23-Year-Old Harvey Castro Wins WPT Prime Lodge Championship for $225,020
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The World Poker Tour (WPT) touched down in Texas this month for the $1,100 buy-in WPT Prime Lodge Championship. The $1 million guaranteed event at The Lodge Poker Club & Lodge Card Club in Austin drew 1,648 runners across six starting flights before playing to a winner on Day 3 on Monday.
There were seasoned grinders at the final table, including Esther Taylor, who earlier this year finished third in the WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship, but it was the young Harvey Castro who emerged victorious to win two trophies and $225,020.
The WPT Prime stop at The Lodge had plenty of highlights, including in the Wildcard Mystery Bounty Chaos event, where a big stack was forced to swap chips with the shortest stack in the tournament.
WPT Prime Lodge Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harvey Castro | $225,020 |
| 2 | Joshua Stewart | $143,000 |
| 3 | Steve Hwang | $106,000 |
| 4 | Esther Taylor | $79,000 |
| 5 | Nicholas Scott | $60,000 |
| 6 | Rafael Reis | $45,500 |
| 7 | Martin Torres | $35,000 |
| 8 | David Sollee | $27,500 |
| 9 | Hai Pham | $21,400 |
Runner-Up's Kings Cracked in Three-Way All In
There were 17 players who returned for the Day 3 action, which was livestreamed on the WPT YouTube channel.
The 10th-place elimination of Javier Zarco set up the final table, which saw Castro in pole position ahead of big stacks Taylor and Nicholas Scott. Rafael Reis entered as the short stack but was able to ladder up several pay jumps to sixth place after the eliminations of Martin Torres, Hai Pham and David Sollee, who bowed out in eighth place when his queens were cracked by Taylor's set of threes.
Taylor's run ended in fourth place for $79,000 before the third-place elimination of Steve Hwang, who earlier was on the winning end of a three-way all in as his jacks cracked the kings of Joshua Stewart.
Still, it was Stewart who made it to heads-up play before bowing out in second place as his jack-ten couldn't outperform Castro's pocket nines despite flopping a straight draw. The runout improved Castro to a full house and he secured the victory in style.
At 23 years old, Castro now has a second-best career score after winning the 2023 WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event for $275,660. Earlier this year, he finished runner-up in the WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event for $193,600.
In addition to the six-figure prize, Castro won a seat into the $10,400 WPT World Championship in Las Vegas.
Other players who cashed the WPT Prime Lodge Championship include DJ MacKinnon (22nd - $11,300), Angelina Rich (37th - $8,200), content creator Nikki Limo (184th - $1,940) and PokerNews Podcast guest host Hayley Hanna (92nd - $2,920).
Watch the final table action for yourself on YouTube.
*Photos courtesy WPT
