Outlasting the largest championship event field in the history of the World Series of Poker Circuit’s (WSOPC) history, Kurt Jewell dominated at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.
The $1,500 tournament started on Friday, drawing the crème of the Chicago area poker scene. An outstanding 872 players came to the felt for the tournament, with 90 participants walking away with some cash for their efforts. Each player was seeking a $242,090 payday for first, a WSOPC championship ring, a seat at the $10,000 Regional Championship, and a seat in the National Championship tournament in May in Las Vegas.
After two days of 12-plus hours at the Horseshoe, the final table was determined, with Jewell holding a commanding lead over his tablemates. Jewell held 6.8 million chips, almost tripling the stacks of Edwin Choi (2.6 million, second place) and Corey Souther (2.3 million, third place). Jewell held over one-third of the chips in play.
With such a large stack, Jewell could afford to sit back and avoid much of the early carnage. He watched as Choi dispatched Casey Hayes in ninth place and Jared Kenworthy knocked out Daniel Cohen in eighth. The most well known professional at the final table, 2010 WSOPC Rincon champion Bryan Devonshire, would then go out in what was a devastating bad beat.
“Devo,” a UB.com pro, would make the action 170,000 to go from the big blind after Choi had completed his small blind, only to see Choi pop him back for an additional 395,000. Devonshire moved the remainder of his stack into the center and Choi tanked for several minutes before deciding to call. Devonshire, holding pocket kings, looked to be a huge favorite to double up, as Choi showed only a suited 8-2, but the flop would completely reverse the players’ fortunes. An 8-4-2 flop moved Choi into the lead on the hand and, once the turn and river blanked, a stunned Devonshire was eliminated in seventh place.
With the players returned from the dinner break, Jewell had fallen from first place. Choi and William Reynolds had eclipsed the once monster stack of Jewell, but he was within shooting distance of the new leaders. When the action reached four players, Jewell would once again assume the lead after flopping a set of queens against Choi’s A-Q to double up.
Choi and Jewell would continue to fight for the chip lead, but both would give fuel to the effort of Reynolds. Each player took a turn doubling up Reynolds and then Jewell gave back-to-back double ups to Choi. As the tournament worked into the early morning hours on Monday, the championship of the WSOPC Hammond was anyone’s to grab.
Choi’s card choice began to catch up with him as the hour turned late. After Jewell put in a 380,000 bet pre-flop, Choi moved all-in for his 2.85 million stack. After deliberating for several minutes, Kenworthy called all-in for less and Jewell folded. Kenworthy turned up pocket nines, while Choi could only muster a suited 9-6. After an uneventful board, Kenworthy doubled to over four million; Choi was crippled and departed the final table in fourth moments later.
After Jewell knocked off Reynolds in third place, he and Kenworthy were left to determine the champion. Jewell held over 12 million in chips to Kenworthy’s five million, but the twosome took over an hour to crown a champ. Although Kenworthy was able to close the gap to nearly even at one point, he never took the lead. On the final hand, Kenworthy was once again looking to double up with an A-Q against Jewell’s Q-J, but fate would fall in Jewell’s favor. Kenworthy held the edge through the 10-5-4-2 flop and turn, but a jack on the river gave the championship to Jewell.
1st Place: Kurt Jewell (Frankfort, KY) – $242,909
2ndPlace: Jared Kenworthy (Excelsior Springs, MO) – $150,104
3rd Place: William Reynolds (Sioux City, IA) – $110,567
4th Place: Edwin Choi (Bolingbrook, IL) – $82,414
5th Place: Nick Jivkov (River Grove, IL) – $62,384
6th Place: Corey Souther (United States) – $47,772
7th Place: Bryan Devonshire (Henderson, NV) – $37,047
8th Place: Daniel Cohen (Wilmette, IL) – $29,087
9th Place: Casey Hayes (Demotte, IN) – $23,120
Jewell’s victory will put him in the field for the start of today’s first Regional Championship event at the Horseshoe. The $10,000 tournament, which will be televised on the Versus network in 2011, has drawn a competitive field with such professionals in attendance as Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Bernard Lee, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, Chad Brown, Allen Kessler, Matt “All In At 420” Stout, Vanessa Selbst, Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Jonathan Little, Jeff Madsen, and Kathy Liebert, among others.
