After two runner-up finishes in World Poker Tour Main Events this year (WPT Fallsview Poker Classic and Bay 101 Shooting Star), Dylan Wilerson finally emerged victorious last weekend in the 2014 WPT Emerors Palace Poker Classic Main Event ($3,500 buy-in No-Limit, Hold'em]. In total, the U.S. pro bested a field of 166 entrants to lay hands on the title and the $147,509 first-place prize in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A brief recap of the last day of play
Wilkerson entered the third and final day with one of the smallest stacks amongst 17 players, but he played well and gradually built a healthy stack. Eventually he made it to heads-up against Richard Barnard, who held a small lead. The heads-up match lasted for 60 hands, but there wasn't any big hands before the final hand of the tournament.
Hand 165: Barnard raised to 175k pre flop on the button, and Wilkerson announced that he was all in. Benard called all in for his tournament life and showed K
Q
. Wilkerson flipped over AQ and had his opponent dominated.
The board ran out 1066
Q
5 and Barnard had been eliminated in second for $85,651. Wilkerson, on the third attempt, had finally won a WPT Main Event!
Final Table Results:
1st: Dylan Wilkerson - $147,509
2nd: Richard Barnard - $85,651
3rd: Diane Crous - $54,721
4th: Chris Convery - $38,543
5th: Aaron Overton - $29,740
6th: Darryn Lipman - $22,602
