Ren Lin Victorious In World Poker Tour Alpha 8 at Wynn Las Vegas

Nine of the ten largest scores on Ren Lin’s poker tournament resume have been recorded in 2023. His most recent is also his biggest, as Lin took down the 2023 WPT Alpha8 at Wynn Las Vegas $50,000 buy-in high roller event for a career-best $1,045,781 payday.

Lin outlasted a 69-entry field in the high-stakes affair to lock up his first seven-figure cash and his third title of the year. He also earned 612 Card Player Player of the Year points for his third title and 26th final-table finish of the year. With 9,380 total points and more than $5.9 million in POY earnings, Lin is now the fifth-ranked player in the POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Lin was one of nine players who cashed in this high-roller event, with more than $3.3 million in total prize money awarded. The second and final day of the tournament began with 13 contenders remaining.

A short-stacked Alex Foxen was knocked out by Lin on the bubble, with his pocket nines being rivered by Q-4. Other big names soon followed, including Justin Bonomo (9th – $108,761) and Isaac Haxton (8th – $125,494). This was Haxton’s 27th final-table finish of the year. With seven titles won, $15.9 million in POY earnings, and 10,013 POY points, Haxton is the second-ranked player in the 2023 POY standings. Only Bin Weng (12,256) has accumulated more points.

Brad Owen was playing a $50,000 buy-in event for the first time in this tournament. The WPT ambassador and popular poker vlogger managed to survive to the final table, but ultimately bowed out in seventh place after losing most of his stack with pocket tens against the pocket kings of two-time bracelet winner Martin Kabrhel. It was the largest tournament score yet for Owen, who now has $868,000 in career scores.

After Nikita Kuznetsov (6th – $192,424) and WPT champion Seth Davies (5th – $249,314) were sent packing, Lin doubled up with A-3 besting the A-10 of Biao Ding. He got short again during four-handed play, but found another double with a full house to restore the health of his stack.

Lin then won a key flip with Q-10 outrunning the pocket fours of Ding. Lin flopped a queen and held from there to eliminate Ding in fourth place ($334,650). This was the 18th final table of the year for the Chinese player. He climbed to 18th in the POY standings as a result of this latest deep run.

Kabrhel went on to finish third, with his pocket sevens losing a preflop showdown against the A-8 of bracelet winner and ten-time Triton champion Jason Koon. Kabrhel took home $468,510 for his efforts, growing his lifetime earnings to over $12 million in the process.

Lin held 7,425,000 to Koon’s 6,375,000 when heads-up play began. After some twists and turns, Lin remained ahead when the final hand in time for the final hand to arrive. Koon shoved for just shy of 12 big blinds on the button with J9 and Lin called with A2. The board came down Q2710 and Lin made a pair of deuces to win the pot and the title.

Koon cashed for $669,300. This was his 18th final table of the year, with six titles won. His 8,592 POY points put him in eighth place in the standings with the end of the year rapidly approaching.

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

Photo credits: WPT / Hayley Hochstetler.

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