Justin Lapka Wins WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event

The first World Series of Poker Circuit stop to wrap up after the 2024 WSOP in Las Vegas has crowned its main event champion. The WSOP Circuit Choctaw $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event attracted 1,017 entries to surpass the $1 million guarantee by over half of a million dollars.

The top 152 finishers earned a share of the $1,540,755 prize pool, with Justin Lapka earning the lion’s share as the last player standing. The two-time bracelet winner from Saint Paul, Minnesota walked away with $252,282 and his third career WSOPC gold ring.

This was the largest score yet for Lapka, who now has more than $1.5 million in recorded tournament earnings. This was also his first live win in a WSOP event, having won both of his bracelets and his two prior rings in the online streets.

Lapka was also awarded 960 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second title and fourth final-table finish of the year, bringing his point total to 1,369. As a result, he now sits within reach of the top 250 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Plenty of big names made deep runs in this event, including 2019 World Poker Tour Aria Summer Championship winner Matthew Wantman (20th), two-time bracelet winner Michael Wang (16th), and 2023 Lodge Championship Series main event winner Preston Duron (11th).

The final day began with 12 contenders remaining. Lapka sat in fifth chip position when the chips began to fly on Monday, July 29. He had climbed into second by the time the official final table was set, trailing only Kalyan Chivukula.

Lapka moved into the top spot early at the final table. He then busted Tim Faro (8th – $25,754) and Derek Normand (7th – $33,828) to extend his advantage. Nicholas Splawn was the next to fall, running the ‘Choctaw Nuts’ (J-2) into the A-9 of Mack Khan. Splawn earned $45,165 as the sixth-place finisher.

Chivukula’s run ended in fifth place ($61,281) when his 10-8 suited was unable to outrace the pocket sixes of Lapka. On the other side of the coin flip, Lapka was able to win another big all-in with overcards of K-J against the pocket fives of Khan (4th – $84,475) to enter three-handed play with a massive lead.

The gap only widened when Zak Baron got all-in with A-4 against pocket aces for Lapka. Baron found no help on a queen-high runout and was eliminated in third place ($118,278).

Lapka held a 4:1 chip lead ove Gregg Merkow when heads-up play began. In the final hand Lapka limped in from the small blind for 300,000 total. Merkow moved all-in for around 7 million with A3 from the big blind. Lapka called with AQ and the board ran out KJ9A8 to secure the title for Lapka.

Merkow cashed for $168,169 as the runner-up. He now has nearly $2.2 million in lifetime scores under his belt.

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

Photo provided by WSOP.

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