Craig Varnell Wins 2019 WPT Choctaw Main Event On His 36th Birthday

Craig Varnell had quite the birthday this year. The Coloradan poker pro took down the 2019 World Poker Tour Choctaw $3,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, overcoming a field of 577 total entries to win $379,990 and his first WPT title on the day he turned 36 years old.

“It feels great,” Varnell told WPT reporters. “When I found out the final table was on my birthday, I said, ‘Well that’s good.’ And then the day didn’t start out too well. I was down to three or four big blinds. I don’t know what happened, I won a couple of all-ins and all of a sudden I was back in it. It was crazy. I had a big support group here. It was the best birthday present you could ask for.”

In addition to the title and the money, Varnell also took home 1,260 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. The score was enough to see Varnell climb into 90th place in the POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

As Varnell said, he didn’t get off to the greatest start at the final table of this event. Varnell had entered the final day in second chip position among the six remaining players. The final table was set on May 20 at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma, but play didn’t resume until May 31 at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. Varnell couldn’t get much going early on at the final table. He finally hit a big hand with K6, making two pair on a K10 flop. He ended up getting all the chips in after a 3 turn, only to find out that he was up against the 1010 of Nick Pupillo. Varnell had Pupillo covered but just over three big blinds, and that was all he was left with after the Q completed the board.

Varnell then went on a double-up spree. In the next five hands, he was all-in and called three times. He won every one of those hands to rebuild his stack to 3,120,000 after being down to just 210,000.

Odessa, Texas nightclub owner Stacey Jones was involved in several big hands early at the final table. He won a preflop race to eliminate 2014 Card Player Poker Tour Choctaw main event champion Austin Lewis in sixth place ($76,890). Despite scoring that knockout, Jones was the next to be sent to the rail. He ran pocket kings into the pocket aces of Trung Pham to finish fifth for $100,850.

Will Berry started the final table as the chip leader. He had fallen into the middle of the pack as play continued but managed to right the ship by busting Pham in fourth place. Pham four-bet shoved with AQ for 3.4 million, only to get quickly called by Berry’s KK. The kings held up and Pham was sent home with $133,770.

With Berry and Varnell out in front, Nick Pupillo had fallen to the short stack for three-handed action. The poker pro had already made six final tables and won a title in 2019 prior to this event. His run came to an end when he called down the aggressive Varnell on a 774103 board with A4, only to learn that Varnell had flopped trips with K7. Pupillo was awarded $179,430 and 840 POY points for his third-place showing, enough to see him catapulted into 12th place on the overall leaderboard.

With that Varnell took 14,250,000 million into heads-up play with Berry, who began with 8,825,000. It took just 13 hands for the tournament to be decided from there. In the end, it came down to a preflop race. Berry picked up the 8 on the button and raised to 375,000. Varnell three-bet to 1,175,000 out of the big blind with A10. Berry shoved for 7,500,000 and Varnell quickly called. The board ran out K105QK and Varnell made kings and tens to secure the pot and the title. Berry earned $243,330 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photo: Joe Giron / WPT.

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