We have a new WPT champion and Chance Kornuth padded his bankroll with a major victory and his first WPT title. The $3,800 buy-in WPT Choctaw Main Event attracted 787 entrants, and the top 100 places earned a cut of the $2.75 million prize pool. The final table included Kornuth, Ray Qartomy, James Mackey, James Hundt, Steve Buckner, and Kristen Foxen. Kornuth picked off Buckner heads up to win $486,600.
Chance Kornuth passed over $10 million in winnings and the American pro from Colorado finally added a WPT title to his growing list of accolades including three WSOP bracelets. This WPT Choctaw event began in Oklahoma, yet ended under the bright and glitzy lights of Sin City. The WPT had a minor delay until the final table played out in Las Vegas at the HyperX eSports Arena.
This year's WPT Choctaw had a price tag of $3,800, which attracted 787 runners who generated a prize pool worth $2.75M. Only the top 100 places earned a piece of the pie, with the majority of the sweetness set aside to the top three places including $486,600 to the eventual champion.
Anees Puri bubbled final table in seventh place. The 2022 WPT Choctaw final table six included Ray Qartomy, Chance Kornuth, James Mackey, James Hundt, Steve Buckner, and Kristen Foxen.
Ray Qartomy bagged up the lead at the WPT Choctaw with 9.4M. He was barely ahead of Chance Kornuth and James Hundt, who also had stacks worth 9M. James Mackey was fourth in chips with 5M with Steve Buckner right behind him with 4.7M. Kristen Foxen was th shortest stack remaining with almost 2.2M.
Mackey missed a chance to win another event at Choctaw when he was the first player to exit the final table. The action did not play a full orbit before Mackey was all-in on Hand #4. James Hundt went to battle with 
against Mackey's 
. Hudnt flopped a set of Queens and his pocket ladied held up. Mackey busted in sixth place which paid out $101,000. Hundt seized the lead with 15.1M.
On Hand #24, Kristen Foxen hit the rail when she made a final stand with Ace-nine but lost to Chance Kornuth's 
. Kristen Foxen flopped a pair of Aces, but Kornuth paired his ten. On the turn, Kornuth took the lead with two pair. The river did not help Kristen Foxen and Kornuth won the pot with Jacks up. Kristen Foxen banked $135,000 for fifth place. With four to go, Kornuth was the overall leader with 17.1M.
James Hundt lost a significant amount of his stack when Steve Buckner double through him with 
against Hundt's pocket sixes. Twenty hands later on Hand #65, Hundt met his fate when he made a final stand with 
and turned trips, but got flushed out by Buckner's 
. Buckner rivered a flush when the 
spiked on the river. Hudnt earned $175,000 for fourth place. With three remaining, Kornuth sat behind a mountain of chops with a 26.6M stack had a more than twice as many chips as Buckner (5.2M) and Ray Qartomy (7.5M) combined.
On Hand #81, Ray Qartomy hit the bricks when his pocket fives were picked off by Chance Kornuth's 
. The pocket Jacks held up and Kornuth won the pot. Ray Qartomy banked $235,000 for third place.
When heads-up began, Kornuth led 28.5M to 10.8M. Their battle would last a couple of hours with the two trading haymakers late in the evening. On the final hand, Buckner shoved, and Kornuth called with Ace-ten. Buckner held 
. The board ran out 
. Kornuth won with a better two pair -- Aces and fives vs nines and fives. Dolly Parton was not good enough for Buckner and he headed to the rail in second place.
Buckner won $320,000 for a runner-up finish. Not too shabby, eh?
Kornuth won another title and gets his named engraved on the coveted Mike Sexton trophy. For shipping the WPT Choctaw, Kornuth won $486,600.
Notables who went deep and cashed in the 2022 WPT Choctaw included... Bin Weng, Jeff Yanchek, Jeff Banghart, Dapo Ajayi, Andrew Moreno, Alex Foxen, Will Berry, Denys Shafikov, Frank Stepuchin, Eric Afriat, Kenny Nguyen, Bryan Picciolo, Scott Hall, and Justin Kruger.
2022 WPT Choctaw
Buy-in: $3,800
Entrants: 787
Prize Pool: $2,754,500
Payouts: 100
Final Table Results:
1. Chance Kornuth $486,600
2. Steve Buckner $320,000
3. Ray Qartomy $235,000
4. James Hundt $175,000
5. Kristen Foxen $135,000
6. James Mackey $101,000
