WPT Championship Recap: Phil Mighall scoops up Main Event title for $1,550,298; Five winners awarded packages for the next WPT Tournament of Champions; Last three events on schedule

After the number of major series happening one after the other, many would think that online poker action would have slowed down in the coming weeks, given the possible dent on players’ bankrolls from all the recent great value tournaments. However, this is not the case as all eyes are currently on the World Poker Tour World Online Championships happening on one of the industry’s most trusted poker sites, partypoker. With a combined guarantee of $100 million, the festival is set to cover a total of twelve championship events throughout its 10-week schedule with its last week of events about to conclude in the next couple of days.

Three featured events are left in contention with the series’ Main Event having recently awarded its biggest winner, Phil Mighall over $1.5 million in winnings. In addition to the multitude of six-figure scores awarded, five fortunate winners have bagged entry packages for the WPT season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions presented by Baccarat Crystal worth $15,000 for the buy-in plus travel and accommodation. Presented below is a short recap of the Main event along with some highlights from other key events and its notable winners.

WPT World Championship Main Event: – $1,550,298

An eventful day came down last 16th as British pro Phil Mighall booked his career-best win with an impressive online seven-figure score. Topping the biggest event of the series, Mighall scooped up $1,550,298 in winnings as he defeated opponent Teun Mulder in heads up play and became the latest player to have his name inscribed on the prestigious WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup.

Outlasting a large field of 1,011 entries, Mighall likewise secured an exclusive entry to the next WPT Tournament of Champions in addition to his coveted victory. The big win serves as an amazing feat for Mighall as he broke his previous best live cash record of $130,191 for a third place finish in Phamous Poker Series Main Event back in 2015, relatively only a fraction of his most recent WPT top prize.

The final table began with Brazilian Victor Simionato setting off with a good run of cards, ending eighth and ninth place finishers Akseli Paalanen and Laszlo Molnar’s run for the million dollar score. Scooping up two stacks with pocket jacks and pocket queens, Simionato took a massive chip lead sitting with 118 big blinds as compared to next in line, Argentinian Damian Salas with 81 big blinds. Next to leave was English player Bert Stevens who shoved his 14.8 big blind stack with queen-ten offsuit in the small blind only to be called by Blaz Zerjav on the big blind with ace-five. No luck unfortunately came for Stevens as the board ran with ace high good enough to win the pot. It wasn’t soon after that Team partypoker’s Dzmitry Urbanovich was sent to the rail, after getting it good with ace-king against Mulder’s ace-queen. What usually would be a quick double up, ended up to be worse as a queen instantly showed up on the flop with no help on the turn and river to save Urbanovich from his demise.

With five players left, Simionato managed to climb up a pay jump with only less than a big blind to bust out in fifth. The Brazilian player previously lost his big stack having triple barrel jammed right into Zerjav’s rivered straight. While a few places short of the title, Simionato made a huge profit having reportedly qualified for the event for only $22. Despite the win, Zerjav was the next to go as he committed his last 13 big blinds with pocket sixes only to be snapped by Mighall’s pocket kings from the big blind. It was no sweat for Mighall as a king on the flop instantly gave him a set with Zerjav drawing dead by the turn and left to settle with a $552,006 fourth place prize. A crucial flip likewise left Damian Salas out for third as he called off pre-flop for his tournament life with king-queen suited, against Mighall’s jam with pocket threes. A king on the flop and a queen on the turn almost secured Salas a chance of the title up until a three on the river showed up and gave the British pro a set to beat his two pair.

Heads up play began with Mighall roughly holding a 5:3 chip advantage which Mulder had soon after closed off the gap. Keeping his cool, Mighall managed to take the lead once again until the final hand arose giving Mighall the WPT Champion title. With both players already guaranteed millionaires, the final hand came with Mulder opening to 3.5 million with pocket aces and a surprising three-bet to 12.8 million from Mighall with ten-seven offsuit. Interestingly, the flop came with both players having a piece and was met with a continuation bet of 12.8 million from Mighall as to which Mulder called. came on the turn which gave Mighall a straight against Mulder’s top set. Mighall raised all-in with Mulder calling with his remaining 39.5 million in chips. The completed the board, giving Mighall the overall win and a brutal beat for Mulder. Nonetheless, a deal was made heads up giving Mulder $1,396,968 in earnings for his deep run.

WPTWOC Main Event Final Table Results

*Denotes deal was made

Other notable highlights

Aside from Main Event champion Phil Mighall, four other fortunate winners gained exclusive entries to the upcoming WPT Tournament of Champions having topped the respective Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup events. Notable winners took home the $15,000 seat along with their six-figure payouts for another chance of an even bigger score.

• Champion: Gavin Cochrane for $540,664

#03 World Championship 8-Max – $3,000,000 GTD

Dates: August 1-4, 2020

Buy-in: $3,000 + $200 = $3,200

Entries: 1,062

Prize pool: $3,186,000

• Champion: Nick Petrangelo for $494,550

#04 World Championship 6- Max – $3,000,000 GTD

Dates: August 8-11, 2020

Buy-in: $3,000 + $200 = $3,200

Entries: 999

Prize pool: $3,000,000

• Champion: Daniel Smyth for $428,391

#05 World Championship Knockout – $3,000,000 GTD

Dates: August 15-18, 2020

Buy-in: $3,000 + $200 = $3,200

Entries: 1,035

Prize pool: $3,105,000

• Champion: Andrey Kotelnikov for $488,508

#06 World Championship Mix-Max – $3,000,000 GTD

Dates: August 22-25, 2020

Buy-in: $3,000 + $200 = $3,200

Entries: 989

Prize pool: $3,000,000

So far, nine out of twelve events of the scheduled series have concluded in recent weeks. With only a few days left, players can anticipate the following events to run up until the 24th. Two high roller games geared towards those with bigger bankrolls will play out while mini and micro versions of the $1 million turbo event will be available on the 20th for lower stakes players.

#10 World Championship High Roller – $5,000,000 GTD

Dates: September 19-22, 2020

Buy-in: $25,000 + $500 = $25,500

#11 World Championship Turbo – $1,000,000 GTD

Dates: September 20, 2020

Buy-in: $3,000 + $200 = $3,200

Buy-in Mini: $300 + $20 = $320 ($300,000 GTD)

Buy-in Micro: $30 + $3 = $33 ($100,000 GTD)

#12 World Championship Super High Roller – $3,000,000 GTD

Dates: September 23-24, 2020

Buy-in: $100,000 + $2,000 = $102,000