Sign Up For Card Player's Newsletter And Free Bi-Monthly Online Magazine

BEST DAILY FANTASY SPORTS BONUSES

Poker Training

Newsletter and Magazine

Sign Up

Find Your Local

Card Room

 

Justin Young Wins 2016 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Main Event

36-Year-Old Poker Pro Scores First WPT Title and $669,161

Print-icon
 

The penultimate World Poker Tour main event of the tour’s fourteenth season is now in the books. Justin Young has emerged victorious, topping a field of 1,222 entries in the 2016 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event to win his first WPT title and the first-place prize of $669,161. He has also won his way into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions which gets underway this weekend.

The 36-year-old based out of Henderson, NV not only overcame a huge field but also had to contend with some top-notch competition at the final table. Joining him heading into the final day where the likes of Cate Hall, who was at her third WPT final table of the season (9th – $65,404), 2016 WPT L.A. Poker Classic fourth-place finisher Sam Soverel (7th – $110,357) and 2014 WPT Five Diamond runner-up Garett Greer, who also ultimately finished in second place in this event for $458,722. Cate Hall had the chance to secure the WPT Player of the Year award with a top-three finish in this event, but fell short when she was the first player eliminated at the nine-handed final table.

Young entered the final day in sixth chip position among the ten remaining players. He was able to win some huge pots along the way and made it to heads-up play against Greer holding 14.2 million in chips to Greer’s 22,450,000.

The final showdown lasted only 23 hands, as Young was able to find a double up with AHeart Suit9Heart Suit winning a race against Greer’s 4Spade Suit4Heart Suit early on. Young’s slight lead quickly grew and by the time the final hand arose he held roughly a 2.5-to-1 advantage.

With blinds of 200,000 – 400,000 with an ante of 50,000 Young raised to 900,000 from the button. Greer moved all-in for 10.3 million with the ASpade Suit8Diamond Suit and Young made the call with the KHeart SuitQClub Suit. The flop came down AHeart SuitKSpade Suit4Club Suit, pairing both players but keeping Greer in the lead. The JDiamond Suit on the turn gave Young additional outs in the form of a straight draw. The QHeart Suit on the end gave Young two pair and the best hand, securing him the pot and the title.

Young also earned 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first final table of the year so far, but it was a large enough score to propel him into 27th place in the overall POY standings on it’s own.

This was seventh-place finisher Sam Soverel’s third final table of the year. The 360 points he earned were enough to see him climb to 14th place in the rankings, with 1,830 total points and year-to-date earnings of $736,197.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Place Player Earnings (USD) POY Points
1 Justin Young $669,161 1440
2 Garrett Greer $458,722 1200
3 Hyoung Chae $297,336 960
4 Matthew Haugen $220,207 720
5 Tim Reilly $164,113 600
6 Ben Tarzia $132,560 480
7 Sam Soverel $110,357 360
8 Andrey Plotnikov $87,880 240
9 Cate Hall $65,404 120

Winner photo courtesy of WPT / Joe Giron.