Igor Kurganov Bags WSOP Circuit Ring in Bally's High Roller Event
Igor Kurganov has an extended list of poker credentials, with a number of notable finishes in big tournaments, including a victory in the European Poker Tour Grand Final High Roller for over $1.4 million. One thing he lacked, however, was a World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring, which he added to his collection after taking down the $3,250 High Roller event at Bally's Las Vegas for $99,899 against a field of 101 players.
Kurganov padded his all-time tournament cash total to over $10.45 million, the top number for any Russian player.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor Kurganov | St. Petersburg, Russia | $99,899 |
| 2 | Arkadiy Tsinis | Las Vegas, NV | $56,182 |
| 3 | Barry Hutter | Hollywood, FL | $40,002 |
| 4 | Tom Kearney | Las Vegas, NV | $29,058 |
| 5 | Dylan Wilkerson | San Francisco, CA | $21,525 |
| 6 | Bryn Kenney | Long Beach, NY | $16,250 |
| 7 | Jeffrey Coburn | Chino Hills, CA | $12,499 |
| 8 | Darren Rabinowitz | Las Vegas, NV | $9,709 |
According to the live updates, Kurganov grabbed the lead early on Day 2 when he made a full house with ace-queen against Tom "Butters" Kearney, who made a deep run in the WSOP Main Event last year and ultimately finished 15th. "Butters" paid off a big river bet and Kurganov found himself with nearly 150 big blinds.
Kurganov continued showing down strong hands, winning another big pot with a full house as the final table approached, and he moved past 1 million in chips with blinds still at 4,000/8,000/1,000. That was good for roughly triple the stack of second-place Dylan Wilkerson.
2015 WSOP gold bracelet winner Barry Hutter got some momentum, knocking out Michael Collins in ninth and Darren Rabinowitz in eighth, the latter courtesy of aces over queens. Jeff Coburn also found queens no good when Arkadiy Tsinis picked up aces, and that left six players.
Kurganov then sent perhaps his most dangerous opponent, Bryn Kenney, out in sixth after Kenney got short-stacked. He also busted Wilkerson shortly thereafter, three-bet shoving the 3?3? over a button raise from Wilkerson, who called it off with the A?Q? and found no improvement on the 10?10?6?8?K? board. Flips continued to be kind to Kurganov as he outran Kearney's 8?8? with the K?Q?, hitting a king on the river.
In complete command at that point, Kurganov had little trouble finishing the tournament as he got dealt timely pairs for the final two eliminations. Hutter shoved a little over 20 big blinds from the button with the A?4? and Kurganov woke up with the 8?8?. Hutter flopped an ace, but an all-club community spelled doom for him since Kurganov made a winning flush. Then, Tsinis jammed from the button with the K?2? only for Kurganov to peek down at the Q?Q? end the tournament when the board ran out clean for him.
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