Jay Lee Wins 2017 World Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event

The third running of the World Poker Tour Choctaw $3,700 no-limit hold’em main event drew a field of 924 entries, blowing away the $2 million guarantee to build a final prize pool of $3,121,980. In the end it was 27-year-old Jay Lee who emerged victorious. For the win Lee, a chinese food delivery person from Austin, TX, earned his first WPT title and the top prize of $593,173.

“It’s amazing,” Lee told WPT reporters after coming out on top. “Cooler hands after cooler hands, but you know it’s a great feeling. A lot of ups and downs, and a lot of happy at the end. I’m glad I did it.”

This was Lee’s largest career tournament cash by far, with his previous top score being for a 147th-place finish in the 2016 WSOP ‘Millionaire Maker’ event for $7,589. In addition to the massive six figure payday for this win Lee also scored 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points. This win alone was enough to move him into 136th place in the POY standings, which are presented in 2017 by the Commerce Hotel & Casino.

Lee entered the six-handed televised final table in the middle of the pack, and was able to outlast Eric Bunch (6th – $117,761) and Paul Fisher (5th – $153,508) before starting to make a run at the lead. Lee won a race against Michael Stashin, with his 77 holding up against Stashin’s A9. Shortly afterwards Lee finished Stashin off when he picked up pocket queens against Stashin’s pocket eights. Stashin earned $202,617 as the fourth-place finisher.

Three handed play saw several huge hands and massive swings. Heads-up play was only et when Lee’s AQ outran Josh Kay’s AK on a Q862J board, sending Kay to the rail with $270,801 for his deep run.

Lee took a 3-to-2 chip advantage into his final showdown against Jeb Hutton. It took only ten hands for Lee to seal the deal. By the time the final cards were dealt he had expanded that lead to more than 2-to-1 disparity. With blinds of 125,000-250,000 and an ante of 25,000 Hutton raised to 550,000 from the button and Lee called. The flop brought the J44 and both players checked. The 7 hit the turn, prompting checks from both players yet again. The 9 completed the board and Lee bet 750,000. Hutton raised to 2,000,000 only to have Lee re-raise all-in. Hutton made the call and revealed the Q2 for a flush, only to have Lee show the J4 for a flopped full house. With that Lee locked up the title, sending Hutton to the rail in second place with $366,895 for his efforts.

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

Photo courtesy of Joe Giron / World Poker Tour.

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