By Sean Chaffin
After three days of action, the WPT Choctaw final table is set in place and the remaining six players will battle it out to a champion on May 31 at HyperX Esports Arena at Luxor Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. A sharp group of players returns to the action with Will Berry holding a considerable chip lead but with other players still very much in the hunt.
All will be hoping to become the next WPT champion, adding his name to the Champions Cup and banking the top prize of $379,990, a $15,000 seat in the Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions, and 1,000 points in the Hublot Player of the Year race. Here’s a look at the final players heading to Las Vegas.
Seat 1: Nick Pupillo – 3,135,000
With $2.5 million in live tournament winnings, Pupillo may be among the most experienced at this final table. His WPT winnings of just over $142,000 should see a big spike after making this final table. His previous best finish came this season in September at the WPT Borgata Poker Open for $36,850. He also made the final table of the WPTDeepStacks Hollywood in 2016, finishing fourth for $27,849.
Pupillo brings numerous nice finishes to the table. In February he won the $1,650 Heartland Poker Tour Main Event in Black Hawk, Colorado, for $194,478, and also won the HPT Main Event in Chicago in 2015 for $120,537. His record includes two WSOPC rings and numerous other big finishes and final tables. If Pupillo can accumulate more chips in Las Vegas, he has plenty of experience and skills to bring home a title.
Seat 2: Will Berry – 7,575,000
It was a good week at the Choctaw for this Oklahoma player from Norman. Berry hit some nice pots early and was able to stay out of trouble for much of the day and then notched a massive pot against seventh-place finisher Denny Tran. This becomes his fifth WPT cash – his best coming in December when he finished 15th in the Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $85,542. On the tournament scene since 2013, Berry is a regular at events throughout the Sooner State and has $1.3 million in live tournament winnings.
His biggest win came in 2017 when he took down a WSOPC event in Tulsa for $180,806. Later in the year, he added another circuit ring in a $5,300 High Roller event in Hammond, Indiana, for $105,000. Berry also has a title on the RunGood Poker Series from 2015 for $25,522, and then had another big finish here at the Choctaw in 2016 when he finished fourth in the $1,675 WSOPC Main Event for $136,812. With a big stack of chips, Berry has a nice chance at the biggest win of his career.
Seat 3: Stacey Jones – 980,000
Bringing a bit of the Old West to the tables with his cowboy hat here in Oklahoma, Jones has been playing poker for decades and has $42,000 in live tournament winnings. He made the trip from his hometown of Odessa, Texas, where he owns a nightclub called Basin Nights (named for the Permian Basin in which Odessa lies geographically). The club offers dance music of all variety and features karaoke and a bar poker league, naturally.
Jones learned the game from his grandfather as a young man and was a country music singer in West Texas before getting in the club business. After growing up on a ranch and learning to tend cattle, Jones decided the entertainment business was more to his liking. After being among the chip leaders after Day 2, Jones found some nice double ups to keep his hopes for a WPT title alive and rolls into Vegas as the short stack in chips.
Seat 4 – Craig Varnell – 6,230,000
One of the chip leaders going into Day 3, Varnell caught fire with four tables left, knocking out players and raking major pots. After the first two hours of play, he’d captured about 25 percent of the chips in play. Varnell is no stranger to WPT success. In 2015, he topped a massive 5,113 entries to win the WPT500 Aria event for $330,000. On the Main Tour, he has two more cashes – both with final table appearances. The first came here at Choctaw in Season XV where he finished third for $306,346. This season Varnell finished fourth at the WPT Gardens Poker Festival for $201,615.
With two close calls, Varnell will now be looking to close the show with a WPT Main Tour title. From Fort Collins, Colorado, he’s been playing professionally for several years and has $1.9 million in live tournament winnings. Along with his WPT500 title, he won a WSOP bracelet last summer in $565 Pot Limit Omaha for $181,790. With a mountain of chips and some salty poker chops, Varnell will be looking to add another nice bullet point to his resumé.
Seat 5: Austin Lewis – 2,560,000
This marks Lewis’s first WPT cash and he’s done so in a big way. Lewis, who is originally from Austin, Texas, has $402,000 in live tournament winnings. This isn’t his first big score here at Choctaw. In January he finished fifth in the WSOPC $1,700 Main Event for $84,375. A regular in tournaments here at the property, Lews took down the $1,620 Card Player Poker Tour here in 2014 for $183,025.
While he may have some nice scores over the years, Lewis has a regular job. He works as a sales consultant of home medical devices. He now has the opportunity for the biggest score of his career at HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas. With some well-timed moves and solid play, Lewis might just be the second straight recreational player at Choctaw to add his name to the Champions Cup.
Seat 6: Trung Pham – 2,600,000
This marks only the second WPT cash for this player from Temple, Texas. Pham has been a regular on the Oklahoma tournament scene, but also travels to other events around the country. While he may have only $648,000 in live tournament winnings, Pham has some nice finishes and experience for this final table.
Pham’s biggest cash came in November when he topped a field of 4,558 entries in a $365 preliminary event at the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open for $123,364. Earlier in the month, he took down a $400 WSOPC event at Choctaw for $25,883. In March, he added his second WSOPC ring in a $400 event in Tulsa for $13,901, and his first circuit ring came in a $365 event here at Choctaw for $105,550. With some nice scores in recent years, Pham will be looking to keep the good vibes going at the final table in Vegas.
Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.