Photo: Three-Time WPT Champion Eric Afriat and His Wife, Yael
By BJ Nemeth
When Eric Afriat sat down at the six-handed final table of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic on Sunday, he didn’t have many chips, as he was the short stack with only 15 big blinds. But what he did have was experience — six WPT Final Tables and two WPT titles — and motivation. That and the deuce of clubs carried Afriat to victory as he won his third WPT title.
Afriat had his third WPT title within reach last season at the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, but he came up one spot short, finishing second.
“When I finished second,” said Afriat, “I was depressed. I came in as the chipleader heads-up, and I was excited. I said, ‘This is it, it’s my third title.’ But I left empty-handed, and it hurt so much. But who hurt the most was my son. He told me, ‘Daddy, you didn’t come back with the trophy.’ I said, ‘I’m going to get you another trophy.’ I told my wife, ‘That’s the motivation I needed to go and win another trophy.’
With five players remaining, Afriat was down to just eight big blinds, and he got his short stack all-in with 
, but Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault woke up with 
in the big blind. (Hand #40.) Facing elimination, Afriat called out for a specific card — the deuce of clubs — and sure enough, the 
was the window card that gave Afriat a set to win the pot and double up in chips.
“I had the pair of deuces against the aces,” said Afriat, “and I called for the deuce of clubs. When the deuce of clubs came, I said, ‘Okay, maybe there’s some magic in the air, but I’m still short-stacked.’
Five hands later (Hand #45), Afriat looked down at his cards from the button and saw 
. But then Trung Hien Nguyen woke up in the small blind with 
.
This time, Afriat needed some backup when he called for the card he needed.
“My wife never watches me play,” said Afriat. “But I told her to call for the king, and boom, the king came.”
The 
on the turn gave Afriat another set to crack aces a second time to double up in chips. That double-up gave him enough chips to maneuver, and that’s when he felt it was his final table to lose.
“When the king came along,” said Afriat, “I felt like I had the best skills on the table, and the most experience. I don’t flinch, I don’t get nervous, and I went on to do what I had to do.”
But there were still five players left, and a lot happened over the next 114 hands.
Photo: Demo Kiriopoulos won this event last year, and made a strong run at defending his title before his elimination in fifth place.
Defending champion Demo Kiriopoulos was trying to become the first player in WPT history to win the same event in back-to-back seasons, but he fell a few spots shy of his goal, finishing fifth when he got it all in with 
against Afriat’s 
.
Kiriopoulos was followed by Trung Hien Nguyen in fourth place, and Adam Hui in third place. That put Afriat heads-up against Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault, and there were only 10 big blinds separating them at the start of heads-up play.
It looked like it could be a long heads-up battle, but Destiny seemed to be on Afriat’s side. In the fifth hand of heads-up play, Carpentier-Perrault four-bet all-in with 
, and Afriat called with 
.
Carpentier-Perrault turned a diamond flush draw, but the river card was the same one that Afriat had called for hours earlier to save his life in the tournament, and now it would clinch his spot in history with three titles — the .
Afriat’s three WPT titles put him in a very exclusive corner of the WPT Champions Club, as he is only the sixth player in history to win three or more WPT titles.
“It’s surreal,” said Afriat. “It just feels incredible. Three-time WPT champion.”
And it was made that much sweeter that he won his third title in his home country of Canada.
“When I sat down, I said to myself, I just want to win in Niagara Falls. I just want to win in my country. To win in Canada, with the Canadian flag, it’s amazing. It’s a great, great feeling. I haven’t been happy like this in a long time.”
Final Table Results:
1st: Eric Afriat – CAD $508,021* (~US $379,120*)
2nd: Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault – CAD $356,180 (~US $265,805)
3rd: Adam Hui – CAD $229,013 (~US $170,905)
4th: Trung Hien Nguyen – CAD $163,965 (~US $122,361)
5th: Demo Kiriopoulos – CAD $125,850 (~US $93,917)
6th: Zuhair Al-Pachachi – CAD $103,217 (~US $77,027)
* Winner will also receive a US $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions presented by Baccarat Crystal.
For worldwide consistency and comparison, the Payouts page here on WPT.com shows the payouts in US dollars, converted at Fallsview Casino Resort’s exchange rate of CAD $1.34 = US $1.00.
Photography by Jamie Thomson / PokerPhotoArchive.com