Mike Sexton wins his first WPT title
After a lengthy career in which he has become an instantly recognisable poker commentator and also a WSOP bracelet winning player, Mike Sexton is now also a WPT winner. The CAD$3,850 (USD$2,922) buy-in and 648 entries helped to generate a prize pool of USD$1,490,802 for this event, which was hosted in Montreal in Canada.
Having been the voice of the WPT for the best part of 15 years, it was fitting that if Sexton were to pick up a major title; it would be here. The WSOP hall of famer entered the final table with the chip lead, but had to overcome several setbacks, including being forced down to 5 big blinds before taking the title. He picked up USD$317,896 for his victory, with runner-up finisher Benny Chen collecting USD$213,515.
Prize (CAD)
1st: Mike Sexton – $425,980
2nd: Benny Chen – $286,110
3rd: Nadir Lalji – $183,320
4th: Ilan Boujenah – $132,750
5th: Ema Zajmovic – $102,010
6th: Jake Schwartz – $81,740
Viktor Blom working on 2016 recovery
The poker world breathed a collective sigh of relief at the end of last year as legendary online pro Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom completed a long awaited revival by finishing 2015 on +$3.5 million. No sooner had they done so, the poker world found themselves holding their breath once again as the Swedish pro endured a troubling financial descent through most of 2016.
Blom was nearing -$1million for the year and stuck in the midst of a prolonged downswing when he finally started turning the corner during the autumn. What began as small gains soon became more substantial, and in recent weeks he has managed to claw himself back to -$493,108 for the year. He remains +$1,475,771 through 1,133,251 hands over the course of his career on PokerStars.
More: Viktor Blom in 2016: What’s Going on?
David Peters stalking Holz on GPI POY leaderboard
After an excellent week which has punctuated the tail end of an outstanding year, David Peters has vaulted past Chance Kornuth and Paul Volpe to claim 2nd on the GPI Player of the Year rankings. With around 6 weeks of 2016 remaining, Fedor Holz tops the leaderboard with 3644.80 points, while Peters has 3,343.09. Holz claims to have no other tournaments scheduled for the year, which may or may not be true; but on current form he seems likely to have Peters in close company by the end of December either way.
Peters’ latest movement on the rankings has mostly been down to two recent scores. He won the High Roller event at the ACOP festival for USD$629,868 just a week after picking up USD$213,709 for his 8th place finish in the Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event.
GPI POY 2016
#1: Fedor Holz – 3,644.80 pts
#2: David Peters – 3,343.09 pts
#3: Chance Kornuth – 3,336.54 pts
#4: Paul “The Main Event” Volpe – 3,192.20 pts
#5: Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo – 3,127.87 pts
Article by Craig Bradshaw
