WPT: Hoyt Corkins Comes Back to Win Southern Poker Championship

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WPT: Hoyt Corkins Comes Back to Win Southern Poker Championship

Lance Bradley | January 28, 2010

Hoyt Corkins is often referred to as a Southern gentleman. After his performance on Wednesday the poker world can also refer to him as a Southern champion.

Corkins survived the final table of the 2010 World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship to win $739,486 in Biloxi, MS. Corkins eliminated Jonathan Kantor after only 19 hands of heads-up play to win his second WPT title. Kantor earned $366,643.

The bulk of the action took place with three players remaining. Corkins, Kantor and eventual third place finisher Jerry Vanstrydonck played 102 hands before a single elimination. When three-handed play began Corkins, after eliminating Jared Jaffee, had the chip lead with nearly 3 million of the 6.3 million chips in play. Over the course of those 102 hands however he fell all the way to third.

Sitting in second place Corkins eliminated Vanstrydonck in third when his K Q outraced his opponents 9 8. Neither player made a pair and Corkins collected his second elimination of the night to get heads-up with Kantor. Corkins held 3,635,000 chips to the 2,665,000 of Kantor when heads-up play began.

The final hand came after eight hours of play on the final day with Kantor limping with K T, Corkins raising all-in with A 7 and Kantor calling. The flop came A 5 2 and Kantor was drawing to a flush with the 8 on the turn. The 5 on the river however sealed Kantor’s runner-up finish and gave Corkins his first WPT win since the World Poker Finals in 2003.

The next stop on the World Poker Tour is the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. The $10,000 buy-in Main Event gets underway February 20.

WPT Southern Poker Championship Final Table Payouts