On Sunday, WSOP bracelet winner Zak VanKeuren won the WPT Prime Championship in Las Vegas, finishing first out of 9,670 players in the $1,100 buy-in event to lock up $1,162,350.
It’s by far the biggest live win to date for the 26-year-old poker pro and wellness coach, who previously had just over half a million in live tournament earnings.
Earlier this year, VanKeuren proved he has what it takes to battle the best at the highest stakes when he overcame defending champion Dan Sepiol heads-up in the online WSOP NL Hold’em High Roller event, which carried a $3,200 buy-in and a top prize of nearly $220k.
Now, having outlasted such a massive field at the top level, the native New Yorker has planted himself firmly on the poker map as someone who can do the business both in person and online.
WPT Prime Final Standings
Here’s a look at the top nine payouts:
| Place | Player | Prize | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zak VanKeuren | $1,162,350 | US |
| 2 | Jim Casement | $759,850 | US |
| 3 | Kevin Calenzo | $560,000 | US |
| 4 | Malik Zaman | $420,000 | US |
| 5 | Joe Ozimok | $320,000 | US |
| 6 | Ryan Stiner | $240,000 | US |
| 7 | Colin Hong | $186,000 | US |
| 8 | Ralph Marquez | $145,000 | Canada |
| 9 | Justin Young | $114,000 | US |
The Final Nine
By the time players had been whittled down from 9,670 to just nine, it was Kevin Calenzo who was in the lead. He rocked up with more than 80 bigs following a late charge on Day 3, but faced stiff competition.
Jim Casement started in second place with 65 bbs and over a million in live earnings, while Justin Young was also in the mix. Young had already become a WPT Champions Club member, finished runner up in the 2007 WPT Doyle Brunson Fiver Diamond World Poker Classic for $936k, and racked up over $6.5m in live earnings. For many, he was the favorite.
And then there was 32-year-old MIT graduate Colin Hong, with no recorded live cashes. Everybody loves an underdog.
A Shock Early Exit
Many backed Young to win the event, but few thought he’d be the first to go – especially with a couple of super-short stacks in Ralph Marquez (13bbs) and Ryan Stiner (14bbs).
Young picked up A♦K♦ in the small blind with a stack of 34m and blinds at 600k/1.2m. Facing a UTG+1 min raise from Kevin Calenzo, he opted to simply jam – and was snap-called by aces. The board didn’t help, and the best hand won – making Young the first casualty of the final table.
Having secured an unexpected pay jump, the short stacks leapt into action. First it was Marquez, sticking in less than 3.5bbs to move all in with Q♥10♥ and being called by eventual winner VanKeuren with K♠J♥. The turn paired his king and Marquez exited in eighth.
Poker is a mind sport, but it’s easy when you have quads. Raising pocket eights in the high jack, VanKeuren got a call out of Hong in the big blind with 10♣6♣. The flop came 8♥J♦3♠ to pretty much lock up the hand right away. Unfortunately for Hong, he chose this moment to stick in a check-raise which VanKeuren smooth called.
The turn was the 10♥, which gave Hong some false belief to keep betting despite the fact he was already drawing dead. The river was the 8♣ to complete the quads, and when VanKeuren checked, Hong jammed the remainder of his chips. A bold play, but just a victim of poor timing.
VanKeuren Heater Continues
Next, it was Stiner. And again, it was VanKeuren taking the sword to the short stack. Stiner managed to somehow get a fold out of him with a pre-flop jam of under 5bbs when VanKeuren was holding A♦3♥ in the big blind, but that would prove to be the last of his uncontested wins.
VanKeuren opened for 4m from the cutoff with A♥Q♦. Stiner, sat in the big blind with J♦10♥, only had a stack of 8.5m and, with the blinds at 800k/1.6m, decided it was his time. The 36% underdog got bad news on the flop, with VanKeuren hitting top pair, and the brick turn closed out the hand.
Casement had more than a stroke of good fortune when he jammed over 20bbs pre-flop with A♥Q♦ and managed to double up against the A♣K♣ of Calenzo. It wasn’t exactly a massive 3% bad beat, but still made for tough viewing. VanKeuren then eliminated short stack Ozimok before Calenzo then had some luck of his own, cracking VanKeuren’s kings with A♠Q♥ for a full double up to take him back to 30bbs.
Despite that pot, VanKeuren maintained a commanding lead and was confidently opening a wide number of hands, one of them being 7♦5♦ in the cutoff. Both the blinds came along for the dream flop – 7♥J♥7♠.
It was checked around to VanKeuren who c-bet and Zaman, holding J♦10♦, naturally called. The 10♣ turn was a disastrous card for the Minnesota native who checked his option. VanKeuren bet around a third of Zaman’s remaining stack, and he then pulled the trigger, moving all in with just a 9% chance of winning the pot. The river changed nothing, and suddenly they were down to three.
VanKeuren now had around 100bbs and the two shorter stacks had to take some risks if they wanted to avoid being bullied into oblivion. That came when Casement moved all in with pocket fours and Calenzo, although clearly not thrilled about it, made the call with J♣10♣. The 5♣6♥7♦3♦9♥ runout gave Casement a straight, along with a 97m chip stack to try and take on the chip leader heads-up.
Casement put in a fantastic shift and even doubled up at one stage, but ultimately lost when he shoved K♣J♠ and ran into A♣K♥. The stronger hand held up, and the dominant VanKeuren became not just the new champion, but one to watch in 2025 both live and at the best poker sites in the US.