Shawn Sparks, a recreational poker player from Yukon, Oklahoma, was all sparks last night at Hard Rock Tulsa when he bulldozed his way through the final table of a $365 No-Limit Hold’em event to capture his first WSOP Circuit gold ring and collect his first cash from the series.
Sparks received $13,284 for his triumph in an event he entered as part of his birthday weekend. The player thought he was buying into a single-day event and almost made the $365 tournament a single-day one as he seemed to be on fire during the final stages of play.
There were 164 entries to enter the event on Day 1. And by the end of the day, there were just four of them left. Sparks led the group of four into Day 2 action with 795,000 or nearly half of all chips in play.
Barbara Sargent, Hollis Holcomb, and Charles Bass were the other three players left in contention on the tournament’s final day of play. Of all four hopefuls, Bass was the only one to have previously won a gold ring from the WSOP Circuit. The player captured the coveted jewelry piece last month, when he took down the $250 Seniors Event at Rio Las Vegas.
While Bass came really close to winning a second piece within a month, he was eventually eliminated in second place by Sparks. Bass collected a second-place payout of $8,210 for his deep run.
Birthday Luck
Sparks traveled to Tulsa to celebrate his birthday. Little did the player know that he would end up winning a WSOP Circuit tournament. Asked about first comments after last night’s triumph, Sparks humbly replied that he got quite lucky on two particular occasions and that helped him a lot.
However, it is important to note that the latest WSOP Circuit victor played extremely well and that also helped him win the tournament aside from a couple of cards going his way at key moments in play. The player performed particularly well on Day 2, when he swiftly eliminated his three final opponents. Not only did Sparks win his first WSOP Circuit gold ring, but he also scooped his first-ever cash from the series.
In a separate tournament that was completed last night, John Richards from Roxana, Illinois captured his third gold piece from the series. The player topped the field of the $580 Pot-Limit Omaha played over two days at Hard Rock Tulsa. He also added $17,499 to his WSOP Circuit bankroll.
There are four more gold rings left to be won at Hard Rock Tulsa, including the one that would be awarded to the Main Event champion. The five-day $1,675 buy-in tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million starts today and will be running through March 26. A $2,200 High Roller event is also set to take place as part of the WSOP Circuit’s Hard Rock Tulsa stop. It will run on March 25-26.
