Ari Engel, a player who has already established his name as one of the top performers in the WSOP Circuit history, won another gold ring last night – his eighth one. Thus, the Las Vegas-based poker pro tied with Chris Reslock, who won his eighth WSOP Circuit gold piece a few days ago, in the all-time gold ring leaders list. The two players are just one piece behind the current all-time leader Alex Masek.
Last night, Engel topped the field of the 2015/16 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City Event #7: $580 No-Limit Hold’em. Apart from claiming the coveted gold ring, the player also collected a first-place prize of $17,221. Engel has cashed in a total of 46 WSOP Circuit events so far. Including his latest victory, his tournament winnings from Series events now amount to a little less than $500,000.
The $580 No-Limit Hold’em was a two-day tournament and started on March 21. As many as 123 players entered it to create an overall prize pool of $61,500. The top 15 places got paid, with min-cash worth $1,038.
Nine players bagged up their chips at the end of Day 1 of the tournament. They returned for Day 2 to play the featured nine-handed final table and to determine the eventual winner. Nine-handed play started with Engel himself holding the chip lead. The player had a total of 621,000 in chips. It took about three hours of play before the names of the two heads-up opponents became clear. Engel had to face David Hom from Brooklyn, New York for a final two-handed battle.
Hom could not hold up against his opponent and busted in 2nd place after about an hour of play. The player collected the amount of $10,643 for his runner-up finish.
Johanssy Joseph from Spring Valley, New York took 3rd place for $7,683. Mark Kerrigan from Lansdale, Pennsylvania finished 4th for $5,645. Norman Rodriguez from the Dominican Republic scooped $4,220 for taking 5th place in the tournament.
Salvatore Poma from Hauppauge, New York finished 6th, good for $3,208. Stephen Baggett from Copperas Cove, Texas was paid $2,480 for his 7th place in the event. Ryan Meyers from Roslyn, New York took 8th place for $1,948. Jiacong Zhang from Flushing, New York finished 9th for a payout of $1,555.
