He outlasted all 208 entries and beat up-and-comer Jonathan Kantor heads-up to claim the first place prize of $739,486 at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Corkins, who won his first WPT title at the World Poker Finals in 2003, now finds himself as one of the 12 players...
He outlasted all 208 entries and beat up-and-comer Jonathan Kantor heads-up to claim the first place prize of $739,486 at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Corkins, who won his first WPT title at the World Poker Finals in 2003, now finds himself as one of the 12 players that have won two WPT titles. It’s an elite group that includes players like Erick Lindgren, Howard Lederer and Barry Greenstein.
“It’s wonderful,” said Corkins about his win. “It’s been so frustrating coming in second twice, third once and sixth at another final table.”
Corkins cruised to three-handed play but after losing a series of hands became the short-stack. He had to get extremely lucky to win an all-in situation with A-J versus Jerry Vanstrydonck’s pocket kings.
He went on to bust Vanstrydonck and take back the chip lead, carrying it into heads-up play against Kantor. It took Corkins just 19 hands to end the match.
With his victory Corkins also topped 4,000 WPT points, which puts him in a very select group of players that includes just Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu. Corkins now has over $5 million in lifetime tournament earnings.
The WPT will now head to sunny L.A. for both the WPT Celebrity Invitational on Feb. 20-21 and the L.A.P.C., which takes place Feb. 26-March 4.
The complete final table results from the Southern Poker Championship are as follows:
1. Hoyt Corkins - $739,486 2. Jonathan Kantor - $366,643 3. Jerry Vanstrydonck - $196,829 4. Jared Jaffee - $135,079 5. James Reed - $106,134 6. Tyler Smith - $86,837
