Vancouver, BC (November 7, 2013) – After a six-day marathon of poker in the River
Rock Theater at River Rock Casino and Resort, Lincoln Milne emerged as the
champion of the $1,675 Main Event. This victory earned Milne $253,015 in
first-place prize money as well as his first gold Circuit ring. Milne will also
be guaranteed a seat in the National Championship, which will be held this May
in Atlantic City.
“I’m still kind of taking it in to be honest,” said a visibly moved and
stunned Milne late on Thursday night. “This is my biggest cash by far. This is
my first year playing big tournaments. I’ve played for a long time, but this was
my first real breakthrough.”
Milne was one of the 875 entrants into this massive Main Event that
allowed up to three re-entries over three starting flights. The
field began stacked with names of notable professional players and Circuit
grinders. As play progressed, names like Kevin MacPhee, Calen McNeil, Shawn
Buchanan, and Ari Engel fell, while the unknown Milne continued to grind and
build his stack.
Milne came into the final table with a healthy stack of 60 big blinds
and he continued to work his magic as his opponents were eliminated one by one.
The pace of the tournament came to a staggering halt once three-handed play
hit. Milne, Alex Toth, and Homan Mohammadi played 91 hands three-handed until
Mohammadi finally fell to Milne’s pocket aces.
Milne had the lead going into heads-up play and was relentless in
grinding down Toth. On the final hand, Milne shipped all in from the button
with pocket jacks and Toth called for his tournament life with king-ten. Toth
failed to improve and Milne was crowned the newest Circuit champion.
Despite winning a quarter of a million dollars, Milne was very humble in
victory. He credited two other poker players who helped him hone his game and
took him down a path of growth that also led him to victory.
“I’m fortunate enough to be friends with another ring winner, [Young]
Mike Kim,” said Milne. “Him and another guy, Joon Park, they basically mentored
me. When I came to them, I had maybe some skill, but about a year and a half
later I’m here shipping the event.”
The Main Event was the 7th of 10 live gold ring events on the schedule
for the WSOP Circuit in River Rock. The total prize pool came to $1,297,500 and
the top 90 players were paid.
Final table results were as
follows:
1st – Lincoln Milne -
$253,015
2nd – Alex Toth - $156,349
3rd – Homan Mohammadi -
$115,166
4th – Dylan Mayo - $85,946
5th – Young “Mike” Kim -
$64,979
6th – Douglas Wasyk -
$49,759
7th – Gregory Eyster -
$38,588
8th – Roger Hardy - $30,297
9th – Jeff Blenkarn -
$24,082