James Mackey Triumphs at 2016 WPT Choctaw Main Event

James Mackey has won the World Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event, after besting a field of 1,066 players over five days on his way to capturing the coveted title, and capturing a first place prize of $681,758. Mackey eventually defeated Benjamin Zamani heads-up to claim the victory, after which the 30 year-old Missouri pro tweeted:
“Winner! Feels amazing to finally win a WPT after playing them for 10 years. Congrats to Ben on second he played great.”
The impressive performance now pushes Mackey’s live earnings to $3,575,959, with his past triumphs including winning a WSOP bracelet in 2007 at the $5k No Limit Hold’em event for $730,740. Mackey has also won a further $3,874,095 online playing under the screen name
Mig.com.
The $3,700 WPT Choctaw Main Event featured a $3,619,070 prize pool, and amongst the notable pros seeing a return on their buy-ins was Kathy Liebert in 84th ($7,821), Harrison Gimbel in 22nd ($24,940), Connor Drinan in 17th ($35,572), Jeff Gross in 13th ($43,177), and Olivier Busquet in 7th ($104,842).
James Mackey then entered the final table of six in third place, and eventually progressed all the way through to heads-up play where he faced fellow WSOP bracelet holder Benjamin Zamani for the title.
At this stage, Mackey held a 3-2 chip lead over his remaining opponent, and 36 hands later the deciding hand was played with Mackey (8-8) and Zamani (5-5) all-in preflop. The 8-7-6-J-6 board then sealed the deal, and so James Mackey was crowned the champion, and also received a $15,000 seat into the end of season WPT Tournament of Champions.
James Mackey began his career as a professional poker player after depositing $75 in an online account back in 2005, before turning it into $20,000 backroll. In 2007, he then won a WSOP bracelet at the age of just 21 years and 4 months, making him the third youngest poker player at the time to ever accomplish the feat.
Final Table Results:
1: James Mackey $681,758
2: Benjamin Zamani $412,234
3: Craig Varnell $306,346
4: Bastian Fischer $230,300
5: Jack Duong $175,122
6: Matthew Smith $134,720