Early on Wednesday morning, Floridian John Riordan became the youngest champion ever of a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event. Riordan won the Main Event of the most recent stop in Palm Beach, Florida at age 19.
For the first time ever, the WSOP Circuit stepped outside of its traditional casino venues by setting up shop at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, one of the preeminent greyhound racing tracks in Florida. Poker players came out in full force, setting attendance records for several events before the $1,500 Main Event began on Sunday afternoon. The numbers that came out for the WSOP Circuit Main Event required two starting days to accommodate the large contingent of players.
By the end of the second starting day, a total of 712 runners had come to the line and built a prize pool totaling $1,035,960. This was a record for the largest purse ever to be offered for a poker tournament in Florida. Among those in attendance were two former World Champions, Greg Raymer (2004) and Jerry Yang (2007), although they would not be among the 72 players who cashed.
When the final table began on Tuesday evening, Riordan was a dominant chip leader, holding 4.5 million. His closest competitor, Mike Morton, faced a deficit of over 2-1, as he sat with two million in chips, and Jon Brody held the third slot with 1.5 million. With the deep stacks, it would take nearly two hours before anyone would be ushered from the final table.
Jerry Timmons began the final table as the third shortest stack and battled through the first two hours. Once he picked up pocket queens, however, he decided to make a stand. Thomas Aprea decided to look him up with a suited A-J and found himself way behind. Once jacks hit on the flop and river, Aprea knocked out Timmons in ninth place.
The second day chip leader, Jesse Okonczak, could never find any traction upon entering the final table fight. He bled chips from the onset and, from the small blind, decided to make a move with an innocuous Q-3. Riordan, in the big blind, looked down at his hole cards to find K-Q and made an immediate call. When the board ran out dry for Okonczak, he was eliminated in eighth place.
One of the most interesting stories at the final table was Brody. Arguably the most accomplished player at the final table – he has cashed at the WSOP in Las Vegas an astounding 19 times and earned over $400,000 in his tournament poker career – Brody hasn’t been a part of the tournament poker scene for some time, preferring his new role as a businessman and father. The WSOP Circuit Main Event marked a return to the game of sorts for Brody and his performance didn’t disappoint. After a few bad beats at the final table, he departed in sixth place.
Riordan, for his part, continued his strong play. He dumped Austin Buchanan from the event in fourth place and Aprea in third. By the time he reached heads-up play against Morton, however, he had fallen slightly behind in chips.
The heads-up battle between Riordan and Morton was subdued in the early going until Riordan was able to make an excellent read against his opponent. Facing an all-in from Morton with the board showing 6-5-3-3, Riordan put his tournament life on the line with pocket tens. Morton mustered 6-4 for a worse two pair, but had the possibility of an open-ended straight draw or another six saving him. The river blanked with an eight, however, and a few hands later, Riordan took down the WSOP Circuit Florida championship:
1. John Riordan – $210,180
2. Mike Morton – $130,057
3. Thomas Aprea – $95,392
4, Austin Buchanan – $70,939
5. Ryan Lenaghan – $53,468
6. Jon Brody – $40,837
7. David MacDonald – $31,599
8. Jesse Okonczak – $24,771
9. Jerry Timmons – $19,665
Although he won the title, Riordan will not be able to take part in the WSOP Circuit National Championship event in May. The minimum age to play poker under Florida’s laws is 18; at only 19, Riordan cannot legally enter a Las Vegas casino until he’s 21.
