The CAD $3,500 buy-in, CAD $1.5 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground Championship attracted 840 runners, but it was nearly 839 as Michael Wang almost didn’t make the trip. He’d been traveling Europe and was anxious to get back home to Las Vegas, but he decided a pitstop in Montreal was too good to pass up.
“I’m glad I came. I was kind of on the fence between coming here and just going home,” Wang told PokerNews prior to the final table.
It proved to be one of the best decisions he’s ever made not only getting the monkey off his back of never making a WPT final table, but he shipped it for CAD $384,738 (US $276,634) and a seat in the WPT World Championship.
“I really got the monkey off my back,” he said after the win. “I was happy with the final table and this is so much above that. It feels a little surreal and I’m sure it’ll sink in a little bit later.”
Looking back on the decision to come to Playground, Wang reflected: “Yeah, it’s always the close calls, right? Like when you expect something you never get it, and then I feel like just the fact that it was kind of out of the way a little bit. I just, I don’t know, it feels like almost like destiny, I guess.”
WPT Playground Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize in CAD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Wang | Las Vegas, NV | $384,738* (US $276,634) (including a seat in the WPT World Championship) |
| 2 | Santiago Plante | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | $292,653* (US $210,417) |
| 3 | Baron Ha | Windsor, Ontario, Canada | $196,000 (US $141,083) |
| 4 | Jordan Grant | Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada | $146,000 (US $105,093) |
| 5 | Zachary Fischer | East Northport, NY | $111,000 (US $79,899) |
| 6 | Amirpasha Emami | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | $84,000 (US $60,464) |
*Denotes heads-up deal.
According to updates from the tournament, the first elimination came on Hand #4 when the shortest stack Amirpasha Emami three-bet jammed with pocket nines only to run smack dab into Jordan Grant’s pocket queens. The ladies held and just like that the 31-year-old Emami, who finished fifth out of 3,531 entries in 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 Closer for $164,750, was the first out the door.
It took several hours until Hand #114 for the next elimination to occur and it happened when Grant shoved all in under the gun for 7.45 million holding pocket tens and Zachary Fischer called off for 5.5 million after looking down at two red aces. Fischer was in a good spot to double, but the flop gave Grant an open-ended straight draw. The turn completed it and Fischer had to settle for fifth place and a new career-high score of $79,899, besting the $29,035 he received for finishing eighth in the 2022 Venetian DeepStack Series $1,100 NLH Event.
On Hand #135, father-to-be Grant, 36, exited after getting his stack all in preflop with king-queen suited against Wang’s two black nines (Fun Fact: that’s the same hand Phil Hellmuth had when he won the 1989 WSOP Main Event). Grant flopped a flush draw but was left drawing dead when a nine on the turn gave Wang a full house. The $105,093 that Grant received for finishing in fourth place more than doubled his previous career-high score of $50,900 for finishing 230th in the 2023 WSOP Main Event.
Just 14 hands later, the start-of-the-day chip leader Baron Ha was eliminated in third place when he jammed his last 12 bigs with king-seven on the button only to have Wang wake up with a pair of sevens in the big blind. The pocket pair held and the 40-year-old Ha took home $196,000 for finishing in third place, a huge score given his previous high was $15,264 for finishing 22nd in the 2019 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic.
Wang took a 24.3 million to 17.4 million chip lead into heads-up play against 28-year-old local pro Santiago Plante, who last year finished fourth in the EPT Barcelona Main Event for $552,005. The two worked a small deal to lock up some money while leaving some to play for along with the shiny WPT Playground championship belt.
The duo battled for 19 hands before things came to a head on Hand #168. Wang, who had pulled out to a big chip lead, jammed the button with queen-jack and Plante called off with king-deuce. A queen on the flop ended up giving Wang the title while Plante had to settle for second place and CAD $292,653 (US $210,417) in prize money.
Meanwhile, Wang etched his name on the prestigious Mike Sexton’s Champions Cup.
“There are so many legends on this trophy,” he said of the accomplishment. “I was playing with Darren Elias in this tournament and he ran deep and he’s got his name too many on this. Like let someone else have it, buddy. So many legends. I’m so happy to add my name.”
While Wang is tired from his recent travels, he understands there’s not much time to rest with both the NAPT and WPT World Championship coming to his hometown.
“I guess no rest for the weary and I guess, you know, it’s not a bad thing to strike while the iron is hot,” he said.
Regarding the upcoming event at the Wynn and whether or not he’d don the championship belt and waltz into the ballroom stylin’ and profilin’ like Ric Flair, Wang smiled.
“I saw the previous champion was doing that and it actually, looks pretty good on him,” he said. “He was dressed up in a suit too that had the belt and I was like, wow, that’s a cool look. So, I’m not ruling it out. That’s not usually my style, but he was rocking it.”
That does it for PokerNews coverage of the WPT Playground, but we will be at both the $5,000 buy-in WPT bestbet Scramble Championship from Nov. 15-19 followed by the $3,500 buy-in WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship from Nov. 29-Dec. 4.
*Photos courtesy World Poker Tour (WPT) / Alicia Skillman
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