The penultimate World Poker Tour main event of the tour’s fourteenth season is now within the books. Justin Young has emerged victorious, topping a field of 1,222 entries within the 2016 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event to win his first WPT title and the first-place prize of $669,161. He has also won his way into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions which gets underway this weekend.

The 36-year-old based out of Henderson, NV not just overcame an enormous field but additionally needed to take care of some top-notch competition on the final table. Joining him heading into the general day where the likes of Cate Hall, who was at her third WPT final table of the season (9th – $65,404), 2016 WPT L.A. Poker Classic fourth-place finisher Sam Soverel (7th – $110,357) and 2014 WPT Five Diamond runner-up Garett Greer, who also ultimately finished in second place on this event for $458,722. Cate Hall had the danger to secure the WPT Player of the Year award with a top-three finish on this event, but fell short when she was the primary player eliminated on the nine-handed final table.

Young entered the general day in sixth chip position some of the ten remaining players. He was in a position to win some huge pots along the best way and made it to heads-up play against Greer holding 14.2 million in chips to Greer’s 22,450,000.

The final showdown lasted only 23 hands, as Young was capable of finding a double up with A9 winning a race against Greer’s 44 early on. Young’s slight lead quickly grew and by the point the general hand arose he held roughly a 2.5-to-1 advantage.

With blinds of 200,000 – 400,000 with an ante of 50,000 Young raised to 900,000 from the button. Greer moved all-in for 10.3 million with the A8 and Young made the decision with the KQ. The flop came down AK4, pairing both players but keeping Greer within the lead. The J at the turn gave Young additional outs within the type of a straight draw. The Q at the end gave Young two pair and the most productive hand, securing him the pot and the title.

Young also earned 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first final table of the year so far, but it surely was a big enough score to propel him into 27th place within the overall POY standings on it’s own.

This was seventh-place finisher Sam Soverel’s third final table of the year. The 360 points he earned were enough to look him climb to 14th place within the rankings, with 1,830 total points and year-to-date earnings of $736,197.

Here is a glance on the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Place	Player	Earnings (USD)	POY Points
1	Justin Young	$669,161	1440
2	Garrett Greer	$458,722	1200
3	Hyoung Chae	$297,336	960
4	Matthew Haugen	$220,207	720
5	Tim Reilly	$164,113	600
6	Ben Tarzia	$132,560	480
7	Sam Soverel	$110,357	360
8	Andrey Plotnikov	$87,880	240
9	Cate Hall	$65,404	120

Winner photo courtesy of WPT / Joe Giron.

Read More... [Source: CardPlayer Poker News]