Darren Elias Wins Record Breaking Fourth World Poker Tour TitleElias Wins Inaugural WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic For $387,580 |
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The tournament was brand new, but the winner was a familiar face. A total of 162 players put up the $10,000 buy-in for the inaugural World Poker Tour Bobby Baldwin Classic at Aria, creating a total prize pool of $1,555,200.
The final table was stacked with former WPT champions such as Jonathan Little, Sam Panzica, and Dietrich Fast, as well as WSOP main event winners Joe McKeehen and Phil Hellmuth, and Card Player Player of the Year frontrunner Stephen Chidwick. But in the end, the final heads-up pairing consisted of three-time WPT champion Darren Elias, and Kitty Kuo, who was coming off of a final-table appearance in the $25,000 AUD Aussie Millions high roller.
While Kuo was trying to become just the second woman to win an open WPT main event, Elias was trying to break a tie with Chino Rheem, Anthony Zinno, Gus Hansen, and Carlos Mortensen atop the WPT record books. Elias steamrolled his way through the final table, getting lucky with a dominated ace to bust McKeehen in third place before settling in for a long match with Kuo. Although Kuo put up a fight and nearly pulled even in chips, Elias eventually pulled away and secured the title.
Elias earned $387,580 for the win, which includes a $15,000 seat into the upcoming WPT Tournament of Champions. The New Jersey-based poker pro now has more than $6 million in career live tournament earnings, having previously won WPT titles at the 2014 Borgata Poker Open, 2014 WPT Caribbean, and 2017 Fallsview Poker Clasic.
Both Little and Panzica were looking for their third WPT titles. With a win, McKeehen would have secured the WPT Player of the Year award. Instead, the honor went to Art Papazyan, who won both the Legends of Poker and Maryland Live! main events.
Here is a look at the final table results.
| Finish | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Darren Elias | $387,580 | 780 |
| 2 | Kitty Kuo | $248,380 | 650 |
| 3 | Joe McKeehen | $178,610 | 520 |
| 4 | Dietrich Fast | $130,895 | 390 |
| 5 | Sam Panzica | $97,795 | 325 |
| 6 | Jonathan Little | $74,520 | 260 |
| 7 | Phil Hellmuth | $57,935 | 195 |
| 8 | Ray Qartomy | $45,975 | 130 |
| 9 | Stephen Chidwick | $37,255 | 65 |
*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
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