The $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas on Sunday was a surprisingly fast and one-side affair, as Schuyler Thornton managed the motion all through to win $2,098,456, beating Soheb Porbandarwala heads-up.
Thornton joins Eliot Hudon (2022), Dan Sepiol (2023), and Scott Stewart (2024) amongst champions of the World Poker Tour’s season-ending occasion. Like earlier editions, this yr’s champ beat an enormous area — 1,865 entrants — and needed to earn the victory with a hard-fought battle on the ultimate desk.
Thornton Makes it Fast and Painless
Porbandarwala held an enormous chip lead when the ultimate desk started — higher than a 2:1 chip benefit over Thornton, his nearest competitor. He was additionally the one previous WPT Champions Membership member left among the many ultimate six. However Thornton would shut the hole early when he busted Maxx Coleman in sixth place ($540,000) when A♠Q♦ held up towards A♣10♥.
The ultimate desk then appeared to grow to be a two-player race for the title, because the three smallest stacks had fewer mixed chips than Thornton, who nonetheless trailed Porbandarwala by a major quantity.
Remaining Desk Outcomes
1Schuyler Thornton$2,098,456
2Soheb Porbandarwala$1,969,344
3Jeremy Brown$1,250,000
4Chad Lipton$940,000
5Jeremy Becker$710,000
6Maxx Coleman$540,000
Thornton then sacked Jeremy Becker when his greater ace bested a weaker ace, sending the Wynn every day event crusher residence in fifth place for $710,000. Moments later, Thornton, with A♥Q♦ on a flop of Q♥J♥4♦, had Chad Lipton in unhealthy form after Brown check-raised all in with J♣10♠. No assist would come for Lipton on the flip or river and he was eradicated in fourth place for $940,000.
Lipton’s abrupt elimination shocked WPT commentator David Lappin.
“It sort of got here out of nowhere,” co-commentator Jesse Sylvia stated.
Unexpectedly Thornton was inside hanging distance of Porbandarwala. However nobody benefited extra from Lipton going all in with center pair towards one of many massive stacks than Jeremy Brown, who was then assured a seven-figure payout whereas sitting on one of many brief stacks.
Moments later, Brown four-bet jammed Q♣9♣ towards Porbandarwala, who referred to as with A♦J♦, one other play from the small stack that shocked the commentators. The board ran out Q♥Okay♠8♦J♠3♠, holding Brown within the sport and with a 60-big blind stack.
Brown’s keep, nevertheless, can be short-lived when his high pair bumped into Thornton’s set, sending the shorter-stacked participant residence in third place for $1,250,000. Earlier than heads-up play started, the gamers agreed to a chop, leaving about $129,000 and a $10,400 WPT seat on high for the winner.
Porbandarwala, for the primary time since early on Day 5, had relinquished his chip lead. However each gamers had nicely over 100 massive blinds. The match figured to run for hours given the stack sizes. However Thornton, early within the match, gained an enormous pot with a set of aces to maneuver right into a 5:1 chip benefit.
He’d go on to win 12 consecutive fingers earlier than Porbandarwala received his small stack in with A♥6♥ towards A♦Okay♠. The flop got here Okay♣5♥4♥ to make issues fascinating. However the flip and river have been blanks, ending Porbandarwala’s run in second place for $1,969,344.
Thornton, who now has simply over $4 million in The Hendon Mob cashes, stated in his postgame interview he wasn’t too shocked the brief stacks had proven aggression towards the 2 a lot bigger stacks.
“I do know Jeremy Brown just isn’t a professional. I believe he was going for the win greater than caring about ICM, which is superior, good for him,” Thornton stated. “When (Coleman) jammed that ace-10, it was sort of customary. I simply occurred to have it there, I had ace-queen. Yeah, like I stated, loads of lucky spots went my method right this moment.”
The aggressive play from the brief stacks significantly benefited Thornton, and the ultimate desk cruised by faster than most anticipated, together with the champion.
“I believed we’d get three or four-handed fairly quick, after which possibly heads-up fairly quick. I imply, I envisioned getting heads-up with Soheb. However, yeah, simply knocking everybody out on the ultimate desk, it wasn’t on the Bingo card, however good for me,” Thornton stated.
Thornton’s victory, the Texan’s first main poker event win, wrapped up the 2025 WPT World Championship competition in Las Vegas.
Scott Stewart Wins 2024 WPT World Championship
*Pictures courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
