“Please one time…this is destiny!” – Nitis Udornpim

The World Poker Tour welcomed a new member to their Champions Club on Wednesday as Baltimore’s Nitis Udornpim topped a field of 495 entries to win the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino title and with it the $319,415 first-place prize.

After four days of play, Udornpim’s first WPT cash turned into his first WPT title as he battled from the bottom end of the chip counts to run white-hot at the end of the final table. Eventually, he battled and defeated Stephen Deutsch in heads up play to lock in the win, put his name on the cup and punch his ticket to the WPT Tournament of Champions.

“It feels great to be a WPT champion, Udornpim said to the World Poker Tour after it was all over. “I couldn’t have run any better today, so I’m pretty excited with the result. It feels good to win a tournament in my home state. I moved here about a year ago and this had been my home casino ever since.”

Along with dealing with Deutsch, Udornpim had no small task in front of him in order to take home the tile. To start the final table he had roughly 25 big blinds, plus he had to find a way to outlast two accomplished WPT champions in Brian Altman and Anthony Zinno.

WPT Maryland Final Table Results

1st: Nitis Udornpim – $319,415
2nd: Stephen Deutsch – $202,905
3rd: Brian Altman – $149,515
4th: Anthony Zinno – $111,415
5th: Robert McLaughlin – $83,970
6th: Jeffrey Colpitts – $64,020

The final table got underway and it took nearly an hour and a half before the first elimination took place as Jeffrey Colpitts, who started the day as the short stack, was running on fumes. Deutsch raised from the button with and with the majority of his stack already in the middle, Colpitts made the call from the big blind holding . The flop paired Colpitts but he needed to fade plenty of outs to hold on. The hit the turn but it was the that sealed Colpitts fate. Deutsch hit his flush and Colpitts hit the rail collecting $64,020 for his sixth-place finish.

It was only fifteen minutes later that Robert McLaughlin found himself all in for his tournament life. McLaughlin limped in the small blind with only to be raised by Deutsch in the big blind holding . McLaughlin made the call and the pair saw a flop. McLaughlin checked it over and Deutsch put in a bet. McLaughlin put in a check-raise with his flopped two pair. Then Deutsch shoved his top pair, gutshot straight draw and McLaughlin made the call. The turn changed nothing but Deutsch once again got there when the gave him a straight on the river. McLaughlin collected his things and headed to the cage to pick up his $83,970 fifth-place prize.

The final four players took turn shipping chips around the table when finally, three-time WPT champion Anthony Zinno could no longer cling to his short stack. Brian Altman put in a raise under the gun and Zinno, holding , jammed over the top. When the action reached Deutsch, he re-shoved holding forcing Altman out of the pot. The race was on and the pair watched as the dealer put out a board of . With the spiked ace, Deutsch claimed his third knockout of the day and Zinno falls in fourth place for $111,415, sending his north of $3 million in total World Poker Tour cashes.

At three-handed Deutsch was still in control with Brian Altman on his heels. However, Udornpim had other ideas. His heater began as he picked up some key pots and eventually won a flip against Altman to double up. Sitting second in chips, Udornpim raised the button after looking down at . Altman put in a three-bet with and within seconds the pair had all the money in the middle. The board ran out clean for Udornpim’s aces eliminating Altman from the tournament. Altman falls just short of his second WPT win, collecting $149,515 for this third-place effort.

Both Deutsch and Udornpim were deep at the start of heads up play with both sitting on over 100 big blinds. However, it didn’t take long for Udornpim to take a commanding chip lead. Deutsch would battle back but eventually, the affable Udornpim surged ahead once again, this time for good. On the final hand of play Udornpim, with a 5:1 chip advantage shoved his button with and Deutsch called all-in with . The gave Udornpim the wheel. The turn fell the opening the door for Deutsch to pick up the runner-runner flush but the river ended Deutsch’s comeback bid sending him home in second place for $202,905.

Nitis Udornpim was crowned the winner of WPT Maryland at Live! Casino for $319.415 and a $15,000 entry into the WPT Tournament of Champions.

Udornpim Enters The POY Race

Two of the final six from WPT Maryland at Live! Casino enters the top 10 of the Hublot WPT Player of the Year race.

Nitis Udornpim picked up 1,000 POY points for his victory which has him tied with Uke Dauti, Roger Teska and Gueorgui Gantchev who all also have 1,000 points. However, Udornpim’s $319,415 score slots him in fifth place using money earned as a tie-breaker.

Brian Altman picked up his second cash of Season XVIII and had accumulated 900 POY points, which puts him in a three-way tie with both Kevin Albers and Jared Griener, but with cashes as a tiebreaker, he is currently in ninth place.

WPT Season XVIII Player of The Year Leaderboard

1st: Donald Maloney – 1,200 points
2nd: Aaron Van Blarcum – 1,200 points
3rd: Uke Dauti – 1,000 points
4th: Roger Teska – 1,000 points
5th: Nitis Udornpim – 1,000 points
6th: Gueorgui Gantchev – 1,000 points
7th: Kevin Albers – 900 points
8th: Jared Griener – 900 points
9th: Brian Altman – 900 points
10th: Laszlo Molnar – 800 points