Uncategorized

Six Players Vie for a Spot on the Mike Sexton Cup at WPT Legends of Poker Final Table

Patrick Mandelle September 1, 2022 3 min read

September 01, 2022

The final table for the World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker Main Event at Parkwest Bicycle Casino is all set and Ray Qartomy leads the way over WPT champion Matthew Wantman and Day 2 chip leader Joshua Pollock. Cards go in the air at 1 p.m. local time for a final table that will be streamed with a 30-minute delay via WPT.com.

The tournament drew 642 players for a total prize pool of $3,113,700, from which the winner will take home $573,350.

Qartomy has the lead thanks to some aggressive play as the field got smaller and the pay jumps got bigger. He’s followed by Wantman and Pollock in a tie for the second spot on the leaderboard, while Aaron Motoyama sits behind them with 30 big blinds. Adam Hendrix and Lei Lei round out the final table leaderboard with their relative short stacks.

WPT Legends Final Table Seat Draw

Seat	Player	Chip Count	Day 4 Big Blinds
1	Adam Hendrix	1,575,000	11
2	Joshua Pollock	6,300,000	42
3	Aaron Motoyama	4,525,000	30
4	Lei Lei	1,300,000	9
5	Ray Qartomy	11,000,000	73
6	Matthew Wantman	6,300,000	42

Who Will Win?

Qartomy is looking for his first WPT title and a score that would put him over $5 million in lifetime earnings. He’s a fixture on the high roller circuit, and he most recently finished in third at the WPT Choctaw Championship in May for $235,000. Qartomy’s biggest win was for $639,925 in 2013 at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, and a victory today would be Qartomy’s second biggest score to date in a career with 12 six-figure payouts.

Following Qartomy is WPT Champions Club member Wantman, who won the WPT Aria Summer Championship in 2019. He recently finished as runner-up in the WSOP Circuit Main Event in North Carolina, and a win at Legends of Poker would be his biggest yet. Wantman is joined in the second spot on the leaderboard by Pollock, who previously finished fourth in this event in 2011. Pollock was the Day 2 chip leader, and he returns with 42 big blinds for a chance at the top prize.

Matthew Wantman – Photo courtesy of Joe Giron/WPT

This is Motoyama’s first cash in the WPT Legends of Poker Main event, but he has run well in WPT tournaments at other stops. He previously took 13th at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic in 2020, and he finished in 26th at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star in 2013. Motoyama has three six-figure scores on his resume, including a win at the 2019 California State Poker Championship at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

Hendrix enters the final table with just over 10 big blinds, and he will look for a chance to spin it up to take a shot at putting his name on the Mike Sexton Cup. The Alaska native is building on a big Summer after he won the Wynn Summer Classic in June for $257,885. Later in the WSOP, Hendrix made the final table of the $5,000 Freezeout and finished fourth for $211,295. A win at the WPT Legends of Poker would put Hendrix over $4 million in lifetime earnings.

Adam Hendrix – Photo courtesy of Joe Giron/WPT

Lei is the short stack with nine big blinds, and he returns with the opportunity to build a WPT legacy. This is Lei’s first final table on record, and he will attempt to come from the bottom of the chip counts for his first WPT win.

Action gets underway at 1 p.m. local time in Level 29 at 75,000/150,000/150,000. The final table will be streamed at 1:30 p.m. via WPT.com and on WPT Twitch with a 30-minute security delay.

Be sure to keep it with PokerNews for more from the WPT Legends of Poker at Parkwest Bicycle Casino.

Feature photo courtesy of Joe Giron/WPT

Sharelines