David Afework Wins WPT500; Jaime Staples Bags Career-Best Score With Third-Place Finish
David Afework has won the WPT Online Series WPT500 for $160,211 after battling to victory on partypoker .
He defeated a final table featuring partypoker Ambassador Jaime Staples and Dutch player Teun Mulder. With his third-place finish, Staples more than doubled his previous career-best cash that came in the 2021 MILLIONS Online.
Staples was eliminated at the hands of Afework, flopping top two-pair only for his opponent to have flopped a flush. He took home $74,227.
You can rewatch the final table on partypokerTV.
WPT Online Series Event #24: WPT500 Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Afework | United Kingdom | $160,211 |
| 2 | Henning Andr�� | Sweden | $108,796 |
| 3 | Jaime Staples | Canada | $74,227 |
| 4 | Timo Borchmann | Germany | $49,225 |
| 5 | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | $33,503 |
| 6 | Klas Lofberg | Sweden | $25,558 |
| 7 | Sergei Koliakov | Russia | $19,798 |
| 8 | Lukas Hafner | Austria | $15,704 |
| 9 | Jon Santos | United Kingdom | $12,251 |
Final Table Recap
Staples began the final table as the short stack of the nine remaining players and was always looking to ladder. Jon Santos started the day fourth in chips and was still in the middle of the pack when he was eliminated in ninth place. He opened ace-queen on the button and was shoved on by overnight chip-leader Klas Lofberg from the big blind holding eight-ten. Santos called, but an eight on the river saw him eliminated.
Lofberg then held pocket queens to send Lukas Hafner to the rail holding ace-ten, with the Swede now sitting with double the chips of the player in second.
Sergei Koliakov was then left short after losing out to Tim Borchmann and the Russian was eliminated in the next hand by Afework who was starting to make some moves.
After dominating the early stages of the final table, Lofberg handed over some chips to Henning Andre and a short while later, the former dominant chip leader was out losing with pocket fives against the ace-nine of Afework.
The Staples Brothers Have Some Tips for Streaming on Twitch - Check Them Out!
Staples Secures Career-Best Payday
With five players now left, Staples knew that one elimination would see him lock up a career-best score. His previous best came in the 2021 partypoker MILLIONS Online Main Event where he finished 20th for $35,084.
The Canadian then eliminated arguably one of the most dangerous players left at the final table Teun Mulder, when Mulder's ace-jack failed to overcome the pocket nines of Staples.
Staples would ladder one more spot to third after the elimination of Borchmann before he fell at the hands of Afework. Afework raised from the button with ten-six of hearts, and Staples called in the big blind with king-queen of clubs.
The flop came king-queen-eight, all hearts, and Staples check-raised all in. Afework called with his flush and that held to eliminate Staples in third place.
What a day. From 9 of 9 to 3rd. My biggest career score and I am very happy.
— Jaime Staples (@jaimestaples)
Final Hand
Heads-up play started with Afework holding a strong chip lead over Andre. In the final hand, Afework raised with 
and Andre raised with 
. Afework re-raised all in and Andre called.
The board ran out 
with Afework riveting a flush to crack the aces of his opponent, securing him the $160,211 payday and the title of WPT500 Champion.
Congratulations to David Afework ## winner of the @WPT #WPT500 Final Table event tonight for $160,210 ##
— partypoker (@partypoker)
WPT Online Series on partypoker
The WPT Online Series on partypoker is reaching its conclusion, but the Main Event title is still to be decided. Daniel Dvoress leads the final nine players, with the final table set to be streamed on Twitch.