The second-to-last Main Event of the 2010-11 World Series of Poker Circuit season has come and gone. A field of 269 players turned up to Harrah’s Chester with $1,600 to spare, and the three-day event carried a prize pool of close to $400,000. It took 31 levels of poker to whittle the field down to just one, and it was Kenny "Super Tuan" Nguyen standing alone with all the chips at the end of the day.
An hour into the day, the field was reduced from nine to eight. Huy Nguyen has already collected one Circuit Main Event ring this season, and the young pro from Oklahoma was looking for one for the other finger this week in Chester. His charge came to an end in ninth place, though, the short stack running his
During the course of that first hour, chips were flying around the felt, and most of them were flying out of the chip leader’s stack. Ramana Epparla began the day with 1.95 million of the 5.38 million in play, holding more than a million-chip lead over his nearest challenger. Things went south in a hurry for the amateur, though. He failed to drag any significant pots during the opening orbits, and he had dropped about half his stack when he tangled with Robert Scott in a monster pot. Epparla called Scott’s shove with his
That aforementioned flip crippled Engel down to just 81,000 (3.5 bb), but he would not go quietly either. One hand after having his stack decimated, Engel’s
Eight-handed play dragged on for more than three hours as all that action resulted in zero eliminations. Finally, down to just four big blinds, Ryan Waddell raced his
A few minutes later, the other short stack fell. Robert "Action Bob" Hwang doubled up Sean Knitter with
Soon thereafter, the curmudgeonly Cotter was sent packing in sixth. On a
Fifth place went to Sean Knitter, the victim of circumstance as much as anything else. Scott was the preflop raiser for this fateful pot, and Knitter defended his big blind to see a flop with
The next man to fall was one of the favorites coming into the day, Ari Engel. "BodogAri" was dashed down to 75,000 chips in that fateful encounter with Nguyen, and he could only manage one more double before succumbing to the table. It was Nguyen who took care of the rest of those chips, running out a straight with
When three-handed play began, Nguyen had nearly 60% of the chips in play, and it took a little more than two hours for him to close it out. Epparla was eliminated by Scott in third place when his
Nguyen had the lead as heads-up play began, and he would not relinquish it. On the final hand, he shoved with
For Nguyen, this victory has been a long time coming. It’s his first recorded cash of this calendar year, and it comes with $94,901, an entry into the National Championship later this month, and his first diamond Circuit ring. Congratulations go out to him on a fine achievement!
Here’s how the final table finished up:
Place | Player | Winnings |
---|---|---|
1 | Kenny Nguyen | $94,901 |
2 | Robert Scott | $58,639 |
3 | Ramana Epparla | $42,366 |
4 | Ari Engel | $31,179 |
5 | Sean Knitter | $23,358 |
6 | Ed Cotter | $17,799 |
7 | Robert Hwang | $13,790 |
8 | Ryan Waddell | $10,858 |
9 | Huy Nguyen | $8,685 |
That’s all we’ve got from lovely Chester. The Circuit season heads to New Orleans next for the final stop of the traveling season, and we’re headed there too! In the meantime, you should follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep up with the rest of the news from the tournament circuit.