Will Berry made history at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa, becoming the player to win the Main Event of the first WSOP Circuit festival ever held at the property. The 25-year-old poker pro’s achievement was celebrated with $180,806 in prize money and a gold ring.
The Norman, Oklahoma resident has previously been very close to winning several WSOP Circuit Main Events, but fell short of luck at the final table.
The inaugural WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tahoma $1,675 Main Event drew 574 entries. The top 63 finishers split a prize pool of $861,000. Berry had challenging four days of contention, facing some really tough fellow competitors. Making it to the final table of nine, the player instantly knew that four-time gold ring winner Daniel Lowery would be his biggest challenge on the way to victory.
Speaking of Lowery, Berry said in his post-victory interview that he had been the strongest player at the final table. The eventual winner further noted that he had tried not to confront Lowery over the course of play and to let other players be busted out to him. Berry eventually had to face off that most feared opponent heads-up.
Two-handed action began with Lowery holding 2-1 chip advantage and big hopes for a fifth gold ring to his collection. However, things revolved differently. Berry won several big hands to improve his position and eventually take the lead and extend it. The players battled it out for about an hour and a half before the final hand was dealt.
It saw Berry and Lowery go all-in pre-flop; the former revealed [Ad][Jh] and the latter tabled [As][9s]. The board ran out [Qd][10h][4d][7h][Js] providing Berry with a winning two pair and robbing Lowery of any chance to capture one more WSOP Circuit gold piece. Yet, the player did not leave empty-handed, adding a nice payout of $111,835 to his poker bankroll.
Including his most recent victory, Berry now has $388,272 in WSOP Circuit winnings. His overall live tournament earnings amount to $642,048. Being the winner of the latest WSOP Circuit Main Event, the player also secured a seat into this year’s Global Casino Championship, set to take place at Harrah’s Cherokee this summer.
Commenting on his best live tournament accomplishment, Berry said that he had a terrific run of very good hands while playing against Lowery, and that helped him scoop the victory.
There are four more festivals to take place as part of the 2016/17 WSOP Circuit schedule. Horseshoe Council Bluffs will host the next such festival. It starts tomorrow, March 30, and will run through April 10. As usual, it will feature 12 gold ring tournaments, including a $1,675 Main Event, a $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em, a $365 No-Limit Hold’em Unlimited Re-Entry, and a $365 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better, among many others.
