Long Tran has just won Event #1 on the schedule of the 2015/16 WSOP Circuit Bally’s. The player from Costa Mesa, California bested a massive field of 1,082 entries to collect his first-ever Circuit cash of $55,321 and a gold ring.
The $365 No-Limit Hold’em was an unlimited re-entry event and featured 6 starting flights. As mentioned above, a total of 1,082 entries tried their luck at the tables of Bally’s in Las Vegas. They generated a prize pool of $324,600. The top 110 finishers received a share of the money, with payouts starting from $613.
The tournament was a five-day one and kicked off on February 25. The nine-handed final table was reached late on Sunday. Once it was set, the nine remaining players decided to call it a day and to return on Monday to play down to a winner. Nine-handed play started with Tran holding the majority of chips. He had a total of 2,255,000 and was closely followed by Marc Foggin with 2,085,000 and Tom Franklin with 2,000,000.
Three players were eliminated within the first three hours of play. And it took two more hours before the names of the heads-up opponents became clear. Tran had to face Alexander Shelton from Madison, Wisconsin in a final two-handed match. Action started with Tran holding 5,300,000 in chips against his opponent’s 4,900,000. It took the eventual winner a little more than an hour to defeat Shelton and scoop the first-place prize and the gold ring. As for Shelton, his runner-up finish in the tournament secured him with a payout of $34,177.
Ryon Laplante from Brainerd, Minnesota took 3rd place in the event to collect the amount of $25,398. Englishman Marc Foggin finished 4th for a payout of $19,103. Timothy Mcreynolds from Omaha, Nebraska received $14,544 for his 5th place in the tournament. One-time WSOP gold bracelet and two-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner Tom Frankiln from Gulfport, Mississippi took home $11,206 for finishing 6th.
Local player Tom Kearney took 7th place for a payout of $8,736. Joshua Minek from Colorado Springs, Colorado finished 8th to collect $6,886. Kyle Arora from Sugar Land, Texas rounded the final table, taking home the amount of $5,488 for his 9th place in the tournament.
