Poker Champ Joe McKeehen Among WPT World Championship Side Event Winners

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Senior Editor U.S.
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Joe McKeehen WPT Poker

The WPT Prime Championship and Friday's $5 million ClubWPT Gold Invitational Freeroll will get most of the headlines at Wynn Las Vegas this week. But there are many other intriguing events taking place during the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship festival that are seeing some big name pros such as Joe McKeehen taking down events.

McKeehen, the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner, continues to crush it on the tournament circuit since becoming world champion nine years ago. He added another title to his name Dec. 9 when he took down the $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max tournament for $120,943.

The Philadelphia sports fanatic beat out 211 entrants, including Cherish Andrews (sixth place for $25,788) at the final table. Joan Moragues finished runner-up and received $98,942. McKeehen now has $20.6 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob.

$3,000 NLH 6-Max Final Table Results

PlacePlayerPrize
1Joe McKeehen$120,943
2Joan Moragues$98,942
3Daewoong Song$61,269
4Michael Arellano$45,832
5Byung Eun Shin$33,862
6Cherish Andrews$25,788

Vengrin Wins in Omaha/8

Matt Vengrin Poker
Matt Vengrin

Matt Vengrin, a restaurateur in Las Vegas, won his third poker tournament at Wynn since October when he conquered the $1,100 Limit Omaha/8 event for $39,553. He beat out 159 players in the $100,000 guaranteed tournament that had just over $154,000 in the prize pool.

Vengrin, who now has over $1.7 million in live tournament cashes, beat Ryan Hoenig heads-up to win the shiny Wynn replica trophy. Hoering, an accomplished tournament player as well, received $23,748 for second place. Carol Fuchs, a WSOP bracelet winner, finished in third place for $16,954.

$1,100 Limit Omaha/8 Final Table Results

PlacePlayerPrize
1Matt Vengrin$39,553
2Ryan Hoenig$23,748
3Carol Fuchs$16,954
4Robert Tanita$12,939
5Kathy Chang$9,753
6Dean Joe$7,268
7Bill Watchman$5,691
8Volodymyr Kondratenko$4,656

Life-Changing Money for Barrios

Sergio Barrios Soto
Sergio Barrios Soto

Sergio Barrios Soto has the biggest score thus far at the WPT World Championship festival — by a lot. The Mexican poker player who had less than $100,000 in The Hendon Mob results prior to the series earned a life-changing cash in a $1 million guaranteed event.

The $800 No-Limit Hold'em tournament began on Dec. 3 and had a whopping 3,006 entrants and more than doubled the guarantee ($318,623). Barrios earned the largest share of that pot — $318,623 — when he defeated Michael O'Connor heads-up for the title. O'Connor, an American poker player, claimed a $211,189 prize. Alexander Greenblatt (third place for $162,450) and Jordyn Miller (fourth place for $124,686) also earned six-figure payouts. Joon Kim wasn't far off with a $97,375 cash for fifth place.

$800 NLH Final Table Results

PlacePlayerPrize
1Sergio Barrios Soto$318,623
2Michael O'Connor$211,189
3Alexander Greenblatt$162,450
4Jordyn Miller$124,686
5Joon Kim$97,375
6Davide Muccini$73,745
7Jesse Kertland$56,316
8Ping Lin$41,376
9Andrea Virzi$29,606

The series is just getting started. Many major events that will capture headlines such as the $10,400 WPT World Championship (Dec. 14) are still to come, along with plenty of other exciting tournaments at Wynn just like the ones we've discussed.

Updated WPT World Championship Results

TournamentEntrantsWinnerPrize
$600 Limit Omaha/8161Jonathan Breneman$21,264
$600 HORSE154Jason Staalesen$20,338
$1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo215Barry Hutter$49,342
$800 No-Limit Hold'em3,006Sergio Barrios Soto$318,623
$1,600 Mystery Bounty933Ran Koller$158,027
$3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha175Bradley Miller$117,780
$1,100 Limit Omaha/8159Matt Vengrin$39,553
$1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo164Chun Kwan$41,213
$3,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Max211Joe McKeehen$120,943
$1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha Turbo259Caleb Furth$55,791

Full WPT World Championship Schedule

*Images courtesy of Wynn Poker Room.

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