The televised final table is set in the 2022 World Poker Tour Choctaw $3,800 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. A total of 787 entries were made across the two starting flights that ran on May 13 and 14, but after two more long days of action, now just six players remain with a shot at the title and the top prize of $486,600.
The tournament is now officially on hiatus with the TV final table having been set. The remaining contenders will have a week and couple days to make their way from the Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, Oklahoma to Las Vegas. They will reconvene on May 26
at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in order to film the final table action for TV.
When action resumes, Ray Qartomy (pictured above) will hold the chip lead with 9,400,000 (good for 63 big blinds when play resumes at 75,000-150,000 with a 150,000 big blind ante). This will be the fifth time that Qartomy will take his seat at a WPT final table, with his highest finish being a fourth-place finish in the 2018 bestbet Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville. The Houston resident has nearly $4.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings, and a great shot to add to that total in a big way at this final table.
Qartomy is up against plenty of tough competition, including three-time bracelet winner Chance Kornuth (9,025,000 – 60 big blinds). This will be the second time that Kornuth has made a delayed WPT final table, having finished fourth in the 2020 WPT Gardens Poker championship that was on hold for more than year due to the pandemic before finally playing out last March. Kornuth, who has nearly $10.5 million in lifetime earnings, is now at his third WPT final table.
Just 25,000 behind Kornuth is James Hundt (9,000,000 – 60 bb) of Latham, New York. The 2018 Parx Big Stax XXVII champion will be looking to add to his $375,000 in prior earnings in a big way with a strong showing in this event. He and the other five players are all guaranteed at least $101,000 for making it to the TV final table.
James Mackey (5,050,000 – 34 bb)won this very event back in 2016, defeating a field of 1,066 entries to win $681,758. Mackey has $4.3 million in tournament winnings on the live circuit, including a bracelet from a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event back in 2007. He will be looking to add his name to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup for a second time next week.
Just a few big blinds behind Mackey is Steve Buckner (4,700,000 – 31 bb). The Florida resident has $455,848 in prior earnings to his name.
Rounding out the final table is three-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen (2,175,000 – 15 bb). The Canadian poker pro has more than $5.7 million in lifetime cashes, with two prior WPT final tables as well. Below is a look at what she and her five opponents will be playing for:
| 1st | $486,600 |
| 2nd | $320,000 |
| 3rd | $235,000 |
| 4th | $175,000 |
| 5th | $135,000 |
| 6th | $101,000 |
Foxen’s husband, Alex Foxen, was among many big names to hit the rail as this event played down to a final table. He finished 21st for $17,500. Other notables who made deep runs included _WPT- champion Frank Stepuchin (36th – $13,000), HunterCichy (18th – $21,000), 2021 Wynn Million champion Andrew Moreno (15th – $25,000), 2021 winner of this event Adedapo Ajayi (14th – $31,000), and Bin Weng (9th – $48,000).
Photo credit: World Poker Tour / Hayley Hochstetler.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
