Darren Elias has lengthy held the report with 4 World Poker Tour (WPT) titles. However one poker professional simply would possibly catch that report within the subsequent couple of days.
Eric Afriat, who’s sitting on three WPT Predominant Tour victories, is the chip chief halfway by means of Day 2 within the $5,000 buy-in WPT bestbet Scramble Championship. He spoke with PokerNews on a break to debate the opportunity of making historical past this week at bestbet Jacksonville.
Afriat Talks Chasing Historical past
Afriat does not mince phrases. He is coming after Elias’ report and it “completely” means one thing to him.
“Whoever tells you on the contrary, it is all about successful probably the most titles, being first,” the brutally sincere poker professional mentioned when requested if being the WPT report holder is vital to him.
Afriat, a Canadian who grew up in Montreal and vacationed yearly in Jacksonville, has over $5.6 million in dwell event cashes, in accordance with The Hendon Mob. He is gained three WPT titles since 2014, however his final got here in 2020 at WPT Fallsview in his house nation, which implies he is as a consequence of win one other.
The potential soon-to-be four-time champion had a so-so Day 1b session, by his personal accord, as he bagged 121,000 chips, proper across the common stack. However he turned up the jets shortly on Day 2 and, on the time of publishing, was the primary participant to crack 1 million chips and held the chip lead following the second break of the nine-level session.
Elias final gained a World Poker Tour title in 2018, a $387,580 rating for taking down the Bobby Baldwin Traditional at Aria in Las Vegas. He is been caught on 4 titles ever since, and has held the report for over six years. That report is not in jeopardy any time quickly, however Afriat is in place to tie the report at bestbet this week. If not within the present event, he confidently mentioned “it is solely a matter of time” that he’ll.
Afriat got here near successful Quantity 4 at Choctaw in Might, however inevitably completed runner-up to James Mackey, who gained the event for the second time. Mackey held a monster chip lead — practically 5:1 — when heads-up play started, and Afriat by no means caught a hand to get again within the ballgame.
The WPT bestbet Scramble was all the way down to 62 gamers on the time of publishing and pays the highest 46. It is too early for Afriat to plan his victory speech. However he is an skilled event participant who’s motivated to get the report, and he is aware of the best way to shut out a event. First place is ready to pay $347,850, which might put the WPT Champions Membership member to virtually precisely $6 million in lifetime dwell event cashes.
Afriat has turn into one of many all-time biggest performers in World Poker Tour historical past. However he does not have the identical ardour for the World Collection of Poker (WSOP), and he defined why to PokerNews.
“I am going to come to all of the WPT stops,” Afriat defined. “To me, the WSOP does not have the identical appeal because the WPT.”
Afriat, who solely has 15 WSOP cashes, went on to reward the World Poker Tour’s employees, one thing we’ll doubtless hear him repeat in his victory speech on Tuesday, if he continues to stack chips on the price he is been happening Sunday.
*Photographs courtesy of Katerina Lukina/World Poker Tour.
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