It’s a new career-high cash for New Jersey’s David Coleman after the online grinder-turned-live high roller took down the third of three $25,000 WPT Alpha8 Trifecta events at Wynn Las Vegas for $730,300.
Coleman, who spent the majority of the final table near the top of the chip counts, bested the field of 117 entries – the largest of this summer’s WPT Alpha8 high rollers with a nearly $2.8 million prize pool – for his first World Poker Tour victory. With the win, Coleman’s reported lifetime live earnings have surpassed more than $6 million.
“I lost some pots early on but it was pretty smooth overall,” he said immediately after the win. “I can’t complain. I had the chip lead pretty much the entire final table…so it was pretty smooth.”
As expected the WPT Alpha8 final table was, once again, stacked with some of the most notable players in the poker’s high roller scene including Andrew ‘LuckyChewy’ Lichtenberger, Pavel Plesov, Roman Hrabec, and Isaac Haxton among others.
Coleman, who came up through the ranks in New Jersey’s regulated online poker scene, acknowledged the tall task of tackling a live field filled with such talent.
“This is a stacked field with a lot of competition so you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game and stay focused,” Coleman said. “You know, just play as best as you can, try to limit the mistakes, and hopefully get lucky.”
In addition to the $730,300 score, Coleman locked up his seat in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December. The WPT Alpha8 Trifecta leaderboard, which awarded points to players based on final table and in-the-money finishes, gave away eight $10K seats to the Top 8 players including previous winners Brock Wilson and Daniel Sepiol.
For Coleman, taking down the tournament was both a cause for celebration as well as a moment of relief.
“Amazing…every time you win a poker tournament it’s like a weight off your shoulders and it feels amazing.
“I’m so happy…no words.”