Darren Elias has long held the record with four World Poker Tour (WPT) titles. But one poker pro just might catch that record in the next couple of days.
Eric Afriat, who is sitting on three WPT Main Tour victories, is the chip leader midway through Day 2 in the $5,000 buy-in WPT bestbet Scramble Championship. He spoke with PokerNewson a break to discuss the possibility of making history this week at bestbet Jacksonville.
Afriat doesn't mince words. He's coming after Elias' record and it "absolutely" means something to him.
"Whoever tells you to the contrary, it's all about winning the most titles, being first," the brutally honest poker pro said when asked if being the WPT record holder is important to him.
Afriat, a Canadian who grew up in Montreal and vacationed annually in Jacksonville, has over $5.6 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. He's won three WPT titles since 2014, but his last came in 2020 at WPT Fallsview in his home country, which means he's due to win another.
The potential soon-to-be four-time champion had a so-so Day 1b session, by his own accord, as he bagged 121,000 chips, right around the average stack. But he turned up the jets quickly on Day 2 and, at the time of publishing, was the first player to crack 1 million chips and held the chip lead following the second break of the nine-level session.
Elias last won a World Poker Tour title in 2018, a $387,580 score for taking down the Bobby Baldwin Classic at Aria in Las Vegas. He's been stuck on four titles ever since, and has held the record for over six years. That record isn't in jeopardy any time soon, but Afriat is in position to tie the record at bestbet this week. If not in the current tournament, he confidently said "it's only a matter of time" that he will.
Afriat came close to winning Number 4 at Choctaw in May, but inevitably finished runner-up to James Mackey, who won the tournament for the second time. Mackey held a monster chip lead — nearly 5:1 — when heads-up play began, and Afriat never caught a hand to get back in the ballgame.
The WPT bestbet Scramble was down to 62 players at the time of publishing and will pay the top 46. It's too early for Afriat to plan his victory speech. But he's an experienced tournament player who is motivated to get the record, and he knows how to close out a tournament. First place is set to pay $347,850, which would put the WPT Champions Club member to almost exactly $6 million in lifetime live tournament cashes.
Afriat has become one of the all-time greatest performers in World Poker Tour history. But he doesn't have the same passion for the World Series of Poker (WSOP), and he explained why to PokerNews.
"I'll come to all the WPT stops," Afriat explained. "To me, the WSOP doesn't have the same charm as the WPT."
Afriat, who only has 15 WSOP cashes, went on to praise the World Poker Tour's staff, something we'll likely hear him repeat in his victory speech on Tuesday, if he continues to stack chips at the rate he's been going on Sunday.
*Images courtesy of Katerina Lukina/World Poker Tour.
