WPT Choctaw: Lindgren returns to the WPT stage

Matt Hansen
Matt Hansen
Posted on: May 30, 2024 14:44 PDT

It will be a hard-fought win the champion poses with the Mike Sexton Cup after Thursday’s World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw final table. The six players that survived a field of 603 runners in early May are made up of WPT legends and local grinders and they’re all tough to beat. 

The potential for a fun night is there with two top stacks and four players jockeying for payjumps. Erick Lindgren, Eric Afriat, and James Mackey will sit down with a chance to add to their WPT title collection, while Danny Marx, Sebastien Aube, and Adam Hendrix are hopeful for their first. 

Lindgren returns to at WPT final table for the first time since 2013 and the 47-year-old can add a third win to his WPT resume — the first since both came in Season 2. Afriat — already a three-time winner — can move into a tie with Darren Elias for the most wins in WPT’s 22-season history. 

Mackey's turf

James Mackey (right) owns Choctaw. James Mackey (right) owns Choctaw.

This will be the third WPT Choctaw final table for Mackey, a winner in the 2016 edition and sixth in 2022. The Choctaw crusher will enter the day with the most chips — 84 big blinds. 

Behind Mackey with 70 big blinds is Hendrix, the Alaskan with over $6 million in lifetime earnings. Hendrix is a regular feature on final tables all over poker, and this is his chance to break through with a major victory

The top two have a lot of chips and Aube leads the second pack with 29 big blinds. The Canadian has been clawing his way through this tournament and now has a chance to add a WPT title to his 2022 WSOP bracelet — and a considerable amount of money to his lifetime earnings.

After Aube is the three-time champ Afriat with 23 big blinds, at yet another WPT final table. This makes eight. And behind him is Marx with 19 big blinds. Marx is another Choctaw crusher and he has a WSOP Circuit ring win at the venue

An early double would wake up the echoes for Erick Lindgren. An early double would wake up the echoes for Erick Lindgren.

Sitting on the short stack is Lindgren with 16 big blinds. He will need to make his move quickly at a table that is shorter than the previous night’s nine-hour marathon final table where Josh Reichard won his first WPT title. 

Cards go in the air at 4pm for the final table at HyperX Sports Arena inside the Luxor in Las Vegas. Keep up on all the action with the world-class WPT live reports team and stay tuned to PokerOrg for a recap after the confetti falls.