Wexler topped a field of 1,087 entrants to claim his largest poker cash and the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event title
Jonas Wexler entered the final day of the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event trailing closely behind the chip leader at the time, Dennis Brand. Eventually, Brand parlayed his start-of-the-day chip lead for a seventh-place finish, good for $47,444, while Wexler was crowned the champion of the $1,700 buy-in event.
Wexler was on the cusp of elimination on several occasions throughout the tournament. But each time, he managed to survive to eventually claim the title and the top prize of $300,536. Originally from Pennsylvania, the brand-new WSOP Circuit Main Event winner now lives in New Jersey where he plays online poker regularly.
The player said in his post-victory interview that his online experience gave him great advantage over his heads-up opponent Phil Hernz.
The final day of the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee was an epic grind that saw Wexler and Hernz dominate action and bulldoze their way to the two-way finale. Final-day action at the host casino kicked off with ten players and Wexler and Hernz were the ones to whittle down the final table to just two finalists.
Dennis Brand was the chip leader at the start of Day 3 and Wexler was hot on his heels. The eventual champion then suffered a massive blow that plummeted his stack down to just a few big blinds. A four-way all in that could have easily ended Wexler’s hunt for the title and the big money actually earned him back his start-of-the-day stack and gave him the momentum he needed to climb to the top half of the chip counts chart and never leave it.
Heads-Up Grind
It was Hernz who started the two-handed duel as the chip leader. However, Wexler quickly replaced his final opponent at the top. Their match was not a long one, but was certainly packed with action, just as was the whole final day.
On what turned out to be the final hand in play, Hernz shoved for 5 million chips with [As][2c] and Wexler called with pocket sixes. The flop delivered [5c][7h][6c], securing Wexler with the lead. The [Qs] landed on the turn and the [Kh] arrived on the river, both useless to Hernz. The player thus hit the rail in second place for $185,628, leaving the lion’s share of the prize pool to Wexler.
Both Hernz and Wexler were vying for their second gold ring from the series. The eventual champion won his first piece from the Circuit in a side event in his home state, Pennsylvania, all the way back in 2011.
Wexler told WSOP staff after his victory that he never thinks that he is going to win when he plays in tournaments. He went on to explain that he has been playing poker for a while, but he has always felt like he would not break through. Luckily, things have finally changed for a player who clearly loves the game.
Aside from the six-figure payout and the gold ring, Wexler also secured a seat into the season-ending Global Casino Championship. The player said that he is excited to play the championship this summer and get a shot at winning his first WSOP gold bracelet, but noted that he has not had much luck in larger buy-in events.
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