March 19-23
Number of entries in Zachary VanKeuren's career high score, a $1.1M victory at the 2024 WPT Prime Championship in Las Vegas.
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1ST
Zachary VanKeuren
$267,437
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2ND
Adam Kurnitz
$178,255
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3RD
Andrew Porter
$124,949
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4TH
Autumn Hayes
$88,986
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5TH
Charbel Boujaoude
$64,405
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6TH
Matthew Schiavi
$47,386
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7TH
Michael Bohmerwald
$35,451
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8TH
Marisa Hancock
$26,975
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9TH
Michael Nye
$20,883
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10TH
Zexiang Sun
$16,454
Since breaking through with his first six-figure score in 2022, Zachary VanKeuren has been making a name for himself on the U.S. poker tournament scene over the past four years. In that time, the 28-year-old has enjoyed plenty more big scores, including victories in both an online WSOP bracelet event and the WPT Prime Championship in 2024.
Today, his poker career came full circle with a victory at his home casino in the WSOPC Turning Stone Main Event, where VanKeuren won $267,437 and a $5,000 package to WSOP Paradise in The Bahamas.
Where it all started
“It definitely feels like a dream,” VanKeuren said after the win. “This was the first place I ever played poker in. I came here and played some $1/2 cash games when I was 18 years old. It got me hooked. My dad lives in Syracuse, 30 minutes away. He was actually here when I played my first tournament, when I was 19 years old. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew I wanted to chase the poker dream.
“I just continued to study and play a lot over the years. To come back and win my first ring in front of my girlfriend, and my dad, and my uncle. It’s so surreal.”
“It’s kind of funny,” the newly crowned champion continued. “I won a bracelet before I won a WSOP Circuit Ring, which is probably not a stat that most people have. I really wanted a ring, and I really wanted to win a WSOP Circuit Main Event.”
Red nines
VanKeuren started the day with the second-largest stack, just behind Matthew Schiavi. Zexiang Sun cracked Michael Bohmerwald’s aces to take the lead early in the day before playing a massive pot with VanKeuren that shaped the trajectory for the rest of the final table.
VanKeuren described the pivotal hand that saw him take the chip lead, which he held for the rest of the tournament.
“(Sun) flatted me on the button after I opened red nines. The flop came jack-nine-six with two diamonds. I felt like he connected with the board. I checked, he bet, I raised, and he snap-made it two-million. I had like nine-million, and he had six. When he three-bet me on the flop, even with pocket nines, he can and probably should flat with pocket jacks here. He can have a ton of draws. I just wanted to put all the money in and make him call off with diamonds if he has diamonds. I just piled. He tanked and ended up folding king-jack face-up. That was a no showdown hand, I was able to pick up like three million and ran well from there.”
After winning a similar hand against Schiavi that saw VanKeuren win without showdown, Vankeuren was firmly in the driver’s seat holding a huge lead over his nine opponents. Meanwhile, Sun never recovered, and was the first to fall despite having the chip lead an hour earlier. Perennial short-stack Michael Nye was next to fall, before VanKeuren won a flip to knock out Marisa Hancock in eighth place and extend his lead.
Easy game
Vankeuren’s victory almost seemed like a foregone conclusion with seven players remaining and VanKeuren holding over half the chips in play. His short-stacked opponents doubled through him several times in a row, he consistently forced folds by open-shoving preflop, quickly recovering the chips he had lost.
Adam Kurnitz eliminated Charbel Boujaoude and Autumn Hayes in fifth and fourth place respectively, but was still nowhere close to catching up. Soon after, VanKeuren knocked out Andrew Porter in a dramatic runout that saw both players flop a set, taking roughly a 4.5:1 advantage going into heads-up play against Kurnitz.
The dream run continued for VanKeuren once heads-up play began, as Kurnitz’ stack was decimated just a couple of hands in after flopping top-set only for VanKeuren to turn a straight. Kurnitz put on an admirable attempt at a comeback, doubling up twice from three big blinds immediately after. The final hand of the night saw the chips go in on the turn, with VanKeuren holding with bottom two pair against Kurnitz’ pair and flush draw to win the final hand of the night.
