Andrew Wilson Triumphs Over a Stacked Final Table in the WPT RRPO Main Event to Lift His Maiden WPT Trophy ($785,800)

Andrew Wilson
  • Profile picture
  • Attreyee Khasnabis December 1, 2022
  • 4 Minutes Read

The 2022 World Poker Tour (WPT) Rock’ N’ Roll Poker Open (RRPO) Main Event, hosted at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, is now in the books! The $3,500 buy-in tournament registered 1,541 entries across two starting flights. England’s Andrew Wilson (cover image) overcame a final table stacked with top pros to win his first-ever WPT title and a career-best $785,800 in prize money!

 

“In all of these near misses, I have usually been the chip leader in most of these tournaments. Even though I may have fallen short, it usually does get me to the very far end, so I’ve been in this situation a lot, especially online,” Wilson said in his interview after taking down the event.

“I enjoy being able to play a few more hands, play more pots post, and try to apply pressure to people. That’s kind of where I feel a little bit more comfortable.”

“You had to fight for every pot because these guys weren’t going to roll over at all. As far as WPT final tables are concerned, I think this is definitely one of the tougher ones … All of these guys have had success live, and I assume they’ll continue to do so in the future,” he added.

“I was in England watching the World Cup, and I was still of two minds of whether or not I wanted to stay and watch with my friends,” Wilson shared. “I decided to kickstart myself by coming to play this WPT when I have a Platinum Pass for January. I needed to kick myself back into poker mode … a single bullet later it’s been quite the decision.”

Wilson also confirmed that he will now head to Las Vegas for the WPT World Championship at the Wynn, something he planned to do even before winning a seat.

“It’s going to be one of the best tournaments of the year. I’m really excited about that tournament.”

The six-handed final table played out on Wednesday. The online wizard, Wilson, entered the final table as the chip leader with 167 BBs, holding nearly 44% of the chips in play. However, it was anything but a soft field with three former WPT champions Chad Eveslage (64 BBs), Brian Altman (59 BBs), and Gediminas Uselis (42 BBs), standing between him and the WPT title.

The other two contenders, Joshua Kay (46 BBs) and Robel Andemichael (7 BBs), though not WPT champions, certainly had their share of WPT final table experiences, making this one of the toughest WPT final tables ever!

Even with such a formidable final table lineup, Wilson dominated the action from the get-go. He eliminated four of his five rivals, including WPT champions Uselis and Eveslage.

Wilson commanded the chip lead for almost the entirety of the final table play, losing it only momentarily to Joshua Kay during their heads-up match. He quickly won it back, eventually knocking Kay out in second place to lift his maiden WPT trophy.

The victory also won him a ticket worth $10,400 to the season-ending WPT World Championship and fetched him the honor of getting his name etched on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup!

Before this win, Wilson had $620,071 in live tournament winnings, and he more than doubled that to $1,405,871.

The Main Event generated a $4,931,200 prize pool, and the top 193 places were paid.

Denys Shafikov (11th for $62,500), Anthony Zinno (17th for $33,100), Mike Vela (31st for $22,900), Darren Elias (56th for $14,200), and Kevin Eyster (58th for $12,450) were other former WPT champions who crossed the money line.

Eric Bonin bubbled the final table, finishing seventh for $129,000.

You can watch the replay of the final table action below.

 

Final Table Chip Counts

  1. Andrew Wilson – 33,425,000
  2. Chad Eveslage – 12,700,000
  3. Brian Altman – 11,850,000
  4. Joshua Kay – 9,250,000
  5. Gediminas Uselis – 8,350,000
  6. Robel Andemichael – 1,400,000
2022 WPT RRPO Main Event Final Table
2022 WPT RRPO Main Event Final Table

 

Final Table Recap

The first elimination on the final table took place on just the fifth hand of the day. The shortest stack, Robel Andemichael, pitted his against the start-of-day chip leader Andrew Wilson’s . The runout bricked, sending Andemichael packing in sixth place.

The play continued for another 17 minutes before Gediminas Uselis fell out in fifth place. His went up against Wilson’s . Though the board did bring Uselis a turned two pair, it still wasn’t enough to beat Wilson’s better two-pair.

The final table was relatively fast-paced. With the shorter stacks unable to find double-ups, and the bigger stacks dominating the action, the flow of eliminations continued.

Four hands after Uselis’s exit, Brian Altman joined him on the rail. With the board open [h11]. Altman jammed with , holding a King-high straight. Joshua Kay tabled for the Broadway straight, knocking Altman out in fourth place.

Three-handed play went on for over an hour. Chad Eveslage continued to fade, finally making a move on his big blind by shoving all-in for 9.30 Million with . Kay got out of the way, but Wilson woke up with and snap-called. The showdown revealed , and Wilson’s rockets dismissed Eveslage in third place.

Chad Eveslage
Chad Eveslage

 

Andrew Wilson had retained the start-of-day chip lead throughout the final table and predictably entered the heads-up battle with a monstrous 58.80 Million against Joshua Kay‘s 18.20 Million.

Despite starting on the back foot and dropping to 7 Million at one point, giving Wilson a 10:1 chip lead, Kay bounced back. By Hand #74, Kay even managed to whisk the chip lead from Wilson, and soon after, the latter won it back. Over two hours of heads-up play later, Wilson held all the chips in play.

Joshua Kay
Joshua Kay

 

On the 95th hand of the final table, Kay opened the button for 2.20 Million. Wilson 3-bet to 7 Million, and Kay called to see the flop open . Wilson led out for 6.50 Million, and Kay shoved for his last 24.30 Million. Wilson promptly called.

Joshua Kay

Andrew Wilson

The last two streets brought the (turn) and (river), getting Wilson his maiden WPT title.

Andrew Wilson with his rail
Andrew Wilson with his rail

 

Final Table Results (USD)

  1. Andrew Wilson – $796,200*
  2. Joshua Kay – $525,000
  3. Chad Eveslage – $390,000
  4. Brian Altman – $290,000
  5. Gediminas Uselis – $219,000
  6. Robel Andemichael – $167,000

*Includes a $10,400 seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship

 

Content & Images Courtesy: World Poker Tour

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru