Poker News

There is one more day remaining in Season XIII of the World Poker Tour (WPT) as the WPT World Championship final table has been set. It is a very strong final table, as three of its six members have won World Poker Tour titles previously. Alexander Lakhov leads the way with 4.11 million chips, almost 2 million more than the second place Asher Conniff.

Lakhov is one of those three players who has won on the World Poker Tour previously, having taken the crown at the 2014 WPT Merit Classic North Cyprus Main Event. Looking at his profile on TheHendonMob.com, he has an interesting live tournament resume: very long with lots of four-figure cashes. He does not have an overwhelming number of cashes in major events, but he has made the most of them. He has cashed just three times on the World Poker Tour, but each of them was a top ten finish. There was the WPT Cyprus win, of course, but that was preceded by a second place finish in the 2012 WPT Prague Main Event and a ninth place finish in the 2013 WPT Cyprus Main Event.

Cyprus seems to be a magical place for Lakhov, as he also won the WPT National North Cyprus Main Event in 2014. All told, he has just over $1.7 million live tournament earnings.

As mentioned, there are two other past champs at the final table. Tony Dunst, host of the “Raw Deal” segments on the World Poker Tour telecast, is in fifth place with 1.255 million chips. He won the WPT Caribbean Main Event in 2013. He has also made the WPT World Championship final table for the second consecutive year; he placed third last year, behind Keven Stammen and Byron Kaverman.

In sixth place going into action on Wednesday is one of the biggest names from the poker boom, Carlos Mortensen. One of the most successful live tournament players of all time, Mortensen ranks 18th on the all-time money list with over $11.5 million in lifetime earnings. He won the 2004 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship for a cool million dollars AND the 2007 WPT Five Star World Poker Classic for nearly $4 million AND the 2010 WPT Hollywood Poker Open for about $400,000. That’s a three-time World Poker Tour champion right there. Mortensen, though, is arguably best known for winning the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2001. He is one of the few WSOP Main Event champions since the turn of the century to continue to enjoy great success on the live tournament circuit.

The six-handed final table of the WPT World Championship will begin at 4:00pm ET at the Borgata in Atlantic City. It will be live streamed with a 30-minute delay on Twitch.

2015 World Poker Tour World Championship – Final Table Chip Counts

1.    Alexander Lakhov  –  4,110,000
2.    Asher Conniff  –  2,360,000
3.    Brian Yoon  –  1,970,000
4.    Ray Qartomy  –  1,390,000
5.    Tony Dunst  –  1,255,000
6.    Carlos Mortensen  –  880,000

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