Craig Mason Wins WPT® Venetian From the Short Stack

Craig Mason is the new winner of WPT® Venetian Las Vegas Fall Championship. He arrived at the final table near the bottom of the counts, and left on top.

He won the $5,000 Main Tour event at The Venetian Resort for $358,800 and a seat at the WPT® World Championship. He climbed over the chip leaders in a 510-entry field. It was onethat built a $2,346,000 prize pool and cleared the $2,000,000 guarantee.

Here's everything you need to know.

Mason topped the 510-entry field for a reported $358,800.

The Venetian reported it as $348,400 in cash plus the $10,400 WPT® World Championship seat. the same total, counted two ways.

It also came via a final-table deal. The ladder had advertised $446,800 up top. So, the last players reshaped the top payouts before playing on for the title. Mason won, so the trophy, the Wynn seat and the champion's share are his, along with a place in the WPT® Champions Club.

Some may describe Mason's run as a fairytale finish.

He reached the six-handed final table with around 1,775,000 chips. He was sitting close to last. The chip leader, Nick Pupillo, was looking comfortable with a stack of 8,525,000. Typically in poker games like this, a short stack at a final table usually plays for pay jumps and hopes for a double. Mason instead climbed, spot by spot, all the way to the title, past the player who had looked most likely to win it.

It's an important lesson in tournament poker, and the fall has kept teaching it. No matter the chip lead, it's not the victory. The last hand is the only one that counts.

There was another story about a player who didn't reach the final table at all.

None other than Phil Hellmuth. 17 WSOP bracelets, and still, somehow, never a WPT® champion. He made another deep run here but fell short, busting 20th for a reported $22,200. He exited as his ace-queen lost a flip to Pupillo's pocket jacks.

By poker.org's account, he made quads twice along the way and still couldn't get there. "Very disappointing," he wrote on X afterwards. "Poker can be a little frustrating."

Considering his accolades and history, it's an interesting gap.

Hellmuth has roughly $1.6 million in WPT® earnings and a bunch of near-misses. He was runner-up at the 2017 WPT® Legends of Poker for $364,370. He was third in 2003 and seventh at the 2010 WPT® World Championship among them.

However, the title itself still eludes him to this day.

The Venetian cash was his second WPT® Championship score of the season after a 42nd at Bay 101. It's his first two-cash WPT® campaign since 2017–18. Time will tell if he finally gets his hands on WPT® glory.

There was another first here that drew less attention.

The Venetian Fall Championship was the first US WPT® event to use "slide" dealing rather than the pitch. For context, it's a European method that's been spreading through American rooms. Check out our article on slide dealing.

It's mainly used as an anti-camera security measure. A major WPT® title played out under the new standard, which is a milestone the trend's advocates will note.

For Mason, he doesn't have to travel far. The road points a few miles up the Strip.

His $10,400 ticket sends him to the WPT® World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. The festival opens November 27 and goes to the $10,400 Main Event (December 13–20). It's the Season 24 finale and one of the richest tournaments of the year.

The Venetian was WPT®'s last big Las Vegas stop before Wynn. So Mason closes the run-in by booking himself a seat up the road at the main event.