Asher Conniff has become the Season XIII World Poker Tour World Champion after beating the Russian, Alexander Lakhov, in heads-up action, to claim the first prize of just under a million bucks, in Atlantic City.
There are times in your life when everything comes together – a perfect jigsaw with all of the pieces fitting perfectly. That’s what’s happening right now in the world of Conniff. His world won’t keep still. It keeps on spinning.
A fortnight ago, Conniff’s largest score in a live tournament was $42,182, which he earned after victory in a side event at the 2012 Borgata Fall Poker Open. Since then, there have been dribs and drabs; not even enough heat to manage a s’mores.
A fortnight later, he has won two events, earned over a million dollars, and has won one of the biggest tournaments in the world. In the realm of the World Poker Tour (WPT) he is the king of the world. Asher Conniff won’t be dealing in dribs and drabs anymore. He’s moved up a notch.
They say that luck plays a vital role in poker. You don’t get much luckier than this. Less than a fortnight after winning $203,231, for topping a field of 2,408 entrants in a side event at the Borgata Spring Poker Open, Conniff decided to play some online poker. He was in New Jersey. Why not give it a shot?
Conniff decided to play in a major Sunday online event, but misclicked, ending up with a reluctant role in a $1,000 satellite for the WPT World Championships. He won a seat, cancelled a family trip to Europe, and parlayed it into a $973,683 check, and the WPT Season XIII crown.
239 players paid $15,400 for a chance to win that crown. The $973,683 first prize was the lowest in the tour’s history, and the first time it had not reached seven figures, but do you think Conniff cares?
As you would expect, in such a high buy-in event, the level of quality at the final table was high. Alexander Lakhov, Carlos Mortensen and Tony Dunst had all won WPT Main Event titles (Mortensen had won three of them); and Brian Yoon owned two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets (Mortensen owns a couple of those two). But it was Conniff who came out on top.
He entered the final table second in chips. Former WPT Cyprus winner Lakhov had most of them. And in the end it would boil down to a race between those two players; with Conniff enjoying a 5:1 chip lead. The final hand seeing Conniff’s [As] [Qh] beating a desperate looking [Th] [6h] to take the title.
And what about that cancelled European trip?
I think he should reschedule, and squeeze a little trip to Monte Carlo into the itinerary.
Final Table Results
1st. Asher Conniff – $973,683
2nd. Alexander Lakhov – $573,779
3rd. Brian Yoon – $330,358
4th. Carlos Mortensen – $267,764
5h. Ray Qartomy – $208,647
6th. Tony Dunst – $173,873
