Harvey Castro Wins WPT Prime Lodge Title for $225K
The World Poker Tour drew 1,648 players to The Lodge Poker Club in Austin for the $1,100 WPT Prime Lodge Championship, a $1 million guaranteed event that ran over six starting flights and built a $1.6 million prize pool – the biggest ever at a WPT Prime stop in the state.
At just 23, Harvey Castro closed out the Austin stop with a career-best run, locking up the title and a seat to December’s WPT World Championship in Las Vegas. Joshua Stewart claimed $143,000 for second, while Steve Hwang earned $104,000 for third.
Reiss and Taylor Fall Before Late-Stage Battle
The knockout hand against Rafael Reis came when Joshua Stewart called a shove with pocket nines against ace-queen, fading every overcard to build momentum as the field tightened around the last few stacks.
The subsequent big collision came soon after, when Esther Taylor moved all in with pocket eights only to see Harvey Castro wake up with tens behind her. The board offered no help, and Taylor’s deep run ended in fourth place, clearing the path for the final three.
From there, the chips started flying – Steve Hwang had played carefully all day, timing his spots and picking off smaller pots, but his stack slipped after a series of missed flops. Forced to make a move, he pushed with king-nine suited and ran head-on into Castro’s ace-jack, leaving him out in third.
Castro Versus Stewart Heads Up
Nearly even in chips, the early hands were cautious, and most pots were decided preflop. Stewart looked comfortable pressing from position, picking up a few quick pots to take the lead. That push ended on a brutal queen-eight-x flop, where Stewart’s top pair ran straight into Castro’s set of eights – the kind of collision that can decide an entire final.
Every major pot from that point went Castro’s way, with Stewart forced to play short-stacked as the blinds climbed. The control Castro showed in those final levels looked like the product of someone who’s played through thousands of spots before, not just another weekend run. He told WFAA he learned the game with his brother and later dropped $50 online to see what he could do with it—a familiar story in poker circles, where many players build early experience through small-stakes games and bonus deals.
The online grind still runs on the same logic today, with new sites updating their systems and having poker bonuses reviewed more transparently – turning small deposits and freeroll tickets into real training grounds for players chasing that first live breakthrough. Every hour of practice shows when fatigue sets in, and by the time the last few levels began, Castro looked sharper, calmer, and ready to finish it.
The final hand came just after midnight. Stewart moved all in with jack-ten for his last around 15 big blinds, and Castro called right away holding pocket nines. The flop brought king-queen-queen, giving Stewart a straight draw that had the table on edge, but when another queen hit the turn, it was over.
The six on the river sealed it, and Castro’s rail erupted – the title, the $225,020 payday, and a seat to December’s WPT World Championship in Las Vegas were finally his. It was another strong finish for Castro, who’s been deep in the mix at nearly every stop he’s hit this year, from Austin to Choctaw.
WPT Prime Win Pushes Castro Past 1,000 POY Points Mark
Castro’s been crushing the live circuit lately, and this Austin win adds to what’s becoming a serious resume. He took down the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event for $275,660 in 2023, then nearly got another big one at WPT Rolling Thunder earlier this year, where he finished second for $193,600, pushing his total earnings to almost $1,700,000.
The WPT seat now gives him a direct shot at one of the biggest prize pools of the year, with the $10,400 World Championship set for December 12 at Wynn Las Vegas, where rising revenue and packed schedules show how alive the city still is for high-stakes poker and everything around it.
