After 14 years of commentating on the World Poker Tour, Mike Sexton is officially a WPT champion.
Sexton battled back from a significant chip deficit to beat Benny Chen heads-up last night and win WPT Montreal for C$425,980.
It’s been a long time coming for Sexton, who only started playing WPT events as of 2007 but has amassed over $5.8m in lifetime live tournament earnings.
Tony Dunst took Sexton’s place in the booth alongside Vince Van Patten to provide commentary for the WPT Montreal final table.
Chen, who won the first WSOP Millionaire Maker in 2013 for $1.2m, settled for C$286,110 for second.
Near Miss for Zajmovic
Ema Zajmovic was gunning for a little history of her own at the final table as she could have been the first female to win an open WPT event.
Zajmovic entered the final table second in chips but wasn’t able to get much going and ended up finishing in fifth place.
The Quebec native still nearly quadrupled her lifetime live tournament earnings with the C$102,010 consolation prize for 5th.
Noted pro Jake Schwartz was actually the first person to bust from the final table
Sexton and Chen played an extensive heads-up match that lasted nearly three hours. At one point Chen had Sexton down 17.7m chips to 1.6m but that didn’t deter the partypoker ambassador.
By winning WPT Montreal, Sexton also won a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions, which means the WPT might need to once again sub Tony Dunst into the commentator booth.
Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:
1st: Mike Sexton – CAD $425,980* (US $317,896*)
2nd: Benny Chen – CAD $286,110 (US $213,515)
3rd: Nadir Lalji – CAD $183,320 (US $136,806)
4th: Ilan Boujenah – CAD $132,750 (US $99,067)
5th: Ema Zajmovic – CAD $102,010 (US $76,127)
6th: Jake Schwartz – CAD $81,740 (US $61,000)
