The Choctaw Six returned to Hyper X Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas to play down to a winner and James Mackey is a repeat champion of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw Championship after he beat a tough final table to claim the $361,600 prize.
Mackey conquered a final table that included two-time WPT champion Erick Lindgren and three-time winner Eric Afriat. And that wasn’t all — Mackey had to keep Adam Hendrix, Danny Marx, and Sebastien Aube away from their first WPT title.
The Kansas City native won this event in 2017 and made the final table again in 2022. He’s grown comfortable under the TV lights, where he has been winning poker tournaments since he could walk into a casino.
“The more of these TV final tables you make the better it is for you,” Mackey said in the post-win media scrum. “The cameras and interviews and pictures and everything can throw you off your game a bit. The experience of doing it helps.”
Mackey’s experience goes way back. Some may remember when he won a WSOP bracelet at the age of 21 in the $5,000 no-limit event, a victory that made him the third-youngest champion at the time.
Pushing people around
James Mackey is right at home at a TV table. That 2007 final table pitted Mackey against the likes of 23-year-old Nick Schulman, two-time bracelet winner Jan Sorensen, and Tex Barch, who finished third in the 2005 Main Event. The young kid made quick work of them all for $730,740.
Mackey wasn’t intimidated back then, so a final table that included legends like Afriat and Lindgren didn’t shake him now.
“It was a tough final table. Everybody played very well throughout the whole thing,” Mackey said about playing against a group of well-seasoned tournament winners.
They may have played well, but Mackey had better timing. His stack grew as the blinds applied max pressure on his opponents.
“I was able to push people around more. It was a fortunate circumstance.”
Lindgren and Marx take their shot
Erick Lindgren returned to a WPT final table for the first time since 2013. Lindgren entered the day as the short stack and he needed to spin it up quickly to take a run at Mackey. The WPT Season 2 legend found his spot early against Aube and it was exit stage right with $75,000 when he didn’t have the goods.
Marx was the new short stack in five-handed play and he made a move with ten-seven against Aube’s king-seven. The flop brought a ten and sparked hope for an uprising, but a king on the river expelled Marx in fifth place for $99,000.
Afriat breaks the stalemate
The gears jammed up and the final four fought for some time to avoid fourth place, but it was Aube who had the unfortunate distinction of hitting the rail with $131,000. Aube got it in good with ace-queen, but Afriat — who was dressed for dinner in Monaco — went runner-runner with eight-seven to beat the Canadian and put himself in play for the championship.
Runner-up Eric Afriat doing a Phil Hellmuth thing with his hands. Hendrix had a night of ups and downs, but the late surge by Mackey made three-handed play a tough challenge to overcome. The Alaskan was out in third place for $175,000 when the blinds caught up and he couldn’t withstand the pressure from Mackey’s big stack.
Mackey was the one to beat Hendrix and it set up a heads-up confrontation where Afriat had just a few big blinds. The three-time champ fought back briefly with small doubles, but the blinds were relentless and the big moment came when Afriat got it in with king-jack against Mackey’s king-five. Afriat had a big advantage but the flop had two fives and Afriat was runner-up for $235,000.
The proud Canadian concedes defeat. Photos courtesy of World Poker Tour/Enrique Malfavon
