Ren Lin had already proved to be a skilled poker player before entering the $50,000 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Alpha8 tournament. But now he can add the first seven-figure cash to his The Hendon Mob resume.
The Chinese pro defeated a field of 69 players at Wynn Las Vegas on Thursday for a $1,045,781 score. He beat the great Jason Koon heads-up at the end, along with a star-studded field full of some of the best players in the world.
WPT Alpha8 Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ren Lin | $1,045,781 |
| 2 | Jason Koon | $669,300 |
| 3 | Martin Kabrhel | $468,510 |
| 4 | Biao Ding | $334,650 |
| 5 | Seth Davies | $249,314 |
| 6 | Nikita Kuznetsov | $192,424 |
Final Table Action
When Day 2 began on Thursday, Seth Davies had a slight chip lead over a few others with 13 players remaining. Lin, who was in the middle of the pack, was just biding his time to make a run.
Only nine of the players who came back to Wynn would be paid. With 10 players left, Alex Foxen went all in for his final 10 big blinds with 9x9x and was looked up by Lin, who had Qx4x and was well behind. A river queen sent Foxen to the rails on the stone bubble.
Justin Bonomo was next out (ninth place for $108,761), followed by Isaac Haxton (eighth place for $125,494), and Brad Owen (seventh place for $152,266).
The official final table then began with Martin Kabrhel in the chip lead, but no one had more than 37 big blinds. Lin was sitting at under 20 big blinds and needed to make something happen quickly.
Nikita Kuznetsov lost a 60/40 to Kabrhel to bust in sixth place ($192,424), and then Davies was all in with A♦8♦ against the 9♥9♣ of Biao Ding. Davies would flop a flush draw but his opponent turned a full house and he was out in fifth place for $249,314.
Ding, however, lost a race moments later to Lin and was out in fourth place ($334,650). Koon held the chip lead at the start of three-handed play, but it was anyone’s ballgame at that point. The cards, for the most part, would determine the outcome from there on out.
Koon would pull further ahead, but then Lin caught Kabrhel bluffing and overtook the chip lead, leaving Kabrhel with less than 10 big blinds. He’d bust a shortly after in third place for $468,510, not even half of what he lost in the $1 million buy-in WPT Big One for One Drop this week.
The match at the start of heads-up play was nearly even with Lin slightly out in front. He briefly relinquished that lead before quickly grabbing it back and then finishing the match off by calling an all in bet with A♠2♥ against Koon’s J♦9♣. The board ran out Q♥5♣2♠7♥10♦ and Koon took second place for $669,300.
That means Ren Lin is the WPT Alpha8 champion, which paid him $1,045,781.
*Image courtesy of World Poker Tour.