Nitis Udornpim has emerged victorious as the latest champion on the World Poker Tour. The 25-year-old Baltimore-area resident defeated a field of 495 entries to win the 2019 WPT Maryland At Live! Casino $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event. He took home $319,415 in his first-ever cash on the WPT main tour.
“It feels great to be a WPT champion,” Udornpim told WPT reporters after coming out on top. “I couldn’t have run any better today, so I’m pretty excited with the result. It feels good to win a tournament in my home state. I moved here about a year ago and this has been my home casino ever since.”
In addition to the title and the money, Udornpim was also awarded 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his sixth final-table finish of the year. The score was enough to move him just outside of the top 100 in the 2019 POY race standings, which are sponsored by “Global Poker. “:https://globalpoker.com/?utm_source=cardplayer&utm_medium=logo&utm_campaign=logo His 1,936 total points and $477,918 in year-to-date earnings put him in 101st place for the time being.
Udornpim came into the final day of this event in fourth chip position, with just 31 big blinds compared to the 199 big blinds of leader Stephen Deutsch. Udornpim was joined at the final table by two prior WPT champions in Brian Altman and three-time winner on the tour Anthony Zinno. Deutsch extended his lead by eliminating short stacks Jeffrey Colpitts (6th – $64,020_ and Robert McLaughlin (5th – $83,970). Udornpim was left at the bottom of the leaderboard, but managed to double-up twice through Altman to rebuild his stack.
Zinno’s quest for his fourth WPT title came to an end when his 8
8
ran into the AK
of Deutsch in a preflop all-in showdown. The board ran out A72
1010 and Deutsch paired his ace on the flop to send the former Card Player Player of the Year award winner to the rail in fourth place. Zinno earned $111,415 for his latest deep run.
While Zinno’s tournament ended on a coin flip, Altman was eliminated as a result of a preflop cooler. He five-bet all-in with QQ and found himself up against the AA of Udornpim. Neither player improved and Altman was knocked out in third place ($149,515).
Deutsch took roughly a 4:3 chip leader into heads-up play with Udornpim. It took just 12 hands for Udornpim to fight his way into the lead. He managed to stretch out that advantage multiple times, only to have Deutsch double up to close the gap again. Udornpim managed to build a lead yet again. He out-chipped Deutsch by roughly 4:1 by the time the final cards were dealt.
Udornpim picked up A3 on the button and moved all-in for 15,900,000. Deutsch called off his last 3,775,000 holding K9. The flop of 542 gave Udornpim a straight and a massive lead in the hand, but tbe 4 on the turn saw Deutsch pick a flush draw. The Q on the river was no help, though, and Deutsch was sent to the rail in second place. He earned $202,905 for his strong showing in this event.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Nitis Udornpim | $319,415 | 840 |
| 2 | Stephen Deutsch | $202,905 | 700 |
| 3 | Brian Altman | $149,515 | 560 |
| 4 | Anthony Zinno | $111,415 | 420 |
| 5 | Robert McLaughlin | $83,970 | 350 |
| 6 | Jeffrey Colpitts | $64,020 | 280 |
| 7 | Jeffrey Esterling | $49,380 | 210 |
| 8 | Maxwell Schrack | $38,540 | 140 |
| 9 | Paul Brar | $30,435 | 70 |
Winner photo credit: Joe Giron / WPT.
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