Jonas Wexler Wins WSOP Circuit Cherokee ($300,536)
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One of the biggest World Series of Poker Circuit stops of the season wrapped up on Monday with Jonas Wexler winning Harrah's Cherokee $1,700 Main Event. Wexler won $300,536 for getting through the 1,087-entry field and collected his second gold ring in the process with the first one coming way back in 2011.
The win is Wexler's biggest live cash, topping $189,555 he won at a WSOP final table in 2009, and he now has over $1 million in cashes.
WSOPC Harrah's Cherokee Main Event Official Final Table
Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jonas Wexler | Southampton, Pennsylvania | $300,536* |
2 | Phil Hernz | Plantation, Florida | $185,628 |
3 | Spencer Champlin | Scarborough, Maine | $137,936 |
4 | Steven Grybas | Las Vegas, Nevada | $103,749 |
5 | Amy Patel | Lilburn, Georgia | $78,997 |
6 | Andrew McIlvain | Brentwood, Tennessee | $60,866 |
7 | Dennis Brand | Sugar Land, Texas | $47,444 |
8 | Noah Shefrin | -- | $37,399 |
9 | Aaron Gunn | -- | $29,807 |
*also won seat into $1 million Global Casino Championship
Always one of the premier stops on the Circuit with its massive prize pools and big cash game action, even an Easter weekend scheduling of the Main Event couldn't stop it from eclipsing 1,000 entries and $1.6 million in the prize pool.
Some players who cashed in the 117 paid places included Tyler Patterson, Richard Seymour, Greg Raymer, Allen Kessler, Jared Jaffee and Calvin Anderson.
According to the live updates, Wexler set himself up for the deep run by holding with kings in a four-way all in that forced the two-table redraw. He was up against queens, ace-king and sixes, and the cowboys held on unimproved to notch a rare triple bustout and power Wexler to the final day as co-leader less than a big blind behind Dennis Brand.
Final Table Action
Wexler ran A?K? into the pocket kings of Amy Patel early to lose most of his chips and then stared elimination in the face as he got into a nearly identical spot with A?K? against her kings and Aaron Gunn's jacks. Luckily for Wexler, he found an ace on the flop and survived.
After Noah Shefrin's elimination, Wexler got tricky and overcalled with queens. A short-stacked Brand tried ripping in from the big blind with 9?8?, so the trap worked to perfection when the opener called and folded to Wexler's back-shove. The queens held and Wexler was in business over 70 big blinds six-handed.
Wexler then caught Andrew McIlvain three-bet shoving the 6?4? from the big blind over his button open and he snapped it off with A?10? to keep the momentum going. Patel tried getting one past him with Q?8? as well and Wexler had the goods with tens to bust her too.
Phil Hernz, who had moved into the lead early on the final day, busted Steven Grybas with nines over sixes to move past 50 percent of the total chips. He only moved up from there, hammering Spencer Champlin down to 20 big blinds so Wexler could finish him with kings over ace-jack.
Hernz had just over a 2-1 lead on Wexler but the latter still had 50 big blinds so plenty of play remained.
Wexler doubled into the lead early when he flopped an overpair with jacks in a three-bet pot and Hernz flopped top pair of tens and failed to improve. Less than an hour later, it was over when Hernz jammed 20 big blinds on the button with A?2? and Wexler called with pocket sixes and flopped a set.
Tyler Phillips Named Casino Champ
While Wexler secured a seat in the $1 million guaranteed Global Casino Championship, another would go to the Casino Champion who accumulated the most points at the stop.
For the spring Harrah's Cherokee series, that honor went to Tyler Phillips. Phillips would not secure any ring wins, but he did put together six cashes and two final table runs, including a second-place finish in the $400 Six-Max for $22,629. He also final tabled the big multi-flight event, finishing seventh for $24,680 in a monster field of 3,186.
WSOPC Harrah's Cherokee Ring Winners
Event | Winner | Hometown | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
$400 Double Stack | Zhuo Liu | Rogers, Arkansas | $31,216 |
$400 Reentry | Matthew Newton | Lancaster, South Carolina | $136,504 |
$400 Single-Day | Huy Pham | Atlanta, Georgia | $47,693 |
$600 Big Blind Ante | Maurice Hawkins | West Palm Beach, Florida | $44,297 |
$400 Six-Max | Jason Brauda | Matthews, North Carolina | $36,448 |
$600 Pot-Limit Omaha | Matthew Higgins | Chattanooga, Tennessee | $33,867 |
$400 Monster Stack | Zuheir Daniel | Bluffton, South Carolina | $94,002 |
$250 No-Limit Hold'em | Nicholas Verderamo | Baltimore, Maryland | $24,952 |
$1,125 Big Blind Ante | Leif Force | Tallahassee, Florida | $75,440 |
$400 Big Blind Ante | Joshua Johnson | Apex, North Carolina | $35,544 |
$400 Single-Day | John Dickey | Hillsborough, North Carolina | $32,010 |
$400 Double Stack | Thomas Larsen | Mint Hill, North Carolina | $32,205 |