There are still two final tables from the 2020 World Poker Tour season to be completed, and the dates are finally set in stone.
The past year has been difficult on the poker community, especially the major tournament circuit. COVID-19 postponed and canceled nearly every major event around the world, from the World Series of Poker to the Aussie Millions, in the past 12 months.
That includes the WPT, which halted play in the middle of the season last March. The events that hadn't begun were canceled. But there were three tournaments that were down to a final table at the time COVID-19 struck.
All three events were scheduled to pause until late March or early April to finish up at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. But the pandemic forced all Las Vegas casinos to close, leaving the WPT final tables in limbo.
The three final tables in question are the L.A. Poker Classic, Gardens Poker Championship, and Borgata Winter Poker Open. On Wednesday, the WPT finally hosted the final table of the Gardens Poker Classic, which originally began at the Gardens Casino in Los Angeles in January 2020.
Markus Gonsalves shipped the trophy and $554,495, 14 months after the tournament began. The final table took place inside the PokerGO Studio on the Las Vegas Strip, which is right outside the Aria Resort and Casino.
That left the WPT with two 2020 final tables to schedule, and they now have. Both remaining events will take place on back-to-back days in May, again at the PokerGO Studio.
Let's play ball
The first one up will be the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, a winter tournament that originated at the Borgata in Atlantic City. And the next day, the remaining six players in the L.A. Poker Classic, which began at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, will finish up the tournament 12 months after it began.
The 2021 L.A. Poker Classic is set to run in Los Angeles next week. But the 2020 version won't finish up for two months, and the final six players are eagerly awaiting completion because the winner is set to take home $1,015,000. Balakrishna Patur will enter play with the chip lead.
Upeshka De Silva, who reached the 2020 WSOP Main Event final table, has the small stack, and two-time WPT champion James Carroll has one of the biggest stacks. Carroll ran deep in the WPT Venetian earlier this week, and finished in 13th place for $47,420.
Brian Altman also has more at stake in the Borgata Winter Poker Open than just chasing the $674,840 1st place prize up for grabs. He's likely to sit atop the WPT Player of the Year standings as soon as that event wraps up, but a 1st place finish would just about guarantee POY victory.
Featured image source: Twitter
