The Borgata in Atlantic City was again the venue for the $15,000 buy-in World Poker Tour Championship this week, which saw young Brooklyn poker pro Asher Connif take home the main prize of $973,683 after outlasting a challenging field of 238 other hopefuls.
On the final day former WPT Cyprus champion Alexander Lakhov led the last six players to the final table, an elite enough group with two other WPT champions (Tony Dunst and Carlos Mortensen).
Making up the table were Ray Qartomy and Brian Yoon, a double WSOP bracelet winner.
Although not the chip leader at the outset (he was at that point holding the second largest chip stack), Connif displayed a confidence earned just two weeks earlier in a win in the Borgata Spring Poker Open, and he soon set about eliminating the opposition.
With the dispatch of Yoon in third place for $330,358, the heads up duo of Alex Lakhov and Connif squared off, with the latter holding an almost 5 to 1 chip advantage that ensured a short, 12 hand final tussle before Lakhof was dispatched to the exit and a runner up pay-out of $573,779.
The WPT reports that Connif’s presence in the event was actually due to a (very fortunate) error; whilst playing on a regulated New Jersey online poker site he mistakenly entered for an internet satellite competition whilst trying to register for a Sunday weekly tournament. That satellite led to victory and a seat in the big-money Borgata event!
The other three final table players scored:
Carlos Mortensen – $267,764
Ray Qartomy – $208,647
Tony Dunst – $173,873