Horseshoe Southern Indiana is currently the arena for some quality WSOP Circuit action. A twelve-day poker festival kicked off on Thursday and the first event on its schedule was completed a few hours ago. Scott Fitzhugh won the opening tournament of the WSOP Circuit Southern Indiana stop to grab his first gold ring and a $13,041 payout.
Based in Ohio, Fitzhugh has a full-time job as the owner of a pet supply firm and plays poker only occasionally. Including last night’s victory, he has cashed in as many as 14 WSOP Circuit events over the past two years. He scored his first in-the-money finish in the series in that same venue two years ago, when he finished runner-up in a $365 No-Limit Hold’em event. Since then, the player has been striving to win a gold ring and as it could be seen, he fulfilled his dream last night.
Fitzhugh emerged victorious in the 2016/17 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana opening $365 No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament that drew a total of 161 entries. The accumulated prize pool of $48,300 was divided into payouts for the top 18 finishers. The event was played over two days – September 29-30.
Day 1 of the tournament was completed with nine survivors who returned on Friday to play down to a winner. Fitzhugh started final table play third in chips. As the winner himself recalled during his post-victory interview, finalists had more than 60 big blinds each/strong> and everyone believed that final table action would continue for more than ten hours before the name of the champion became clear. However, the field was quickly whittled down from nine to just four players.
Fitzhugh kept quiet and wary over the course of the first five eliminations. He never lost a considerable quantity of chips but did not acquire much more than what he had started with, as well. However, at the time there were only four players left, with Fitzhugh himself among them, his playing style changed to a little bolder one. Eventually, he found himself to be the only other man at the final table, aside from his heads-up opponent Josh Dobson.
Two-handed match commenced with Dobson holding two times more chips than the soon-to-become champion. Action lasted for a little less than an hour, during which Fitzhugh quickly erased his opponent’s lead and ended the tournament as its champion.
On the final hand in play, Fitzhugh bet 30,000 pre-flop and Dobson three-bet to 75,000. Fitzhugh called and the [Ks][10c][8c] ran out on the flop. Dobson bet 75,000 and his opponent called. The [Ac] appeared on the turn and Dobson checked. Fitzhugh bet and his opponent called. The [9c] came on the river and Dobson quickly moved all in for 520,000. Fitzhugh took his time to deliberate on his next move but eventually called.
Dobson tabled [10s][9s] for two pair and his opponent showed [Qd][Jh] for a prevailing straight, which marked the end of the tournament. As a runner-up finisher, Dobson took home $8,059.
Kevin Parker took 3rd place, good for $5,801. Brett Dowell finished 4th for $4,252. Christopher Brawner collected a payout of $3,171 for his fifth-place finish. Daniel Keller received $2,407 for finishing 6th. Jared Palmer took 7th place for $1,858. James Pastor finished 8th for $1,457. Rounding out the official final table, James Byard scooped a $1,162 share of the prize pool.
