Craig Mason Wins the WPT Venetian Las Vegas Fall Championship

Craig Mason won the $5,000 WPT Venetian Las Vegas Fall Championship after a three-way deal at the final table. The tournament, which drew 510 entrants at the Venetian, played down to a six-player final table on Sunday. Because all the finalists were experienced players, the winner had to earn the victory through hard competition.

Mason started the final table with the fifth-shortest stack, close to Anthony Piacquadio's chip count. The player with the shortest stack was eliminated in sixth place for $88,000. Mason lost his stack to Matt Affleck in a 60/40 hand, then doubled up with a hand against Nick Yunis. Yunis was eliminated in fifth place for $117,000. Nick Pupillo left the tournament in fourth place with $155,000. In third place, Daniyal Gheba was eliminated for $276,000 when his J x 8 x could not beat Mason's Q x 8 x.

In heads-up play, Affleck took the chip lead after about 20 hands. Affleck put his entire stack in with A x Q x and faced J x 9 x on a 9 x 6 x 3 x flop. The best hand on the river belonged to Mason, and Affleck settled for second place and $301,000. Mason won his first WPT title and $358,800. His name will be engraved on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, and he will play in the $10,400 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas next month.

According to The Hendon Mob database, Mason's live tournament earnings now exceed $3.5 million.