Ryan Jones, a player from Burlington, North Carolina, now has two WSOP Circuit gold rings. And both his pieces have been captured for winning a Main Event on the tour’s schedule. It was days ago when the player emerged the victor in the Rio Las Vegas $1,675 Main Event for his second-ever gold ring and a hefty first-place prize of $269,327.
Jones had to walk a long and difficult path before achieving the desired end. The player was one of 945 entries to have registered for the four-day tournament. But persistence, composure, and skills guided him through the road to victory.
The Main Event’s final day saw 19 hopefuls return and try their best to capture the gold ring and the title. Jones was in the middle of the chip counts chart at the time cards were thrown in the air. As the player himself explained, he did not have any good spots to improve at the earlier stages of play, so he found himself staggering behind his opponents.
Then, winning key hands, he gained momentum and eventually emerged as the chip leader. He retained his good position throughout final table and entered heads-up match against Muruz Yohannes with an overwhelming chip lead.
Despite the initial advantage, Yohannes proved to be a bit of an obstacle for the eventual winner. Jones had some really bad beats, losing ground for a while. Momentum was regained and Jones quickly started accumulating chips to eventually finish off his last remaining opponent.
The final hand of the evening and the tournament as a whole occurred with Yohannes limping and Jones raising to 1,000,000. The [Js][7c][5c] appeared on the river. Jones bet 600,000 to see Yohannes moving all in. Jones called instantly. Yohannes tabled [8s][7s] against his opponent’s [Qh][Qs]. The [Qc] ran out on the turn and the [Kc] came on the river to secure Jones with the final pot and the title. As a runner-up, Yohannes’ share of the prize pool totaled $166,585.
As mentioned above, Jones was the last man standing out of a field of 945 entries. The massive interest in the event generated a prize pool of $1,417,500, which was distributed to the top 99 finishers.
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas was the latest stop on the WSOP Circuit’s 2016/17 schedule. The poker tour is next set to travel to California, where The Bicycle Casino will host the next Circuit festival from March 4-15.
