Meet the Final Table of the WPT Playground Championship

The World Poker Tour has kicked into its highest gear as the leaves change color and October drifts into November, and as the 22nd season of WPT enters its busiest period the WPT Playground Championship is set to crown the first of four main tour winners who will win titles and major prizes over the next seven weeks.

As has become the case at Playground in recent years, Canadians are well-represented at this WPT Playground final table. Four of the final six players live in Canada, including top stacks Baron Ha and Jordan Grant.

Americans occupy the middle ground in the chip counts, with Michael Wang, the headliner in terms of notoriety at this final table, enjoying the fruits of a tremendous Day 3 comeback. Zachary Fischer, who is in search of his first major title, sits fourth.

Rounding out the final six at WPT Playground are Santiago Plante and Amirpasha Emami. Plante is looking to join his longtime friend and fellow Quebecois Eliot Hudon – the 2022 WPT World Championship winner – on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup with a victory at Playground.

Here’s what the final six players will be after when play resumes on Wednesday morning in Montreal.

1. CAD $397,910 ($286,326)
2. CAD $265,000 ($190,687)
3. CAD $196,000 ($141,036)
4. CAD $146,000 ($105,057)
5. CAD $111,000 ($79,873)
6. CAD $84,000 ($60,444)

Action is set to go on pause for a day, with the tournament resuming at 11 a.m. local time Wednesday at Playground. Live updates will be available through the conclusion of the event, and while the final six players take a deep breath, let’s get to know a little bit more about each of them.

Player stats and earnings courtesy of The Hendon Mob.

Baron Ha – 11,625,000 (78 BB)

Age: 40
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Currently Resides: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $63,686
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $15,264, 22nd, 2019 WPT Fallsview Poker Classic

Baron Ha has only played a handful of major live tournaments in his career, with the majority of them coming in the last five years and all but two cashes coming on Canadian soil. Ha’s most notable live run came back in 2019, when he made the final three tables at WPT Fallsview before falling out in 22nd place.

Ha has the lowest total career earnings and stands as the oldest player among the final six at WPT Playground at 40 years old. But when the official WPT final table begins, he’ll have the chip lead and a chance to complete the run of a lifetime.

Ha’s run to the final table chip lead began when his pocket 10s turned a set and rivered quads to eliminate Jason Alvarez in 18th place. From that point on, Ha picked off a series of other short stacks and comfortably wielded his big stack all the way down to the final six.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 280,000 (21/284)
Day 2: 825,000 (20/53)

Jordan Grant – 9,200,000 (61 BB)

Age: 36
Birthplace: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Currently Resides: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $152,477
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $50,900, 230th, 2023 WSOP Main Event

Jordan Grant has proved himself capable of navigating through MTT minefields over the last couple of years, with a pair of cashes in the 2023 and 2024 WSOP Main Events. His best career cash, which made up one-third of his career live earnings coming into WPT Playground, was his 230th place cash in Vegas in 2023.

Grant is a 36-year-old who has primarily played cash games over the last 10 years, but he’ll stand to make the most money he has ever banked from a single tournament regardless of his finish at WPT Playground.

That money will likely come in particularly handy as he’s got a kid on the way in the coming months.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 68,000 (226/140)
Day 2: 535,000 (31/53)

Michael Wang – 7,625,000 (51 BB)

Age: 36
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana
Currently Resides: Las Vegas, Nevada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $6,385,899
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $541,604, 1st, 2022 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold’em
Other Notable Results: $466,120, 1st, 2015 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold’em; $308,016, 1st, 2023 Wynn Millions $10,500 No Limit Hold’em

Among this final six at WPT Playground, Michael Wang’s name stands out. He’s a two-time WSOP bracelet winner, having won a pair of $5,000 No Limit Hold’em events over a seven-year gap between 2015 and 2022. He’s also established himself comfortably in bigger buy-in tournaments, boasting a PokerGO Tour title and a $10K High Roller victory at the Wynn on the way to over $6.3 million in lifetime live tournament earnings.

But by making this final table of six, Wang has finally given himself a real shot at a WPT title after three previous close calls over the years. Wang finished one spot off the official final table back in 2015 at WPT Legends of Poker, and in addition to that seventh place finish Wang also has a 9th and an 11th in WPT Championship events.

On Day 3 of WPT Playground, things looked bleak for Wang as play stretched into the night. But when action got down to eight players, Wang earned a timely triple-up with a flopped pair of kings and then recorded the final elimination of the night with a rivered pair of kings to position himself well within range of the two bigger stacks at the table.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 222,500 (48/284)
Day 2: 505,000 (33/53)

Zachary Fischer – 5,675,000 (38 BB)

Age: 26
Birthplace: East Northport, New York
Currently Resides: East Northport, New York
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $326,128
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $29,035, 8th, 2022 Venetian DeepStack Series $1,100 No Limit Hold’em
Other Notable Results: $24,399, 1st, 2024 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $1,100 6-Max No Limit Hold’em

Zachary Fischer is the youngest player at this WPT Playground final table at 26 years old, but he’s been playing poker for almost half his life. 2024 has been Fischer’s busiest year in tournament poker since turning pro three years ago with 37 cashes recorded through September, primarily in Las Vegas and closer to home at Borgata in New Jersey.

Fischer has been hard on the grind in recent years with several significant results in side events, but making the final table at WPT Playground – his first result ever outside of the United States – is a major step forward in his career.

Having locked up at least $60K USD – more than twice Fischer’s previous best live cash – Fischer’s excited at the possibility of banking some serious money ahead of his upcoming wedding to his fiancée Erin.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 66,000 (232/284)
Day 2: 1,965,000 (4/53)

Santiago Plante – 4,700,000 (31 BB)

Age: 28
Birthplace: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Currently Resides: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $1,838,693
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $552,005, 4th, 2023 EPT Barcelona Main Event
Other Notable Results: $109,500, 3rd, 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $10,150 6-Max No Limit Hold’em

Santiago Plante had a front-row seat in December 2022 when his good friend Eliot Hudon won the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas and the $4.1 million first-place prize. In fact, Plante can be spotted in the majority of Hudon’s winner photos from that fateful day.

Outside of Wang, nobody at this WPT Playground final table has as much experience on a big stage as Plante. He knocked on the door of a major title in 2023 when he made a run at the EPT Barcelona title, before settling for 4th place.

While there are three other Canadians at this final table, Plante is the only player from Montreal. And on Wednesday, if he can take advantage of that homefield advantage, Plante has a chance to join Hudon with a permanent space on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 235,500 (40/284)
Day 2: 740,000 (23/53)

Amirpasha Emami – 3,100,000 (21 BB)

Age: 31
Birthplace: Tehran, Iran
Currently Resides: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lifetime Live Tournament Earnings: $324,587
Biggest Lifetime Cash: $164,750, 5th, 2023 WSOP $1,500 Closer

Amirpasha Emami will be the short stack when six-handed play begins at WPT Playground on Wednesday, but the 31-year-old is enjoying his second significant tournament result in as many years.

In the dying embers of the 2023 WSOP, Emami made the run of a lifetime by navigating a field of 3,531 entries to make the final table of the $1,500 Closer event. And while the WSOP gold bracelet eluded him on that day, the $164,750 cash he received for fifth place that day makes up more than half of his total career poker earnings.

One double up would put Emami directly back into contention, and if he can make a true comeback of it Emami has a chance to set a new career record by the time all is said and done on Wednesday.

 

End of Day Chip Counts:
Day 1: 114,000 (153/284)
Day 2: 1.025,000 (13/53)