World Poker Tour 2018 Prize Money

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It was a stacked final table in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown held at the Luxor HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, May 30 with WPT Champions Club member James Carroll and Maria Ho coming in as the frontrunners, the only two players to start with over 100 big blinds.

520411 players in the All Time Money List. This ranking list does not include results from recurring events (regular daily, weekly or monthly events). Nicolas Manion is the chip leader heading into the nine-player final table for the main event of the 2018 World Series of Poker at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. At the beginning of the month, the inaugural Midway Poker Tour, which had a charity connection with 4 KIDS Sake, Inc., found itself at the center of a payout controversy in its $1,100 buy-in Main.

Ho with over $3 million in live earnings was still looking for her first major title while Carroll already had a WPT title from winning the 2014 $7,500 Bay 101 Shooting Star for seven figures. Ho's bid for her first major career title would end in a third-place finish, while in the end, it would be the only two former WPT champs left to battle for another title in the $3,500 World Poker Tour Showdown Championship.

$3,500 World Poker Tour Showdown Championship Final Table Results

*_{Includes entry to $15,000 Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions}

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table Action

One of the shorter stacks to start the day was former November Niner Jerry Wong, who found a lucky queen on the river to double early through Carroll with ace-queen versus ace-king., according to the WPT live updates.

Another short stack to start the day, two-time WPT champ Eric Afriat had to find some doubles in the early levels of play to avoid being the first player eliminated. He did so first when his ace-jack suited bested Ho's king-queen and after losing a flip to double up Chad Eveslage, Afriat was at risk again. This time he was behind, but he found an ace on the river with ace-queen to pull ahead of Carroll's pocket kings and stay alive.

'The first one felt good, but I've been through some super tough times for the past five years, so this feels good.'

The well-known Circuit grinder Eveslage rode the short stack for nearly 70 hands before losing a flip to Ho to hit the rail in sixth place for his largest career score at $148,380. Soon after, the only non-American finalist, Canada's Ami Alibay got his last 11 big blinds in with pocket nines and was at risk against Wong's pocket eights after Afriat folded jacks. The board ran out with four hearts though to give Wong a flush and end Alibay's tournament run in fifth.

Four-handed, the short stacks fought for their lives, Wong first doubling through Ho, who then doubled through Carroll both in blind versus blind confrontations. As Carroll's stack continued to swell as he applied pressure on his opponents, Wong slipped to eight big blinds and got them in flipping with ace-nine against Afriat's pocket fours, which held up.

The Hunt for the Title

The three-handed battle commenced with Ho trailing, but she found a double through Afriat by winning a big flip with pocket tens versus ace-queen. They couldn't shake Afriat, who found a call for his tournament life against Carroll's triple-barrel queen-high bluff with second pair to soar back into contention and close the gap for the chip lead.

As Afriat chipped up further, Ho treaded water and got her last 16 big blinds in with ace-five. Carroll looked her up with king-queen and made two pair on the turn to take down Ho's flopped pair of aces. She adds $344,960 to the $277k she earned in March for taking down the $25k LAPC High Roller. Ho now has over $3.7 million in earnings and more shots at a major title right around the corner with the WSOP freshly kicked off.

Afriat started the heads-up battle with a two-to-one chip lead over Carroll and the match went back and forth, with both players taking the lead multiple times. The third time Carroll took the lead from Afriat would be the last as he would close it out, winning a flip in the final hand by flopping trip kings with king-eight against Afriat's pocket sixes.

After just missing out on the televised WPT LAPC Main Event final table in March with a seventh-place finish, Carroll got to more than make up for it in this one. Compared to his first WPT victory which brought an even bigger payday, Carroll told WPT reporters: 'This one is actually somewhat sweeter. The first one felt good, but I've been through some super tough times for the past five years, so this feels good.'

Carroll's win put him third in the WPT POY race and he'll have the chance to carry his momentum into the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions that kicks off Saturday, June 1, entry for which was included in his prize money.

_{Images courtesy of WPT.}

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  James CarrollMaria HoWPTWorld Poker TourSeminole Hard RockEric AfriatJerry Wong

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  World Poker Tour

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  Maria HoJames CarrollEric AfriatJerry Wong

A charity poker tournament in Illinois is in hot water with poker players after participants were shorted in their prize pool payouts.

Over the weekend, the Midway Poker Tour hosted its inaugural tournament at the Sheraton Hotel in Elk Grove, Illinois. The buy-in was $1,100 with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, and part of the rake was earmarked for a charity dedicated to helping children.

After two starting flights and 226 entries, 31 players returned on Sunday for day 2 of the event, where all players were guaranteed an in-the-money finish of at least $2,300.

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It was a stacked final table in the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown held at the Luxor HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday, May 30 with WPT Champions Club member James Carroll and Maria Ho coming in as the frontrunners, the only two players to start with over 100 big blinds.

520411 players in the All Time Money List. This ranking list does not include results from recurring events (regular daily, weekly or monthly events). Nicolas Manion is the chip leader heading into the nine-player final table for the main event of the 2018 World Series of Poker at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. At the beginning of the month, the inaugural Midway Poker Tour, which had a charity connection with 4 KIDS Sake, Inc., found itself at the center of a payout controversy in its $1,100 buy-in Main.

Ho with over $3 million in live earnings was still looking for her first major title while Carroll already had a WPT title from winning the 2014 $7,500 Bay 101 Shooting Star for seven figures. Ho's bid for her first major career title would end in a third-place finish, while in the end, it would be the only two former WPT champs left to battle for another title in the $3,500 World Poker Tour Showdown Championship.

$3,500 World Poker Tour Showdown Championship Final Table Results

*_{Includes entry to $15,000 Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions}

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Final Table Action

One of the shorter stacks to start the day was former November Niner Jerry Wong, who found a lucky queen on the river to double early through Carroll with ace-queen versus ace-king., according to the WPT live updates.

Another short stack to start the day, two-time WPT champ Eric Afriat had to find some doubles in the early levels of play to avoid being the first player eliminated. He did so first when his ace-jack suited bested Ho's king-queen and after losing a flip to double up Chad Eveslage, Afriat was at risk again. This time he was behind, but he found an ace on the river with ace-queen to pull ahead of Carroll's pocket kings and stay alive.

'The first one felt good, but I've been through some super tough times for the past five years, so this feels good.'

The well-known Circuit grinder Eveslage rode the short stack for nearly 70 hands before losing a flip to Ho to hit the rail in sixth place for his largest career score at $148,380. Soon after, the only non-American finalist, Canada's Ami Alibay got his last 11 big blinds in with pocket nines and was at risk against Wong's pocket eights after Afriat folded jacks. The board ran out with four hearts though to give Wong a flush and end Alibay's tournament run in fifth.

Four-handed, the short stacks fought for their lives, Wong first doubling through Ho, who then doubled through Carroll both in blind versus blind confrontations. As Carroll's stack continued to swell as he applied pressure on his opponents, Wong slipped to eight big blinds and got them in flipping with ace-nine against Afriat's pocket fours, which held up.

The Hunt for the Title

The three-handed battle commenced with Ho trailing, but she found a double through Afriat by winning a big flip with pocket tens versus ace-queen. They couldn't shake Afriat, who found a call for his tournament life against Carroll's triple-barrel queen-high bluff with second pair to soar back into contention and close the gap for the chip lead.

As Afriat chipped up further, Ho treaded water and got her last 16 big blinds in with ace-five. Carroll looked her up with king-queen and made two pair on the turn to take down Ho's flopped pair of aces. She adds $344,960 to the $277k she earned in March for taking down the $25k LAPC High Roller. Ho now has over $3.7 million in earnings and more shots at a major title right around the corner with the WSOP freshly kicked off.

Afriat started the heads-up battle with a two-to-one chip lead over Carroll and the match went back and forth, with both players taking the lead multiple times. The third time Carroll took the lead from Afriat would be the last as he would close it out, winning a flip in the final hand by flopping trip kings with king-eight against Afriat's pocket sixes.

After just missing out on the televised WPT LAPC Main Event final table in March with a seventh-place finish, Carroll got to more than make up for it in this one. Compared to his first WPT victory which brought an even bigger payday, Carroll told WPT reporters: 'This one is actually somewhat sweeter. The first one felt good, but I've been through some super tough times for the past five years, so this feels good.'

Carroll's win put him third in the WPT POY race and he'll have the chance to carry his momentum into the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions that kicks off Saturday, June 1, entry for which was included in his prize money.

_{Images courtesy of WPT.}

• Tags

  James CarrollMaria HoWPTWorld Poker TourSeminole Hard RockEric AfriatJerry Wong

• Related Tournaments

  World Poker Tour

• Related Players

  Maria HoJames CarrollEric AfriatJerry Wong

A charity poker tournament in Illinois is in hot water with poker players after participants were shorted in their prize pool payouts.

Over the weekend, the Midway Poker Tour hosted its inaugural tournament at the Sheraton Hotel in Elk Grove, Illinois. The buy-in was $1,100 with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, and part of the rake was earmarked for a charity dedicated to helping children.

After two starting flights and 226 entries, 31 players returned on Sunday for day 2 of the event, where all players were guaranteed an in-the-money finish of at least $2,300.

This is where a typical poker tournament became anything but. According to Illinois state law surrounding charitable gaming, players could only receive $500 in cash on top of the return of their buy-in. The remainder of their payout must be awarded in prizes, which in this instance was silver bars and coins. Anyone that cashed would receive $1,600 in cash and the rest in the equivalent amount of the precious metal.

But this key information wasn't publicized and many of the players who finished in the money were unaware that they would be receiving silver, according to a post on a popular poker forum.

'Apparently they bought a bunch of precious metals from some guy and were planning on having him on-site to immediately convert the precious metals to cash. But then the Attorney General found out about this and said they absolutely cannot convert the precious metals on site as it would be illegal.'

The owner and founder of the newly created tour, Dan Bekavac, was not at the tournament during pay outs and was effectively unreachable for most of the day, prompting many to question his legitimacy as a tour operator.

To make matters worse, in addition to not being able to quickly flip the silver for cash, players realized that they weren't being awarded the correct amount, either. The silver amounts awarded were coming up short by about 30 percent of market price of $24 an ounce.

'As I'm leaving the hotel, the guy who was in the cash out line in front of me is telling me how the coins are only worth $700,' wrote the poster. 'So we're being shorted 30 percent?'

World Poker Tour 2018 Prize Money Winner

AMPM.999, the Wisconsin-based company that sold the poker tour the metals, said in a statement that the metals were valued above the spot price.

'At 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, we got a call looking for help because the tournament runners found out that they could not pay out cash and needed precious metals for the ‘prize,'' said the company. 'They said they needed $200,000 in silver. We had almost half of that on hand. On the way to the tournament, we found a dealer that agreed to provide us the rest of it, which we purchased and then sold to tournament organizers. We had agreed on a price as what we had on hand was mostly premium silver, most of it retailing from $30-$40 per ounce.'

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After a lengthy debate, the remaining players decided to play out the tournament and Renato Spahiu took it down for a 'prize value' of $55,060.

In the aftermath of the tournament, the series' Facebook page made several posts about the debacle and said that that anyone that was shorted will be reimbursed.

World Poker Tour 2018 Prize Money List

'Even after losing $58,000, I'm still working to pay these guys out that we're shorted,' said Bekavac. 'Sell your prizes and show me receipts. I will try my best to make everyone whole. Inbox me.'

World Poker Tour 2018 Prize Money Winners

The post showed a screenshot of a text from 'Sami' that said he or she was shorted $900 and followed immediately by a $900 Apple Pay receipt. The most recent post on the page reads, 'Again anyone who did not get paid in full by the charity send us a direct message and we will make you whole.'

World Poker Tour 2018 Prize Money Payout