After two final-table finishes in WSOP Circuit events over the past several years, Julian Sacks, a player from Ridgewood, New Jersey, last night topped the field of the 2016/17 WSOP Circuit Foxwoods $1,675 Main Event for his career best cash of $148,350 and a gold ring.
Winning the tournament, Sacks also automatically received a seat into the season-ending 2017 WSOP Global Casino Championship. All Main Event winners throughout the 2016/17 season as well as the Casino Champion (or the player that gathers the most points) at each host venue will be granted a seat into the major tournament, which was inaugurated this summer.
The Foxwoods $1,675 Main Event kicked off on Friday night to be completed late on Monday. The tournament attracted a field of 460 entries from all around the US. The WSOP Circuit often draws international players as well, so there probably were people from other parts of the world to enter the Foxwoods event.
A prize pool of $690,000 was generated throughout the course of the tournament, with the money being distributed to the best 54 performers in terms of their finishing positions. Minimum payouts started from $2,622.
As mentioned above, Sacks has previously come really close to winning a WSOP Circuit title. During the 2013/14 season of the popular poker series, the player finished runner-up in a $365 buy-in event at Harrah’s Philadelphia. He had also finished 3rd in a WSOP Circuit event some years before.
The player was one of several to be looking to improve their previous performances. Johanssy Joseph and Jeremy Meacham were two other such players. They both came really close to a victory, but never too close. And as it could be seen, the Foxwoods $1,675 Main Event was not their tournament as well. Yet, they both made it to the final table.
Of his victory last night, Sacks said that during four-handed play he felt as if he would indeed win the event as he was winning every or at least every other hand. He further noted that he really wanted to emerge as the victor and that he had put a lot of pressure on him.
Travis Stams from Stow, Massachusetts was Sacks’ heads-up opponent. Two-handed play between the players started with the eventual winner holding a significant advantage over Stams. It did not take long before Sacks eliminated his last opponent to scoop the first-place prize and the gold ring.
On the final hand, Sacks raised to 175,000 from the button and Stams called quickly. The board ran out [Kd][9h][8d] on the flop. Stams checked and Sacks bet 225,000. Seconds later, Stams moved all in to see his opponent call almost instantly.
Stams tabled [Js][9d] against Sacks’ [Kc][6s]. The [Ks] came on the turn and the [Ah] appeared on the river, thus securing Sacks with his first WSOP Circuit title. Stams took $91,770 for his runner-up finish.
Jeremy Meacham finished 3rd for $66,930. Johanssy Joseph took 4th place for a payout of $49,680. Muhammad Abdel-Rahim collected $37,260 for his fifth-place finish in the event. Sean Carlson received $28,428 for finishing 6th.
Long Tran took 7th place, scooping a $22,080 payout. Vinh Dang finished 8th for $17,250. Rounding out the final table, Ronald Baker was paid $13,800.
