David Larson Wins WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event!

The World Poker Tour has a new champion, and it’s David Larson!

Larson topped a field of 440 entries in the Season XVI WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event to win the title and $295,128 in first-place prize money. Included in Larson’s winning share was a $15,000 seat to the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, plus Larson picked up 1,000 points in the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race.

Season XVI WPT Rolling Thunder Final Table Results

1st:  David Larson – $295,128*
2nd: Ian Steinman – $201,428
3rd:  Joe McKeehen – $131,081
4th:  Ping Liu – $97,510
5th:  Rayo Kniep – $69,650
6th:  D.J. Alexander – $56,417

*First prize includes a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

Larson spent the last few days before the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event trying to win a seat via a satellite tournament, but he kept coming up empty. In the final one he played, Larson was the stone bubble. He did end up getting about $2,000 in cash and used that money as part of his direct buy-in.

“It was a whole comedy of things that went wrong,” Larson said of his quest to win a satellite entry. “Obviously, that was the best thing that ever happened to me in hindsight. I played four $400 satellites and didn’t get in. At the last minute, I went to the ATM and grabbed the money and bought in. It’s the biggest event that I ever bought in to. Previous biggest buy-in was the WPTDeepStacks Championship.”

Larson cashed in the WPTDeepStacks Championship event he referred to, taking 44th place for $5,460. That event was also at Thunder Valley Casino Resort. Now, Larson is a World Poker Tour champion.

Larson entered the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event final table in last place on the leaderboard. He was six of six in chips, but Larson stormed back to take victory.

First to bust was D.J. Alexander, who was at his second WPT Main Tour final table of the season. With the sixth-place finish, Alexander moved to seventh on the Hublot WPT Player of the Year leaderboard.

Five-handed action lasted for quite some time. During this time, one of the most amazing hands you will ever see played out between Joe McKeehen and Ian Steinman, as you can see in the video below.

Rayo Kniep went out next in fifth place, then it was Ping Liu busting in fourth.

Third place belong to the final table’s headliner, McKeehen. McKeehen began the final table second in chips and had the chip lead for much of it, but his run ultimately came to an end in third.

Heads-up play saw Larson take on Steinman, and it was Steinman in the lead to start. Larson quickly grabbed the lead and began to pull away. Before anyone knew it, Steinman was down to just a few big blinds.

On the final hand, Steinman called Larson’s river shove holding the on the final board of . Larson had the for a full house and it was all over.

Steinman scored $201,428 for his runner-up finish.

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