Wesley Wiegand Wins the WPT National Johannesburg Main Event ($81,026)

After an epic three-day battle, it was South African Wesley Wiegand who came out on top and he took home the $81,026 first-place prize! The tournament drew a total of 325 entries, creating a prize pool of $299,650, and on the final day there were still 14 hopefuls looking to capture the title in the biggest National WPT event in South Africa.

The first player to get knocked out was Jaco van Niekerk, followed by Robert Hertzog in 13th place. Hertzog ran ace-nine into ace-king and could not catch up. In 12th place we lost Simon Solomon who had been short for quite some time. Solomon ran with queen-nine into Marius Lange’s ace-king suited and the board brought no help.

With 11 players left we lost Jason Strauss after a huge cooler, as he was on the wrong side of things when both he and Ciro Koncke flopped three of a kind. This hand jolted Koncke into the chip lead heading into the final table. Here’s what the final table seating and chip counts looked like.

Seat 1 – Wesley Wiegand – 1,025,000
Seat 2 – Warren Zackey – 1,305,000
Seat 3 – Marius Lange – 465,000
Seat 4 – Hilton Nortje – 625,000
Seat 5 – Greg Tucker – 465,000
Seat 6 – Max Sartirana – 510,000
Seat 7 – Anand Kumar – 875,000
Seat 8 – Davor Dadic – 860,000
Seat 9 – Nahum Lum – 1,400,000
Seat 10 –  Ciro Koncke – 2,240,000

While he doubled up right off the bat, it was Lange who busted in 10th. Lange took home $3,901 after he lost a massive coin flip against our eventual winner. With nine players remaining the chance of having a back-to-back champion was still alive, but not for long. Davor Dadic, who won this very event last year, exited in 9th and cashed for $5,102. His ace-king of diamonds was no match for Anand Kumar’s deuces.

In 8th place we lost Greg Tucker, who lost a coin flip with ace-jack versus Warren Zackey’s pocket nines. Tucker cashed for $7,053, and in a crazy turn of events it was Zackey who exited next. Zackey took home $9,753 for his seventh place finish after running pocket threes into Konck’e tens.

It took almost two hours before we lost another player, as everyone showed a lot of caution with regards to playing all-in pots. Max Sartirana finally busted for $12,754 when Wiegand hit a pair of nines with eight-nine off suit against his ace-queen.

Wiegand held a small lead going into five-handed play, but the action went back and forth for a long time between the final five. All five held the chip lead at some point, and it was Koncke who busted in fifth place for $16,056.

In a big pot versus Hilton Nortje we lost Nahum Lum in fourth place, after both players had flopped top pair. Lum’s kicker proved to be inferior, and he walked away with a $21,757 payslip. Nortje started three-handed play with a big lead, but from this point on it was the Wiegand Show.

Wiegand dominated three-handed play and chipped both Nortje and Kumar down to just a few big blinds. Nortje busted in third for $31,510 when his ace-queen was no good against Wiegand’s pocket nines, and four hands later the tournament was over.

Wiegand started heads-up play with a 10:1 chip lead, and secured his first big title quickly.

On the final hand Wiegand shoved the button and Kumar called with queen-eight of clubs. Wiegand tabled ace-jack of spades and his hand held up. Kumar collected $48,016 for his runner-up finish, but it was Wiegand who walked away as the richest man, collecting the massive amount of $81,026.

Here is the final table payout:

1. Wesley Wiegand – $81,026
2. Anand Kumar – $48,016
3. Hilton Nortje – $31,510
4. Nahum Lum – $31,757
5. Ciro Koncke – $16,056
6. Max Sartirana – $12,754
7. Warren Zackey – $9,753
8. Greg Tucker – $7,053
9. Davor Dadic – $5,102
10. Marius Lange – $3,901

That is it for our coverage of the World Poker Tour National Event in Johannesburg, we hope to see you again at our next event.