Emperors Palace Hotel Casino: Oct 12 2018: WPTDeepStacks Johannesburg: RAND 13,500 approx $1,000: Emperors Palace Hotel Casino: Mar 16 2018: WPTDeepStacks Johannesburg: RAND 11,000: Emperors Palace Hotel Casino: Oct 30 2015: WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic: R33,000 + R3,000 = R36,000: Emperors Palace Hotel Casino: Apr 17 2015.
After finishing runner-up in two prior World Poker Tour main events in 2014, American poker pro Dylan Wilkerson finally broke through this week when he emerged victorious in the 2014 WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event.
Wilkerson topped a field of 166 entrants to capture the title and the $147,509 first-place prize in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Wilkerson also earned 468 Card Player Player of the Year points for his first win of the year at his fifth final table. With a second=place showing in the sizable WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star main event for $728,650 and his runner-up finish in the WPT Fallsview main event for another $205,925 already under his belt, Wilkerson now has year-to-date earnings of $1,223,816.
Wilkerson’s Player of the Year point total now sits at 3,784 which is good enough to move him into sixth place in the overall standings.
Wilkerson came into the final day as one of the shorter stacks of the 17 player’s that made it to day 3, but managed to build his stack and by the time he made it to heads-up play he was virtually tied with eventual runner-up Richard Barnard.
Wilkerson was able to build a lead before the final hand arose. Barnard raised to 175,000 from the button and Wilkerson moved all-in from the big blind. Barnard made the call with the KQ only to see that he was in big trouble against Wilkerson’s AQ.
The board ran out 1066Q5 to secure the pot and the title for Wilkerson. Barnard earned $85,651 for his runner-up showing.
Emperor Palace Restaurant
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | Dylan Wilkerson | $147,509 | 468 |
| 2 | Richard Barnard | $85,651 | 390 |
| 3 | Diane Crous | $54,721 | 312 |
| 4 | Chris Convery | $38,543 | 234 |
| 5 | Aaron Overton | $29,740 | 195 |
| 6 | Darryn Lipman | $22,602 | 156 |
| 7 | Seth Berger | $17,606 | 117 |
| 8 | Cape Connexion | $13,086 | 78 |
| 9 | Hendrick Appel | $9,279 | 39 |
Season XIV of the World Poker Tour saw another event come to a completion over the weekend, as the WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic wrapped up. The R36,000 Main Event (approx. $2,600) was won by Ben Cade for R1,382,000 (approx. $100,000) after he defeated the field of 135 entries.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (ZAR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Cade | R1,382,000* | $100,000* |
| 2 | Mark Lifman | R797,200 | $57,684.52 |
| 3 | Aaron Overton | R517,100 | $37,416.79 |
| 4 | Nipun Java | R355,510 | $25,724.31 |
| 5 | Diana Sventz | R273,640 | $19,800.29 |
| 6 | Dean Doucha | R213,310 | $15,434.88 |
*First-place prize includes a $15,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship.
It didn't take long at the final table for the first player to be eliminated, as Dean Doucha fell on the third hand of play. He went out when he ran pocket tens into Cade's pocket jacks.
A handful of hands later, Diana Sventz hit the rail in fifth place on the 28th hand of the final table. The man ho eliminated her, Nipun Java, followed her out the door when he ran the into Cade's pocket kings.
Shortly into three-handed play, it was reported that Cade took a big hand from Aaron Overton to move into the chip lead. Overton couldn't recover from that and fell on the 70th hand of the final table to Mark Lifman.
Cade took a lead of 2.15 million to 1.84 million into heads-up play against Lifman, and it only took one hand between the two to seal the victory for Cade.
On the 71st hand of the final table, the two found the money in preflop in what turned out to be a bit of a cooler of a hand. Lifman had the , and Cade had the . The flop, turn, and river ran out , and Lifman was eliminated in second place. For his runner-up finish, Lifman earned R797,200 (approx. $57,684).
For Cade, the win marked the largest score of his career. Previously, his biggest cash was worth $26,143 from a previous WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic event in 2014.
*Data and photo courtesy of the WPT.
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
Emperors Palace Casino
Tags
World Poker TourWPTRelated Tournaments
World Poker Tour