The World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s Chester reached the halfway mark Wednesday with the conclusion of Event #5, the $355 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em event.
The winner of the two-day tournament was Jonas Wexler, a 32-year-old former plumber from Southampton, PA who now earns his living on the felt.
Wexler, who has been playing professionally for a few years now, made his biggest score back in 2009 as the fifth place finisher of event #56, the $5k six-max No-Limit Hold’em event. Since that time, he has enjoyed marginal success on the tournament Circuit but has been eluded by an outright major tournament win.
That all changed with his ring victory Wednesday night.
Event #5 drew 185 players of whom 21 would take home their share of the $51,930 prize pool. 14 players returned on day two to play it out for $13,505 in prize money, along with the WSOPC gold ring.
Name | Hometown | Seat | Chip Count |
Sean Kashani | Atlanta, GA | 1 | 240,000 |
David Clark | Dallas, TX | 2 | 100,000 |
Matt Deluca | East Meadow, NY | 3 | 176,000 |
Dan Kotowski | Fredericksburg, VA | 4 | 148,000 |
Peter Malkoun | Brookhaven, PA | 5 | 215,000 |
Jonas Wexler | Southampton, PA | 6 | 190,000 |
Andrew Bollinger | Upper Darby, PA | 7 | 81,000 |
Patrick McKenna | Philadelphia, PA | 8 | 120,000 |
John Allan Hinds | Greenville, NC | 9 | 550,0 |
Ninth Place
Final table play kicked off at 3:40 pm with blinds at 4,000/8,000. The first elimination of the event took place shortly after play resumed when Matt Deluca made a button raise all-in with pocket 6’s and was called by Jonas Wexler who showed pocket jacks. The jacks held up through the king-high board, prompting Deluca’s early exit from the final table stage. Deluca is originally from Guatemala and now resides in East Meadow, NY was born in Guatemala. For ninth place, he took home $1,215.
Eighth Place
Shortly after the high of taking the sizable pot from Deluca, Wexler hit a low when Patrick McKenna was able to double through him. He rode another upswing however when he made the call with against David Clark, who was all-in with pocket threes before an ace-high board. Clark is a professional poker player from Dallas, TX. With over 67 total points toward the WSOPC National Championship, he traveled to Chester in hopes of adding to his total. He picked up 17.5 for his eighth place finish here in event #5 along with $1,523 in prize money.
Seventh Place
Daniel Kotowski was forced to make his exit from the final table after running into the pocket aces of Sean Kashani. No help came for Kotowski on the queen-high board and his tournament day was finished. Kotowski is 24 years old from Fredericksburg, VA. Seventh place earned him $1,940.
Sixth Place
In the meanwhile, the Wexler continued his roller coaster ride of a final table. Wexler doubled through Kashani in a critical hand with pocket nines vs. Kashani’s K-T off, only to return most of those chips back to Kashani who in turn, doubled through him.
He ended the round of blinds on a high note however, after making a call with vs. Patrick McKenna, who moved all-in from the big blind with . The flop fell in Wexler’s favor, and he stayed ahead after blanks hit the turn and river. McKenna is a 28-year-old postal worker from Philadelphia, PA. He received a parcel worth $2,511 for sixth.
Fifth Place
Unable to crack Kashani’s mighty pocket threes all-in with his A-T offsuit on a queen-high board, Andrew Bollinger saw his tournament run end. Bollinger is a 28-year-old bartender from Upper Darby, PA. Fifth place paid $3,304.
Fourth Place
Peter Malkoun was the fourth place finisher in this event. Malkoun was eliminated after he was unable to improve in a hand all-in with vs. John Hinds’ . The 24-year-old poker pro from Brookhaven, PA pocketed $4,423 for fourth.
Third Place
Kashani enjoyed a good run, but finally ran out of steam after moving all-in with and getting a call from Wexler, who had Qs]. Wexler stayed ahead though the 3-5-2-9-Q board, ending Kashani’s tournament run in third place. Kashani is a 28-year-old former salesman from Atlanta, GA. He pocketed $6,022 for third place.
Second Place
Heads up, Wexler and Hinds were nearly even in chips. With blinds at 8,000/16,000 the two went tit for tat during the nearly one hour matchup. Eventually however, Wexler was able to chip his opponent down, ultimately getting him all-in with vs. his own . The final board of the night was dealt , eliminating Hinds in second and giving Wexler his first major tournament victory.
For second, Hinds, a 23-year-old college student from Greenville, NC, collected $8,340.
Wexler was awarded first place prize, worth $13,505 the coveted WSOPC gold ring and fifty points toward a seat in the WSOP Circuit National Championship. The winner of event #2, Matthew Lope finished in 18th in this event. He is the only ring winner with a second cash finish halfway through the Circuit Series here at Chester, which gives him the lead in the all-around casino points race with sixty.
Still to come are five ring events. See the complete Harrah’s Chester schedule and previous results here. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Chester runs through May 10th. You can find the complete 2010/2011 WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.