Travis Egbert Wins 2024 WPT Alpha 8 ($684,684)

WPT
Travis Egbert wins 2024 WPT Alpha 8

Travis Egbert added his name to the World Poker Tour history books on Thursday evening after defeating Naj Ajez heads-up to win the two-day $25,800 WPT Alpha 8 at the Wynn Casino Las Vegas as part of the WPT World Championship.

Ajez and Egbert agreed to a heads-up deal guaranteeing both players at a $600,000 payday while playing for an additional $84,684 and the coveted trophy. Egbert won the trophy in style as his opponent ran into his set of aces to seal the victory.

Egbert has had quite the year. He earned all three of his WSOP gold rings in 2024 to go along with three deep podium runs this year at the WPT, including a runner-up performance during this festival in the $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo for $30,504 after Barry Hunter won the title and the $49,432 top prize.

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2024 WPT Alpha 8 Payouts

Travis Egbert

The $25,800 buy-in 2024 WPT Alpha 8 attracted a banner field of 111 entries to create a huge $2,775,000 prize pool. The top 13 players earned at least a $63,548 min-cash

PlacePlayerPrize
1Travis Egbert$684,684 
2Naj Ajez$600,000 
3Noel Rodriguez$345,488 
4Sam Soverel$253,219 
5Brock Wilson$190,781 
6Jun Obara$145,688 
7Sean Winter$115,856 
8Igor Kurganov$94,350 
9Shannon Shorr$79,088 
10Brian Rast$69,375 
11Justin Chu$69,375 
12Ed Sebesta$63,548 
13Alexandros Kolonias$63,548 

Shannon Shorr Began With Chip Lead

Shannon Shorr

Shannon Shorr began the second and final day of the 2024 WPT Alpha 8 with the chip lead. According to the World Poker Tour live blog, things got dicey straight off the bat for the poker legend after he doubled a short-stacked Justin Chu with king-queen unable to work some small magic against ace-queen. He more than recovered closer to the bubble after getting it in with top pair with king-queen on the turn to eliminate Nicholas Seward, who bricked after getting it in with ace-jack for an overcard and a gutshot to Broadway.

The money bubble broke after 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen unsuccessfully jammed his queen-ten into the king-queen held by Brian Rast.

The floodgates opened from there with Justin Chu (11th – $69,375), Ed Sebesta (12th – $63,548), and Alexandros Kolonias (13th – $63,548) all exiting in the money before Rast, who bubbled McKeehen for a cash, bubbled the final table himself in 10th place for $69,375 after getting it in against the eventual champion Travis Egbert with ace-nine against nines.

Naj Ajez Begins Final Table With Commanding Lead

Naj Ajez

The final table began with Naj Ajez holding a commanding chip lead, nearly double the stacks of his nearest competitors of the eventual champion Travis Egbert and Noel Rodriguez.

Fireworks erupted nearly immediately after the final table, with two players quickly hitting the rail. One was on a cooler, and one was on a bad beat. Shannon Shorr ran his queens into Egbert’s rockets to exit in ninth place for $79,088. Shortly after, Ajez ousted Igor Kurganov in eighth place for $94,350 after his ace-eight suited found an eight on the flop to push ahead of ace-king suited.

Ajez ousted the next two players soon after. He first eliminated the short-stacked Sean Winters after Winters committed his five big blinds with ace-ten and didn’t hold against king-seven suited to exit in seventh place for $115,856.

Jun Obara was the next to go in sixth place for $145,688 after losing a tournament-ending coin flip when his ace-king suited didn’t win against Ajez’s tens.

Ajez began to cool down soon after as he doubled up the short-stacked Sam Soverel when his ace-seven was no good against eights before also doubling the short-stacked Brock Wilson when his six-five suited was far behind pocket rockets.

The two short-stacked players just mentioned then collided in a hand, resulting in Wilson collecting the fifth-place prize of $190,781 when his jack-ten was no match to Soverel’s pocket queens.

Brock Wilson

Soverel then was the next victim himself as Ajez took back on the role of the table terminator. Ajez four-bet jammed nines and won a flip against his opponent’s ace-king to eliminate Soverel in fourth place for $253,219.

All the momentum at this point shifted from Ajez to Egbert as Egbert won three big hands in a row to take a commanding chip lead. Egbert then left Noel Rodriquez on fumes before Ajez took the rest of Rodriquez’s stack when his jack-nine suited pulled ahead of ace-eight to eliminate Rodriquez in third place for $345,488.

Egbert began the heads-up action with double the stack of Ajez. The duo played a couple of hands before flattening the original payouts to guarantee $600,000 to each player with still $84,684 and the coveted trophy to be played for. It didn’t take long after that as Ajez mucked his hand after he ran into Egbert’s set of rockets for Egbert to be awarded the trophy and the $684,684 top prize.

Congrats to Travis Egbert on his epic victory at the 2024 WPT Alpha 8 at the Wynn Las Vegas. Stay tuned at poker.pro as we bring updates throughout the 2024 WPT World Championship.

Naj Ajez and Travis Egbert

* Hands and photos courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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