Rick Troendly Wins WSOP International Circuit Aruba $1,700 Main Event
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It turned out to be a relatively quick final day in the $1,700 Main Event at the World Series of Poker International Circuit in Aruba and that was all thanks to the eventual winner Rick Troendly coming out on top of a 269-entry field. It was a dominant performance from Troendly at the final table and along with catching cards, it was a recipe that resulted in Troendly capturing his first WSOP Circuit ring along with the first-place prize of $95,061 and a 2020 Global Casino Championship seat.
Troendly was the life of the party last during a $100 Nightly that ended after midnight. Turn the clock ahead 12 hours and he was back at the felt with a little more of a serious attitude. Things were slow to start for the recreational poker player who was one of the short stacks with just three tables left. "I need to double up," Troendly said to one of his friends who was checking up on him.
It was moments later that Troendly picked up pocket aces to eliminate an opponent which snowballed the run of good cards for the rest of the day. Near the end of the tournament, Troendly's rail was starting to call him "flush boy" due to the fact that three of the four players he eliminated on the final table were the result of Troendly making a flush.
Going into heads-up action, Troendly held a commanding three-to-one chip lead over Matt Russell and it took less than 10 hands before all of the chips got in the middle. Russell flopped top pair with a good kicker while Troendly was up to his usual tricks with a flopped flush. Russell turned two pair to keep his hopes alive but the river wasn't meant to be, eliminating Russell in second place for over $58,000.
It was Troendly's largest career score to date, nearly doubling his previous cashes. Troendly can often be found playing cash games or small tournaments in the California area and will sometimes take a trip across the border to Las Vegas. He has tournament scores dating back to 1994, 25 years ago, but this will be one he will remember for a lifetime.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rick Troendly | United States | $95,061 |
| 2nd | Matt Russell | United States | $58,573 |
| 3rd | Alexander Orlov | Russia | $41,531 |
| 4th | Clyde Hinton | United States | $29,900 |
| 5th | Friman Villalona | United States | $21,930 |
| 6th | Benjamin Freeman | United States | $16,394 |
| 7th | Michael Hanson | United States | $12,494 |
| 8th | Andrew Hills | United Kingdom | $9,712 |
| 9th | Craig Trost | United States | $7,703 |
Final Table Action
When the final 10 players gathered at the unofficial final table, it took a while before they all felt comfortable to play some real poker. Things were tight in the early going until before Alon Eldar was forced to the rail in 10th place which opened up the flood gates. Likely the most experienced player at the final table, Craig Trost saw a run of bad cards dissipate his once chip lead and he bowed out in ninth place.
Shortly after, Andrew Hills from the UK ran his pocket queens into the pocket kings of Friman Villalona. The board ran out clean for Villalona and Hills was eliminated in eighth place. Michael Hanson also held a good portion of the chips at one point but went card dead for the last hour and eventually succumbed to the turned flush of Troendly. Hanson still had outs with a set of eights but the board would not pair on the river.
They played six-handed for nearly an hour before the blinds finally caught up to Benjamin Freeman. He pushed his stack of around eight big blinds into the middle with king-jack but was up against the ace-king of Russell. The board ran out dry and Freeman was the next to go from the final table. In one of the largest pots of the tournament, Villalona attempted to run a huge bluff against Troendly but the eventual winner already found himself priced in. Villalona held an underpair to the board while Troendly flopped top pair, which vaulted him into a huge chip lead.
Coming back from the last break, Russell was under the impression that it was a dinner break and nearly saw his entire stack blinded out before he returned. However, thanks to a couple of quick double-ups, Russell had enough chips to bounce Clyde Hinton from the tournament in fourth place when both players flopped middle pair with a straight draw.
It was looking like a miraculous comeback story when Russell eventually got heads-up with Troendly. As Russell looked on, Alexander Orlov got the second-largest stack in the middle with top pair on the flop against a straight and flush draw from Troendly. It was no surprise that Troendly nailed his flush on the turn to eliminate Orlov in third place and set up a heads-up match with Russell.
There were many other notables that made their way to Day 2 but were unable to reach the final table. One of the big names to bow out early in the money included Garry Gates, who most notably made a deep run in this year's WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. Gates captured the poker world's attention with his fourth-place finish and he also captured a WSOP Circuit ring in Aruba this week but was forced to settle for a min-cash today. Adam Cedric, Heather Alcorn, Debbie Hinton, Jason James, Ray Henson, and Kristy Arnett also finished in the money.
