Over the course of his career, Darren Elias has shown a real flair for the dramatic at World Poker Tour final tables. He added to his legacy Friday night in Niagara Falls, Ontario, winning WPT Fallsview for his third career WPT title.

The final day of play started with 22 players still in contention for the $335,436 first place prize money. It took just over six hours to get down to the six-handed WPT final table but just over three hours to get to a champion thanks to Elias’ late rampage.

Elias actually started the final table third in chips behind Andrew Chen and chipleader David Eldridge. An early double-up through Chen put Elias into the top two but neither he or Eldridge had anything to do with the first elimination.

Just 27 hands into play, Abdul Hassan raised to 275,000 from UTG before Jean-Christophe Ferreira moved all in from middle position. Hassan called and tabled while Ferreira showed . The flop put Ferreira ahead and when the hit the turn and river completed the board, Hassan was out in sixth place.

Just four hands later Manig Loeser, who began the final table with the smallest stack, shoved his remaining stack of 780,000 from UTG and Eldridge called from the big blind. Loeser tabled while Eldridge showed . The baord ran out [2] to send Loeser home in fifth and extend Eldridge’s lead.

Eldridge maintained his chip lead over the next 35 hands before the next elimination, but that’s about as close as he would get as he played bystander to Elias.

On the 66th hand of the final table, Chen, down to just four big blinds, moved all in from the small blind and Elias defended from the big. Chen tabled whil Elias showed . The board ran out to give Elias an unneeded two pair and bust Chen in fourth.

Elias and Eldridge battled on the very next hand with Elias taking down the blind vs. blind battle with a turn bet to move within 900,000 of Eldridge. It would prove to be the last time Eldridge held the chip lead.

On the very next hand Elias opened from UTG to 250,000 and Ferreira called from the big blind. After the flop, Ferreira checked, Elias bet 150,000, Ferreira raised to 360,000 and Elias moved all in. Ferreira called and turned over for trip threes while Elias showed for a flush draw. The turn kept Ferreira ahead but the river completed Elias’ flush, eliminated Ferreira in third and sent Elias to heads-up play with 54% of the chips in play.

Elias won the next two hands to extend his lead to over 9-1 before ending the tournament for good. Down to just 400,000, Eldridge shoved and Elias called. Eldridge turned over and Elias had . The flop put Eldridge ahead with middle pair. Elias picked up a straight draw with the turn and completed it with the river to win the tournament, leaving Eldridge to settle for runner-up.

Elias first two WPT titles came in the Borgata Poker Open and WPT Caribbean back-to-back in 2014. Only four other players have won WPT titles: Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Chino Rheem and Anthony Zinno.

The next WPT stop is the $10,000 L.A. Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, February 25 – March 2. It marks the first stop of the ‘California Swing’ which includes the Bay 101 Shooting Star in San Jose and the WPT Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

Final Table Payouts

1. Darren Elias – $335,436
2. David Eldridge – $224,613
3. Jean-Christophe Ferreira – $144,465
4. Andrew Chen – $106,865
5. Manig Loeser – $80,149
6. Abdull Hassan – $64,316