Justin Young Wins WPT Seminole Hard Rock Main Event for $670k

A total of 1,222 players entered the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $3,500 Main Event to create a prize pool worth $3,910,400. Six days of action later, and it was Justin Young who emerged a top of the field to claim the title, and collect the tournament’s first place prize of $669,161.
The victory represented the second highest score of Young’s professional career, his biggest coming a little over seven years ago after a runner-up finish at the 2008 WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $936,760. Following a win that now pushes his career earnings to $4,327,588, the 36-year-old pro said:
“It makes it all worth it, I promise you it really does. It’s just an unbelievable feeling, with unbelievable friends here with me, and, wow, it just makes the last seven years just completely worth it.”
By the time the tournament reached its official final table of six, Justin Young was in third place, but managed to progress all the way through to heads-up play where he faced off against Garrett Greer for the title. As the final battle commenced, Young trailed his remaining opponent by 14.2m chips to 22.45m, but soon managed to gain the upper hand before the deciding hand was played with Young (K-Q) and Greer (A-8) all-in preflop. The dealer subsequently laid out an A-K-4-J-Q board to consign Garrett Greer to a runner-up finish worth $458,722, while Justin Young picked up the prestigious WPT title. As Young later commented:
“It’s truly unbelievable. You always are looking for the next pay jump, the next pay grade, to get to the next spot, and to put yourself in position to win, but you never expect it because you never want to get too cocky or anything like that. So to put yourself in position and to actually come through, I can’t even describe it. It’s out of this world.”
Final Table Payouts:
1: Justin Young $669,161
2: Garrett Greer $458,722
3: Hyoung Chae $297,336
4: Matthew Haugen $220,207
5: Tim Reilly $164,113
6: Ben Tarzia $132,560
7: Sam Soverel $110,357
8: Andrey Plotnikov $87,880
9: Cate Hall $65,404