While the 2025 World Series of Poker was in full swing, the World Poker Tour wanted to try to steal a bit of thunder from poker’s biggest tournament. For the WPT, that meant wrapping up two tournaments over the weekend that were subjected to delays so they could be filmed in Las Vegas for future broadcast. In those two tournaments, Art Peacock and Mike Vanier earned the titles of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown and the WPT Choctaw Main Event, respectively.
Both Champions Ride Start of Day Chip Lead to Title
The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown began back in April, determining the final table on April 8. At that time, Art Peacock was saying “let’s just get it over with” as he was a sizeable chip leader over Jeffery Fritz in second place. But the nearly two-month delay did not change anything for Peacock as he would roll to the title.
Over the eight-hour final table, Peacock was never seriously challenged for the lead. The fight was for the runner-up slot, one in which Mihai Niste made the strongest run. Niste, who was all-in for his tournament life on Hand #2, fought his way to the heads-up match against Peacock and, at one point, eked into the lead. Peacock didn’t let that momentary change in position affect him, however, taking the title when his pocket eights reigned over Niste’s pocket fours to end the event on Hand #223.
1. Art Peacock, $776,000
2. Mihai Niste, $515,000
3. Daniel Marcus, $380,000
4. Mitchell Hynam, $285,000
5. Jared Hemingway, $215,000
6. Jeffery Fritz, $164,000
The situation was much the same for Vanier. After fighting his way to the lead of the WPT Choctaw final table on May 5, he had to wait until last Friday night to complete the deal. Vanier, who is the all-time money leader for the state of Nebraska, had to fight for his title, as Lifu Zhang (6.15 million), Mason Vieth (4.375 million), and Logan Hoover (4.325 million), all were within shooting distance of his lead.
On Hand #19, Vanier basically put the death lock on the tournament. In a battle against Ryan Brown, Vanier flopped a set of deuces to take a massive 7.65 million pot that pushed him to almost twelve million in chips. After that, Vanier would watch as the other five men battled it out to see who would go against him. By the time Vieth worked his way through the table to heads-up play, Vanier still had more than a 2:1 lead (19.825 million to 9.475 million) over Vieth.
That did not mean that Vieth would go away quietly. Over the next two hours, Vieth would actually take over the lead – which lasted all of twelve hands. On Hand #129, Vanier found a double up when his K-Q flopped an unnecessary King against Vieth’s Q-8 and retook the lead. Twenty-four hands later, Vanier completed the championship run as his A-Q topped the A-9 of Vieth to capture the title.
1. Mike Vanier, $338,000
2. Mason Vieth, $220,000
3. Lifu Zhang, $163,000
4. Charlie Adkins, $122,000
5. Ryan Brown, $92,000
6. Logan Hoover, $70,000
And Now…A Message for the WPT
To Adam Pliska and the management of the WPT…
How about we shelve these “delayed” final tables? The WSOP learned, after nine years, that the “November Nine” concept did not work. The players didn’t get a windfall of sponsorship opportunities (one of the reasons cited by the WSOP for initiating the delayed final table concept), and it ruined the flow of a tournament. The WSOP realized in 2017 that the concept didn’t work and, ever since, has played the Main Event without a delay.
The WPT missed this memo, initiating their first delay two years after the WSOP ended their experiment. Even though there were protests from the players, the WPT has since continued to have at least two delayed final tables every year (save the COVID Years) moved to Las Vegas. Why? Several reasons have been given, but the most logical one is that the WPT was racking up serious charges transporting their massive operation to different casinos. Why not have them come to Las Vegas and save money? The problem with this is that, with livestreaming’s popularity, there is no reason to delay the tables anymore. What makes these delayed tournaments even more ridiculous nowadays is that the WPT is LIVESTREAMING these delayed tournaments’ final tables while filming them for broadcast!
Instead of subjecting the players to additional stresses and ruining any semblance of “flow” that the table may have, the WPT should just end these exercises. Although chip leaders Mike Vanier and Art Peacock worked their way to the title in these cases, it does nothing for the WPT nor for the players to continue to delay these final tables. Maybe in 2026, the WPT will see how the delayed final tables are not working and end the practice.
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