The World Series of Poker Circuit made its second stop of the tour at Foxwoods Resort Casino on Aug. 14-25. Each stop includes a 12-event series with buy-ins ranging from $365 to $1,675.
The $1,675 main event drew 526 entrants with a large number of high-profile players. Among them was Alex Rocha, who placed fifth.
“Foxwoods events are usually pretty juicy, so I decided to come out of my month-long retirement following WSOP Vegas,” said Rocha, who capitalized on the occasion by dominating the field.
In the end, however, it was Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler who took home the trophy. After a tough 2 hour heads-up battle against notable player Mark Dube, Kessler captured his first WSOPC main event ring and $170K. The win puts Kessler at more than $1 million in WSOP winnings and $3M for his career.
At one point, Kessler was last in chips when he found himself all-in four-handed with A-J, hitting an ace on the river against K-K. Still standing in last place, Kessler was able to get ahead patiently, while picking his spots and using his extremely tight image to take down sizable pots.
Midway through Day 2, Kessler shipped his stack with the QD-6D to a tight player’s raise on the button followed by a call by the big blind.
“Thought there’d be a good chance they’d fold and I’d be live if they called,” Kessler said.
But the button snap-called with A-10. Kessler flopped two pair, making it his most memorable hand of the tournament. With the victory, “Chainsaw” earned a free seat into the $10K WSOP national championship.
WORLD POKER FINALS: Foxwoods hosts its signature series this month (Oct. 4-19). Please see the ad on Page 5 for schedule and details. The $2,700 main event sports a $500K guarantee and begins Oct. 17 at noon. The four-day event does have re-entries through the end of registration.
PARX: Big Stax VII ran at Parx Casino Philadelphia on July 30-Aug. 18. In an effort to grow the game of poker by focusing on regional tournaments for casual players, Parx’s ambassador Matt Glantz designed the tournament structure with buy-ins of $300-$1,600. An increasing amount of respectable players have come to this series since its February 2013 debut, some of which began their career in poker through its tournaments.
Yet again, a new face, Joshua Beckley, took home the championship trophy for the $1,600 main event. It was Beckley’s first big tournament score of $98,348 after agreeing to negotiate a chop heads-up with Mike Linster, who has more than $1M in tournament career cashes, including the new addition of $88K.
Cathy Dever was the second woman to make the Big Stax final table after Stephanie Hubbard, but the first to make back-to-back final-table appearances in this series. Dever finished 10th in the $500 event and fourth in the main ($40K).
Ken Silberstein, a noteworthy local player with nearly $400K in winnings, placed 10th after losing more than half his stack with 21 players left in the field. Silberstein had just about 20 big blinds to nurse back to average stack with pure aggression.
Big Stax VIII runs Oct. 1-20 and will include a charity event for $225 and a $1,100 main event.
