Old-school online grinder mig.com won the WPT Choctaw at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma. Otherwise known in the real world as James Mackey, mig.com faded a field of 1,066 runners to win $666K for first place. Mackey has been playing in WPT events for over a decade, but this was the first time he burst through to the winner's circle. Mackey now has over $3.5 million in career live earnings.
Sometimes one of the good guys wins, even though it took him a decade to get there. Patience counts, grasshopper. You might recognize James Mackey more so by his online moniker of mig.com, but Mackey is a pretty solid live MTT player as well. He shipped a WSOP bracelet back in 2007 when he took down a $5K event for over 700K. Before last night, the deepest he ever went in a WPT event was back in 2014 when he finished in third place down at the Seminole Hard Rock. But now Mackey can add a WPT title to his impressive resume that includes over $3.5 million in career live earnings.
James Mackey won the WPT Choctaw at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK. The prize pool for this main event was over $3.6 million. Mackey bested a field of 1,066 runners to ship the first-place prize of over $666K. Yeah, he won the devil's share of the pool. Mackey defeated Ben Zamani heads-up for the win.
“Feels amazing to finally win a WPT after playing them for 10 years!” tweeted Mackey moments after his victory.
Although Bastian Fischer began the final table as the chip leader, Craig Varnell seized it early and held onto it for most of the night…until the remaining pack caught up with him. Varnell eventually and unexpectedly hit the bricks in third place, setting up a heads-up battle between Zamani and Mackey. After approximately 37 hands of heads-up action, both players got it all-in with pocket pairs. Mackey's pocket eights bested Zamani's pocket fives. Mackey flopped a set, but Zamani flopped an open-ended straight draw. Alas, Mackey faded the straight and potential five-flush for a chopped pot. Zamani hit the rail in second place and Mackey binked the WPT Choctaw.
2016 WPT Choctaw
Buy-in: $3,700
Entrants: 1,066
Prize Pool: $3,619,070
Payouts: 109
Final Table Payouts:
1. James Mackey $666,758
2. Benjamin Zamani $412,234
3. Craig Varnell $306,346
4. Bastian Fischer $230,300
5. Jack Duong $175,122
6. Matt Smith $134,720