US poker pro Dylan Wilkerson celebrated a key career victory this weekend when he claimed the $147,000 main prize in the World Poker Tour Emperors Palace Poker Classic hosted by that establishment in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Over the three-day competition Wilkerson survived a starting field of 165 other hopefuls to enter the final day competing with just 16 other players still standing.
Seth Berger’s exit in seventh place set the final table, which was dominated by Wilkerson, Richard Barnard and Chris Convery, all with over a million in chips and well ahead of Diane Crous, Aaron Overton and Darryn Lipman.
The latter two players were too low in stacks to last long, and went out before the dinner break, followed in short order by Convery and Crous after the break, leaving Wilkerson and Barnard in the heads up with almost even chip stacks (Barnard on 2.52 million and Wilkerson in hot pursuit on 2.46 million).
The clash was brief but exciting as Wilkerson played aggressively to close the small gap and then take control of the game over the next twenty hands, sending Barnard to the cashier and a runner-up pay-out of $85,651.
Wilkerson is no stranger to World Poker Tour tournaments; earlier this year he placed second in two WPT events, the Fallsview Poker Classic (for $228,364) and the Bay 101 Shooting Star, in which he earned $728,650. He also achieved two 2014 World Series of Poker final tables, taking away a total of $150,000.