Mark Davis Wins 2022 WPT Poker Showdown for $1 Million

2022 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  2,010
Prize Pool:  $6,432,000
April 8 – 12, 2022

Mark David, 2022 Poker Showdown Champion (photo: WPT)

The 2022 Poker Showdown featured 50 trophy events during the series and the WPT Poker Showdown Championship was the headliner. The tournament drew 2,010 entries, created a talented final table, and Mark Davis took the title on the WPT stage in Las Vegas for $1,000,300.

The 2,010 entries created the second biggest WPT main tour field in their history, only topped by the same tournament in 2021. The $3,000,000 guarantee was easily doubled and they created a prize pool worth $6,432,000.

The Championship played down to the final table in April and the six remaining players were put on pause until May 25 when they played it out on the big stage in front of the WPT cameras with Darren Elias leading and looking for his fifth career WPT title to extend his record.

Local favorite Mike Laufer, winner of 2021 RRPO Event 1 (the biggest field in state history), went out in sixth place followed by Andrew Barfield in fifth. Viet Vo had a special accomplishment with his result, making the final table of the two biggest WPT tournaments. He finished third last year and collected a fourth-place payout this time.

South Florida’s Marcos Exterkotter was eliminated in third place creating a heads-up battle between Elias and Davis for the title.

Elias had a big chip lead at the time but a four and a half hour marathon saw Davis chip away while the two exchanged the lead several times. In the end, Davis took home the title along with the seven-digit prize while putting his name on the WPT Champions Cup.

Congrats to Mark and thanks again to all of our players for such a great Championship.

Results:

PlaceNameAmount
1Mark Davis$1,000,300
2Darren Elias$660,000
3Marcos Exterkotter$490,000
4Viet Vo$370,000
5Andrew Barfield$280,000
6Mike Laufer$215,000
7Andrew Davidson$165,000
8James Calderaro$125,000
9David Moore$100,000
10Robert Lofaso$100,000
11Carlos Dorca$79,000
12Benjamin Miner$79,000
13Robert Georato$63,000
14Vineet Pahuja$63,000
15Christian Harder$51,000
16James Kousouros$51,000
17Adam Hendrix$41,000
18Sean Ripp$41,000
19Jason Wandling$41,000
20James Mendoza$41,000
21Matthew Berkey$34,000
22Benjamin Mccoy$34,000
23David Farber$34,000
24Jeffrey Madsen$34,000
25Farid Jattin$28,500
26Daniel Bekavac Jr$28,500
27Nancy Birnbaum$28,500
28Mitchell Garshofsky$28,500
29Justin Zaki$28,500
30Ilir Rugova$28,500
31Gil Aboodi$28,500
32Christopher Meyers$28,500
33Frank Jacous$24,000
34Filipp Khavin$24,000
35Gregory Baird$24,000
36Blaise Ingoglia$24,000
37Shannon Shorr$24,000
38Andrew Ostapchenko$24,000
39Tam Ho$24,000
40Larry Hoffman$24,000
41Myles Kublin$20,000
42Curt Kohlberg$20,000
43Brett Murray$20,000
44Hal Rothholz$20,000
45Michael Farrow$20,000
46Salim Admon$20,000
47Steven Snyder$20,000
48Aram Zobian$20,000
49Giuliano Lentini$17,300
50Uri Kadosh$17,300
51Nicholas Immekus$17,300
52Andrew Esposito$17,300
53Elijah Berg$17,300
54Michael Nugent$17,300
55Millard Hale Iii$17,300
56Kevin Harosshen$17,300
57Rafael Farah Jarufe$15,000
58Pierre Martin Couturier$15,000
59Jonathan Jaffe$15,000
60Nathan Steuer$15,000
61Timothy Little$15,000
62Javier Zarco Sanchez$15,000
63Frederick Goldberg$15,000
64Joel Deutsch$15,000
65Jason Weaver$13,100
66Neil Blumenfield$13,100
67Allan Rabinovich$13,100
68Nir Naim$13,100
69Jacob Ferro$13,100
70Steven Buckner Jr$13,100
71Alessio Isaia$13,100
72Erion Qoka$13,100
73Thomas Laviano$11,600
74Timothy Conn$11,600
75David Mzareulov$11,600
76Brekstyn Schutten$11,600
77Markus Gonsalves$11,600
78Arkadiy Tsinis$11,600
79Carl Bevilacqua$11,600
80Marco Sanchezalfaro$11,600
81Lex Ozias$10,400
826 Shah$10,400
83Andrew Blake$10,400
84Evan Lash$10,400
85Scott Wright$10,400
86Kitty Kuo$10,400
87Tyng Low$10,400
88Justin Liberto$10,400
89Martins Adeniya$9,300
90Sumeet Wayachal$9,300
91Alexis Gavin$9,300
92Harold Evans$9,300
93Vito Distefan$9,300
94Michael Graffeo$9,300
95Amarender.Sartaj Puri$9,300
96Jean-Louis Santoni$9,300
97Gabriel Abusada$9,300
98Ema Zajmovic$9,300
99Ivan Ruban$9,300
100Brian Altman$9,300
101David Dibernardi$9,300
102Emanuel Failla Jr$9,300
103Elia Ahmadian$9,300
104Nicholas Davidson$9,300
105Roland Ishraelashvili$8,400
106Benjamin Thomas$8,400
107Richard Alati$8,400
108Yung-Han Lin$8,400
109Scott Weinstein$8,400
110Robert Jonsson$8,400
111Tyler Cornell$8,400
112Rainulfo Ricardo Perez$8,400
113Alexander Keating$8,400
114Larry Hirschfield$8,400
115Derek Gregory$8,400
116Endri Foto$8,400
117Manuel Simon$8,400
118Mike Gao$8,400
119Kenneth Nicoletti$8,400
120Tan Ngyuen$8,400
121Charles Difalco$7,700
122Rania Nasreddine$7,700
123Matthew Wantman$7,700
136Robert Brown$7,700
137[[ Briones$7,100
138Bobby Buckingham$7,100
139Joseph Mckeehen$7,100
140Austin Farmer$7,100
141Luke Sunderman$7,100
142Harrison Gimbel$7,100
143Joshua Kay$7,100
144Aaron Olshan$7,100
145Marie Harrell$7,100
146Rajesh Vohra$7,100
147Steven Mckoy$7,100
148John Jabbour$7,100
149Gil Levy$7,100
150Cody Rich$7,100
151Daniel Colpoys$7,100
152Florence Allera$7,100
153Keith Loftus$6,600
154Igor Hot$6,600
155Scott Woodring$6,600
156James Romero$6,600
157Zachary Vuong$6,600
158Frederic Normand$6,600
159Corey Harrison$6,600
160Alexander Haber$6,600
161Daniel Quesada$6,600
162Damaso Benalcazar$6,600
163Zachary Eichenbaum$6,600
164Brandon Wilson$6,600
165Frank Stepuchin$6,600
166Michael Jagroo$6,600
167George Pappas$6,600
168Michael Maresca$6,600
169Jesse Lonis$6,250
170Bradford Corner$6,250
171Yuval Bronshtein$6,250
172Jonathan Baylor$6,250
173Veerab Zakarian$6,250
174Clifford Mermell$6,250
175Aaron Thivyanathan$6,250
176Damien Wilkinson$6,250
177Gabriel Boria$6,250
178David Dowdy$6,250
179Denis Cyr$6,250
180Christopher Lovett$6,250
181Jeffrey Blenkarn$6,250
182Igor Merda$6,250
183Jared Koppel$6,250
184Joey Weissman$6,250
185Johannes Tobbe$6,000
186David Comeron Carrasco$6,000
187Marc Evanier$6,000
188Anes Kovacevic$6,000
189Peter Muraca$6,000
190Peter Forsstrom$6,000
191Brett Apter$6,000
192Quoc Nguyen$6,000
193Landon Tice$6,000
194Peter Fellows$6,000
195Edward Grinko$6,000
196Jayaram Koovoor Chathoth$6,000
197Richard Rice$6,000
198Mohammad Abedi Arani$6,000
199Fawaz Siddiqui$6,000
200Jeffrey Trudeau Jr$6,000
201Michael Alvarez$6,000
202Kenny Huynh$6,000
203Michael Gagliano$6,000
204Kenneth Mckeown$6,000
205Duff Charette$6,000
206Daniel Stavila$6,000
207Pavel Milanov$6,000
208Karl Manouchakian$6,000
209Alexander Gambino$5,800
210Romel Mendoza$5,800
211Aldring Gomez Torres$5,800
212Scott Zakheim$5,800
213Robert Placet$5,800
214James Perri$5,800
215Ronald Sullivan$5,800
216James Miller$5,800
217Daniel Constantine Sepiol$5,800
218Andrew Lichetenberger$5,800
219Kenneth Smith$5,800
220Angelina Rich$5,800
221Sathue$5,800
222Michael Newman$5,800
223Michael Wang$5,800
224Uke Dauti$5,800
225James Gilbert$5,800
226Dragan Dimishkov$5,800
227Boris Kolev$5,800
228Jeremy Pappano$5,800
229Andres Jeckeln$5,800
230Ramsey Jones$5,800
231Alvin Norman$5,650
232Maury Barrett$5,650
233Zachary Fischer$5,650
234Danny Panagatos$5,650
235John Racener Jr$5,650
236Michael Amato$5,650
237Ivaylo Sivinov$5,650
238Lenard Adams$5,650
239Edward Mcnamara Iv$5,650
240Sheldon Gross$5,650
241Michael Lech$5,650
242Maykol Trujillo$5,650
243Ryan Riess$5,650
244Chance Kornuth$5,650
245Timothy Miles$5,650
246Ariel Amendola Cuadra$5,650
247Doyle Elliott$5,650
248Ryan Van Sanford$5,650
249Jonathan Pilot$5,650
250Joel Gola$5,650
251Gary Wrightsman$5,650
252William Underdown$5,650
Mark Davis, 2022 Poker Showdown Champion (photo: WPT)

WPT Poker Showdown Championship Final Table Underway

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 2,010

(l-r) Mark Davis, Viet Vo, Mike Laufer, Andrew Barfield, Marcos Exterkotter, and Darren Elias

While we are playing down May Deep Stack Poker Series Event 3, there’s a big game going on in Las Vegas. The final table of the 2022 WPT Poker Showdown Championship is underway in Las Vegas with six players remaining, Darren Elias leading, and a cool $1,000,000 up for grabs.

The WPT live updates team is on-site and you can follow the action at the link below.

2022 WPT Poker Showdown final table live updates

Seat 1: Mark Davis – 26,550,000 (89 bb)
Seat 2: Viet Vo – 11,925,000 (40 bb)
Seat 3: Mike Laufer – 6,750,000 (23 bb)
Seat 4: Andrew Barfield – 5,500,000 (18 bb)
Seat 5: Marcos Exterkotter – 10,900,000 (36 bb)
Seat 6: Darren Elias – 38,825,000 (129 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st: $1,000,300
2nd: $660,000
3rd: $490,000
4th: $370,000
5th: $280,000
6th: $215,000

Showdown Championship: Meet Your Final Table

The 2022 WPT Poker Showdown Championship continued the trend of huge fields for our Championship events. The tournament drew 2,010 entries for the second biggest WPT field in the tour’s history, second only to our 2021 Poker Showdown turnout, and they more than doubled the $3,000,000 guarantee into a prize pool worth $6.4 million.

They played down to the final table and six players are in Las Vegas to determine our Poker Showdown Champion. They are playing for more than $3,000,000 with $1,000,300 awaiting the champion.

Four-time WPT champ Darren Elias is the headliner coming back and holds a big chip lead while Viet Vo is made this final table a year ago.

It will be a great final table and we will post some results this evening as they play along.


Seat 1: Mark Davis
Chips: 26,550,000

From Birmingham AL, Davis has more than $700,000 in career earnings and this is his first Hollywood cash. This is the second big score of the year for Davis after picking up $334,678 for winning the WSOP Circuit Main Event in North Carolina.


Viet VoSeat 2: Viet Vo
Chips: 11,925,000

From Houston TX, Vo has more than $3.5 million in career earnings with $1 million of it coming in 2021. He made some history with this final table; he finished third at last year’s Showdown Championship final table and back again for this year’s. Vo also booked a second-place finish last summer at the WPT stop in Choctaw.


Michael LauferSeat 3: Mike Laufer
Chips: 6,750,000

From Boca Raton, Laufer is one of two locals to make the big WPT final table. His top score before the WPT Showdown Championship came last November when he won the RRPO opening event, the biggest tournament field in Florida state history.


Seat 4: Andrew Barfield
Chips: 5,500,000

From Ocean Springs MS and $300,000 in career earnings, Barfield is already guaranteed the biggest cash of his career. He earned another $110,000 in 2019 for winning the Gulf Coast Poker Main Event in Biloxi.


Marcos ExterkotterSeat 5: Marcos Exterkotter
Chips: 10,900,000

Miami, FL via Brazil, Exterkotter is also guaranteed the biggest cash of his career no matter where he finishes. The Brazilian went deep in the 2016 WSOP Main Event finishing 75th of 6,737 and he finished ninth in the 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship.


Seat 6: Darren Elias
Chips: 38,825,000

Medford NJ, Elias is the most decorated player in WPT history with four titles and the chip leader looking for number five. He will top $10 million in career earnings at this final table and solidify himself as one of the top players in the world.

Championships: WPT Final Table Set; Darren Elias Leads

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 2,010

(l-r) Mark Davis, Viet Vo, Mike Laufer, Andrew Barfield, Marcos Exterkotter, and Darren Elias

The 2022 WPT Poker Showdown Championship final table is set and there’s a familiar face at the top of the counts.

Four-time WPT champ Darren Elias has a big lead looking for number five and heading to Las Vegas where the final table six will play for the Championship. Mark Davis sits in second followed by Marcos Exterkotter, Mike Laufer, Andrew Barfield, and Viet Vo making his second straight WPT Poker Showdown Championship final table.

The live-streamed final table will run on May 25 at the HyperX eSports Arena in Las Vegas.

Seat 1: Mark Davis – 26,550,000 (89 bb)
Seat 2: Viet Vo – 11,925,000 (40 bb)
Seat 3: Mike Laufer – 6,750,000 (23 bb)
Seat 4: Andrew Barfield – 5,500,000 (18 bb)
Seat 5: Marcos Exterkotter – 10,900,000 (36 bb)
Seat 6: Darren Elias – 38,825,000 (129 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st: $1,000,300
2nd: $660,000
3rd: $490,000
4th: $370,000
5th: $280,000
6th: $215,000

Darren Elias

Championship: Andrew Davidson – 7th Place ($165,000)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 2,010

Andrew Davidson

Andrew Davidson raised to 650,000 from the cutoff and Mark Davis called on the button.

The flop was KcKh7s, Davidson continued for 700,000, and Davis called.

The turn was the Jc, Davidson checked, Davis bet 950,000, Davidson check-raised all in for about 2,900,000, and Davis called with Kd10d for trip kings, leading Davidson’s QsQd for two pair, kings and queens.

The river was the 5s, no help to Davidson, ending his tournament in seventh place for $165,000.

Mark Davis  –  26,550,000  (88 bb)
Andrew Davidson  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($165,000)

Official chip counts are being confirmed now.

Championship: James Calderaro – 8th Place ($125,000)

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 2,010

James Calderaro

Darren Elias raised to 600,000 from under the gun, Mark Davis called in middle position, and Marcos Exterkotter called in the small blind.

James Calderaro three-bet all in for 10,175,000 from the big blind, and Elias thought for a bit before he slid in a stack of plaques to call. Davis and Exterkotter folded.

Calderaro:  AhQs
Elias:  10c10s

The board ran out 3h7s7hKcJh, no help to Calderaro, ending his championship event in eighth place for $125,000.

Darren Elias  –  38,100,000  (127 bb)
James Calderaro  –  Eliminated in 8th Place  ($125,000)

Championship: Chip Counts at Break

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 2,010

The players returned from break to begin Level 32, with increased blinds of 150,000-300,000 with a 300,000 ante.

Here are the official chip counts from the break:

Seat 1:  Andrew Davidson – 4,150,000  (12 bb)
Seat 2:  Mark Davis – 28,525,000  (95 bb)
Seat 3:  Viet Vo – 7,625,000  (25 bb)
Seat 4:  Mike Laufer – 4,650,000  (16 bb)
Seat 5:  Andrew Barfield – 5,825,000  (19 bb)
Seat 6:  Marcos Exterkotter – 11,800,000  (39 bb)
Seat 7:  James Calderaro – 9,725,000  (32 bb)
Seat 8:  Darren Elias – 28,200,000  (94 bb)

With eight players remaining, the average chip stack is around 12,500,000 (42 big blinds).

Remaining payouts:

1st:  $1,000,300
2nd:  $660,000
3rd:  $490,000
4th:  $370,000
5th:  $280,000
6th:  $215,000
7th:  $165,000
8th:  $125,000

Championship: Andrew Davidson Doubles Thru Viet Vo Again

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 2,010

Andrew Davidson

Andrew Davidson raised all in for 2,775,000 from the cutoff and Viet Vo isolated the pot from the small blind with 10h10c, racing with Davidson’s KdJc.

The board ran out Kc8h2d9c6d, giving Davidson a pair of kings to double through Vo once again.

Andrew Davidson  –  6,050,000  (24 bb)
Viet Vo  –  7,500,000  (30 bb)

Championship: Darren Elias Takes the Chip Lead from Mark Davis

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 2,010

Darren Elias

Darren Elias opened to 500,000 from under the gun, Mark Davis three-bet to 1,400,000 from middle position, Elias four-bet to 4,500,000, and Davis called.

The flop was 8s5h4c, Elias bet 3,500,000, and Davis thought for a bit before he folded.

Darren Elias  –  28,950,000  (116 bb)
Mark Davis  –  25,000,000  (100 bb)

Championship: Andrew Davidson Doubles Thru Viet Vo

$3,500 WPT Poker Showdown Championship
$3,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 31:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 2,010

Andrew Davidson

Viet Vo opened to 500,000 from under the gun, Andrew Davidson three-bet all in for 2,050,000 from the small blind, and Vo called with KhQs, leading Davidson’s 9c6h.

The board ran out 6d4d2c9sQc, giving Davidson nines and sixes to double through Vo.

Andrew Davidson  –  4,600,000  (18 bb)
Viet Vo  –  9,500,000  (38 bb)