Making a World Poker Tour final table as the chip leader and playing under the camera’s eye for a big pile of cash is a dream for most poker players. Dreaming about making two in a row as chip leader is a little outlandish, but that’s exactly what Bin Weng has accomplished when the dust cleared and the final six remained at WPT Choctaw yesterday.
Weng is also the chip leader of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, which played to the final sextet just last week. This means he will play in two final tables in back-to-back days at Luxor’s HyperX arena in Las Vegas when the WPT tapes the conclusion of three events for broadcast. He already has May 25 and 26 locked-up.
Will the poker Gods allow him to power through another massive field at the $5,250 WPT Gardens Poker Championship that takes place May 21-25, the final table which will be taped May 27? Can he make it three-in-a-row?
Even though the odds are naturally stacked against him, the way Weng is rolling makes it hard to believe it won’t happen.
WPT Choctaw’s main event attracted 612 entrants who generated a $2,142,000 prize pool that paid the top 77 finishers at least $6,980. The remaining six players have already won $81,700 and are playing for the $400,740 top prize, which includes a $10,400 seat in WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
But like the task he has in front of him while facing the last five standing from WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, Weng will have to bring his A-game to top this crew.
Final six of WPT Choctaw
- Bin Weng – 8,800,000 (88 bbs)
- Jared Jaffee – 7,225,000 (72 bbs)
- Mike Vainer – 5,300,000 (53 bbs)
- Dojie Ignacio – 4,225,000 (42 bbs)
- Erkut Yilmaz – 3,150,000 (32 bbs)
- Rusty Farrin – 1,900,000 (19 bbs)
Jaffe looking for second WPT title, Yilmaz his third
Weng may be leading the final punters, but a man who has what Weng wants sits only 16 big blinds behind him. Jared Jaffee brings five visits to a WPT final table to the Luxor May 26, where he looks to win his second WPT title. But it’s been a bit: Jaffee’s WPT win came in the 2013 bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble.
Jaffee’s last victory in a big-buy in event came last July in a $10,000 event at the PokerGO Tour Aria High Roller Summer Series for $110,000. The long-time and well respected poker pro who makes Las Vegas his home has more than $6 million in tournament cashes.
Right behind Weng and Jaffee is Mike Vanier of Nebraska. Vanier came as close as you could get at the $5,000 WPT Venetian last July, but his runner-up finish was still good for $595,000. With $1.28 million in cashes, he’s a rising star who is looking to get his first major victory on May 26.
Dojie Ignacio’s biggest lifetime cash before WPT Choctaw was for $6,296 — and that took place a dozen years ago in a $450 buy-in event. He’s the oldest player at the table at 53.
Erkut Yilmaz, who hails from Turkey but resides in Philadelphia like Weng, is a two-time WPT champ. His biggest lifetime cash came at the 2018 WPT Borgata Poker Open for $575,112. A year later, he won the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event for $303,920 in 2019. He looks to become the eighth player with three or more WPT titles.
Like Ignacio, this is Rusty Farrin’s first five-figure cash. His best finish before this came in 2019, when he finished second in a $180 RUNGOOD event for $4,601. He has under $20,000 lifetime.
CardsChat will be at the taping of the final tables in May. Here’s what this crew is playing for:
- $400,740 (includes $10,400 WPT World Championship entry)
- $261,000
- $192,000
- $143,000
- $107,000
- $81,700
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