Online Error Earns Asher Conniff the WPT World Championship Title

Kaycee James

6 years ago

An online misclick helped Asher Conniff become the latest WPT World Champion. (Image: Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com)

A slip of his mouse was all it took for Brooklyn born Asher Conniff to win this year’s World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship.

After logging into his online account with the intention of playing a Sunday Major, Conniff accidently registered for the wrong MTT and found himself in the middle of a WPT satellite.

Not wanting to let the opportunity pass him by, the young pro decided to play for the seat and within a few hours he found himself with a cheap seat into the $15,400 WPT finale set to take place a few weeks later.

A Fortunate Misclick for Conniff

The unexpected turn of events forced Conniff to cancel a family vacation and make the trip to Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino ready for the kick off on April 25.

Having previously won a WPT title in Cyprus, Conniff knew the drill when it came to these events but as the action evolved he found himself among an increasingly tough pool of talent.Â

As the 239-player field gradually whittled itself down and the likes of Greg Merson, Daniel Negreanu and last year’s champion, Keven Stammen, fell by the wayside, Conniff was able to ride his wave of good fortune all the way to the final table.

Total Dominance by the Brooklyn Bettor

Having been among the chip leaders for the bulk of the tournament, Conniff found his way to the finale with the second largest chip stack.

That advantage allowed the emerging tournament pro to glide almost effortlessly into the final three. With an all-star cast, including Tony Dunst and Carlos Mortensen, now watching from the rail, Conniff was able to dismiss Brian Yoon in third place to take a 5:1 chip lead into his heads-up match with Alexander Lakhov.

Holding an almost insurmountable lead, Conniff brought the match to a close within a few hands after forcing Lakhov to commit his chips with Th 6h pre-flop.

Looking down at As Qh, Conniff made the easy call and, after the board ran out 7h 5d 2s 4s Ks, the final pot was pushed his way.

As Lakhov heading to the rail and the confetti rained down on his head, the WPT’s luminaries presented him with the tour’s most prestigious trophy as well as a pile of cash worth $973,683.