The World Poker Tour’s inaugural WPT500 tournament at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas is being lauded as a success following 3,599 player registrations that boosted the prize pool in the $500 buy-in competition to $1.8 million.
After seven days of hard-charging poker the event concluded Thursday with Los Angeles grinder and biotech consultant Sean Yu (39) claiming the honours and the $260,000 main prize after a tough final table that featured several formidable international players.
Starting the heads up against Bostonian Kareem Marshall (32), Yu enjoyed a significant chip lead that enabled him to send his adversary to the exit with a runner up prize of $180,000 after just 21 hands.
Others who made their mark on the Final Table included France’s Team PMU.fr pro Brian Benhamou and Bwin.be online qualifier Messadek Soufiane from Liege, Belgium.
“In one day of poker I have turned $565 into $260,000 – it is really amazing, I love the format,” Yu said after the finale.
All WPT500 final table participants also received a buy-in to next year’s WPT500 at Aria Resort & Casino in July 2015 along with hotel accommodation.
Other final table payments were:
Scott Clements $120,500
Christian Harder $90,000
Jeffrey Ray $70,000
Luis Nargentino $55,000
Brian Benhamou $45,000
Terry Fleischer $35,000
Messadek Soufiane $26,000