William Watson Captures Third Gold Ring in Opening Event Win
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana in the Louisville area to live report the $1,700 Main Event; however, that is just one of more than a dozen gold ring events that have taken place over the past week. As such, we thought we��d profile some of the preliminary tournaments and those who struck it big.
In Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold��em, 192 runners created a $63,360 prize pool that was paid out to the top 29 players including Mark Beard (13th - $890), Kevin Davis (20th = $682), and Mark ��Pegasus�� Smith (27th - $582), just to name a few.
In the end, 30-year-old William Watson of Lexington, Kentucky bested John Hatfield in heads-up play to win the title and $15,776 first-place prize. It also marked his third career gold ring.
The win gave him the early lead in the race for Casino Champion, which he planned to pursue.
��I am going to play everything,�� Watson explained, ��I am a normal Circuit grinder.��
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Watson | Lexington, Kentucky | $15,776 |
| 2 | John Hatfield | Dunlap, Tennessee | $9,749 |
| 3 | David Mchenry | Centennial, Colorado | $6,832 |
| 4 | Robbie Goldsberry | Bedford, Indiana | $4,891 |
| 5 | Seth Schikler | Louisville, Kentucky | $3,578 |
| 6 | Leonard Ferguson | Lake Lure, North Carolina | $2,676 |
| 7 | Michael Esquivel | Clarendon Hills, Illinois | $2,047 |
| 8 | Jerry Zehr | Plainfield, Kentucky | $1,603 |
| 9 | Michael Lutz | Louisville, Kentucky | $1,286 |