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Stephen Kehoe Bags $269,000 at WPT World Championship

Stephen Kehoe Bags $269,000 at WPT World Championship

The World Poker Tour World Championship held at Wynn Las Vegas was one of the most anticipated and memorable poker tournaments. It boasts of having the most significant live poker event with a guaranteed prize pool of $15 million. However, the event had an entry of 2,960, making the guaranteed jackpot prize $29,008,000. Stephen Kehoe was one of the participants, and with the seat he won at WPT Global for only $550, he bagged $296,000.

The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas

The WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas took place on December 2022. This tournament is one of the year’s most significant live poker events. It was a multi-tournament festival with more than a dozen tournaments, including the Prime Championship, the Wynn Bounty, and The World Championship. Initially, the guaranteed win was set at $15 million. The popularity of the event and the enthusiasm of poker players worldwide changed this. With 2,960 registered players, the guaranteed win shot up to $29,008,000. Eliot Hudon of Canada claimed the first prize of $4,136,000, leading to a massive entry of 2,960. He is followed by Benny Glaser (UK), Jean-Claude Moussa (Canada), Adam Adler (USA), and Frank Funaro (USA).

Stephen Kehoe – How He Became Part of the Tournament

Kehoe was one of the entrants in the WPT World Championship. He did not shell out $10,000 to participate but won his seat at WPT Global for only $550. WPT Global has $550 buy-in satellites that grant seats to the WPT World Championship and $2,000 for travel expenses. Stephen Kehoe saw this advertisement and grabbed the opportunity. This offer led him to Wynn Las Vegas to participate in one of the monumental live poker tournaments. It was also an honor for him to represent his country, Ireland.

Stephen Kehoe’s Road to Glory

Although he did not get the opportunity during the first satellite, he won his way in on the second one. In Las Vegas, he was not aiming to be at the top but only wanted to finish the tournament. As one of the players of Day 1C, he started with 25,500 stacks and was lucky enough to bag 722,000 stacks, landing him in the top 20 out of 513 players. Stephen Kehoe ended Day 2 with 711,000 stacks with 396 players left. Day 3 was even better, with 1,470,000 stacks with 128 players remaining. He landed at 31st place out of the 37 remaining players on Day 5 with an even bountiful stack of 3.1 million.

An Unforgettable Move

Stephen Kehoe’s preflop strategy has caught his opponents unaware. He made them fold by betting 80% of his stack, and he did this with the remaining 18 players on back-to-back hands. As a result, his stack almost doubled. This move by Stephen has helped him immensely in winning $269,900. Along with the 16 players remaining, Stephen moved to the live stream table. However, he eventually got eliminated in the 14th place.

It is common to see players leave the table with a disappointed look. Stephen’s reaction when he left the table was completely the opposite. He was smiling radiantly while walking in the Encore Ballroom hallways.

With the experience and success of Stephen in the WPT World Championship, he sure will be playing more of the $10K buy-ins other than playing satellites on WPT Global. Stephen Kehoe’s determination and skill in playing live poker have surely inspired many poker enthusiasts to dream big and be part of something special in the history of live poker tournaments.