Trung Pham Wins South Texas Poker Championship Main Event

The 2022 South Texas Poker Championship $1,400 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event attracted a total field of 932 entries, surpassing the $1 million guarantee to build a final prize pool of $1,165,000. After eight starting flights and two more days of action, that sea of players that turned out to Rounders Card Club in San Antonio, Texas was narrowed down to just one player: Trung Pham.

The Texas resident earned $168,000 and 912 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, the largest score yet on his tournament resume. Pham now has nearly $1.5 million in recorded earnings to his name.

This was Pham’s third POY-qualified final-table finish of the year. With 1,136 total points, he now sits inside the top 400 in the 2022 POY race standings sponsored by Global Poker.

The STPC main event final tableThe final table, which was broadcast on Rounders Tonight!, kicked off at 5:00 PM CST. The day began with Jared Ingles in the lead and Pham in second chip position.

Anthony Cano (9th – $20,000) was the first to fall, with his K-10 running into the pocket jacks of Kaleb Harwell. Despite earning that knockout, Harwell was the next to hit the rail. He lost a classic race with A-K facing the pocket queens of Ingles to finish eighth ($26,000).

Brian Buchhorn’s (7th- $33,600) pocket kings were cracked by the 5-4 suited of Pham, who made two pair. Jonathan Alfonso then lost a preflop coin flip with K-10 suited failing to outrun the pocket eights of Raja Sekhar (6th – $42,000).

Mauricio Solano got all-in with his K-J leading the K-10 suited of Ingles, but a ten on the flop turned the tables. Solano was unable to retake the lead on the turn or river and was knocked out in fifth place ($53,500).

Trung won a key all-in with pocket fives against the A-Q of Ingles during four-handed play to start his surge up the leaderboard.

Raja Sekhar ran pocket nines into the pocket queens of Ingles to finish fourth ($67,500). The next big hand saw Pham shoved from the small blind with KClub SuitQClub Suit. Jose Alcala Soto called all-in from the big blind for around 6 big blinds with 8Club Suit7Diamond Suit. The flop came down JClub Suit10Club Suit8Diamond Suit to give Soto a pair while Pham picked up an open-ended straight flush draw. The AHeart Suit on the turn gave Pham the straight and left Soto drawing dead. He earned $85,500 as the third-place finisher.

Heads-up play began with Ingles holding just better than a 2:1 lead over Pham. After more than an hour of play, Pham had moved into the lead. The pair eventually halted action to discuss a chop. They came to an agreement that saw Pham secure the title and the top payout of $168,000 as the chip leader, while Ingles was awarded $162,000 as the runner-up. The score increased his career earnings to more than $1.6 million.

Ingles won the World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee main event this spring for $300,736 and 960 POY points. With 2,070 total points, he is now the 123rd-ranked player on the POY leaderboard.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Place Player Earnings POY Points
1 Trung Pham $168,000 912
2 Jared Ingles $162,000 760
3 Jose Soto $85,500 608
4 Raja Sekhar $67,500 456
5 Mauricio Solano $53,500 380
6 Jonathan Alfonso $42,000 304
7 Brian Buchhorn $33,600 228
8 Kaleb Harwell $26,000 152
9 Anthony Cano $20,000 76

Check out a replay of the final table from Rounders Live!:

About Rounders Card Club

Rounders Card Club, located at 3723 Colony Dr, Suite 101, San Antonio, TX, has up to 35 poker tables available, alongside other amenities like a full-service restaurant bar & grill, golf simulators, a lounge area, complimentary drinks, a coffee shop, masseuse service, & plenty of TVs around the room. For more info head to the club’s official website, or check them out on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.