A grueling final table effort of over nine hours paid off for the Canadian player
Alexander Wong became the latest champion at the $500,000 guaranteed Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian $1,100 buy-in main event, outlasting 543 entrants to take the $89,544 top prize.
The Ottawa, Ontario, native took his biggest career live cash and earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points with the win, which moved him to 360th place in the 2024 Global Poker POY standings.
61 of the original 543 players survived the three starting flights, returning on May 28 to play down to a winner. It took about nine hours before the final table was set and another five hours before Wong secured the championship.
After the field was narrowed to the final nine, Wong held the second-biggest stack, with Lucas Tae the overall leader.
Tamas Lendvi was the first player sent to the rail, taking home $10,874 for 9th place. Euan Mcnicholas was the next player knocked out in 8th place ($13,493), just behind bracelet winner Michael Holtz, who secured $17,073 for 7th place.
Boris Shakhmurov (6th for $21,860) and Tae (5th for $28,323) would soon follow to reduce the field to four players. Robert Shulz was eliminated in 4th place ($37,125) by Nicholas Wang, and Wong’s pocket aces would hold up against Thien Tran’s pocket fours to send him packing in 3rd place ($49,227).
The chip lead changed several times during heads-up play before the night’s final showdown. Both players pushed all-in, with Wong’s A-J hitting a straight on the river against Wang’s K-6 offsuit to earn the title. Wang netted a $66,019 payday for second place.
