid Habib was the first unlucky player at the nine-handed final table as they finished ninth with $44,396. Daniel Fuhs, David Levy and Fausto Valdez followed them in the eighth, seventh and sixth places respectively. Todd Turoci finished fifth.
Matthew Mcewan got busted in the fourth position and Jack Hardcastle followed in third place. Tomescu’s turned flush beat Jiacong Zhang’s two pair and sent them packing in second place with $324,347.
The Final Table’s Awards
- George Tomescu $500,202 and 1,200 POY points
- Jiacong Zhang $324,347 and 1,000 POY points
- Jack Hardcastle $249,761 and 800 POY points
- Matthew Mcewan $192,754 and 600 POY points
- Todd Turoci $148,507 and 500 POY points
- Fausto Valdez $113,136 and 400 POY points
- David Levy $85,014 and 300 POY points
- Daniel Fuhs $62,463 and 200 POY points
- Ubaid Habib $44,396 and 100 POY points