Two-Time Champ Hoyt Corkins Wins WPT Southern Poker Championship

After 32 preliminary tournaments, the World Poker Tour descended upon the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi for the WPT Southern Poker Championship Main Event. With many of poker’s biggest names in town, some having already won preliminary events like Nick and Michael Binger, Jason Mercier, and Scott Clements, the four-day tournament was set to begin on January 24.
Day 1 was the sole starting day and brought 208 players to the table, which was a significant decrease from the 283-player field in 2009. The registration numbers created a prize pool that offered payouts to 18 players and $739,486 for the next WPT champion. Players like Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Jonathan Little, Hoyt Corkins, Chad Brown, Lee Markholt, Paul Wasicka, and John Cernuto were among the players who started the event, though only 105 survived the day. And in the chip lead was Dwyte Pilgrim, who captured titles in two preliminary events, with 175,900 chips.

Day 2 took the field down to 27 players, still outside the money range but ever closer to it. At the end of play, it was Tyler Smith in the chip lead with 462,500 in his stack.

Day 3 saw several players exit before the money, like Kathy Liebert and the aforementioned Pilgrim. When hand-for-hand play began, several players doubled up to stay alive, but Sam Rashid wasn’t so lucky. He pushed all-in with pocket kings, but Narinder Khasria called with pocket aces. When the board came 9-3-2-Q-10, Rashid was gone in 19th place on the money bubble. On the way to the final table, players like Tommy Vedes, Justin Smith, and JJ Liu were eliminated. And finally, Andy Philacheck moved all-in with , Corkins called with , and the board improved the latter with . Philacheck ended the day with a seventh place finish and $67,540.

The final table was then established with the following chip counts:

Seat 1:    Tyler Smith            1,169,000
Seat 2:    Hoyt Corkins        2,069,000
Seat 3:    Jonathan Kantor           894,000
Seat 4:    Jerry Vanstrydonck    1,044,000
Seat 5:    James Reed           377,000
Seat 6:    Jared Jaffee           762,000

Tyler Smith had a rough run from the start, getting crippled on the 16th hand by Kantor. Two hands later, with less than 50K in chips, a raise from Vanstrydonck and reraise from Jaffee prompted Smith to call all-in from the big blind. Vanstrydonck ducked out, and Jaffee showed to the of Smith. The board came to eliminate Smith in sixth place with $86,837.

James Reed was the newest short stack, and though he doubled against Vanstrydonck, he still only had 388K when he tried it again, this time with only . Jaffee was the caller holding pocket eights, and the board of knocked Reed out of the tournament in fifth place with $106,134.

It took some time before another player was at risk, but it was Jared Jaffee who lost the most ground. Finally with 661K left and seated in the big blind, he pushed all-in. Corkins was the original raiser and called while Kantor and Vanstrydonck got out of the way. Corkins turned over pocket jacks, which were then racing against the of Jaffee. But the board blanked with , and Jaffee was gone in fourth place with $135,079.

The chips changed hands many times during three-handed action, but it was Jerry Vanstrydonck who had the roughest time, finally making an all-in move with from the big blind. Corkins started the hand and called with , which remained the best hand when the dealer brought them a board. Vanstrydonck was eliminated in third place with $196,829.

The final two players then started heads-up play as follows:

Hoyt Corkins        3,635,000
Jonathan Kantor        2,665,000

Corkins took control of the action and never let up. Ultimately, Kantor was very short-stacked, and when Corkins pushed all-in preflop, Kantor called with . Corkins turned over the and better hand, which only improved on the flop. The on the turn gave Kantor outs, but the on the river squashed them. That left Jonathan Kantor to accept $366,643 for second place.

Hoyt Corkins claimed $739,486 for his second World Poker Tour title, the first having been won in 2003. Corkins also claimed WPT and Beau Rivage bracelets for the Southern Poker Championship victory.