JAMES DORRANCE WINS CIRCUIT
Before Monday night, James Dorrance had never recorded a World Series of Poker related cash. Now, he is able to say that he topped the biggest Main Event field in WSOP Circuit history.

The 27-year-old Penn State graduate defeated David Cossio heads-up to best a field of 1,717 in the Horseshoe Hammond Circuit Main Event. Dorrance takes home $418,526 and a WSOP Circuit ring.

The tournament surpassed the previous Main Event attendance record set here in Hammond in 2011. That tournament drew 1,615 entries and saw local grinder Bob Chow go home with the almost $400,000 first prize.

Dorrance's score bested Chow's and will go in the record books as the largest $1,675 Main Event first prize in Circuit history. It didn't come easily for him, though. He outlasted a final table that featured Kevin Eyster, who has a World Poker Tour title to his name, Scott Anderson, who had a deep run in the 2012 WSOP Main Event, and Michael Oshana, who won Event 3 at the Horseshoe, a $365 No Limit Hold'em event.

"I like to compete and it was a fun final table," said Dorrance. "There were a lot of creative and smart players. Steven Maniaci was making my life hell all day."

The Hershey, PA native made his way to Indiana because of the $2 million guarantee the tournament had. With the record-setting field, it easily surpassed the guarantee and ended up with a prize pool of $2,575,500 with 189 players earning a payday. The Horseshoe saw players travel from all over the country to come play the event and some of poker's biggest names made their way to the Chicago area.

Even though players were traveling from all over, a local Horseshoe regular Diane Dines waded her way through the big field and made an appearance at the final table, finishing in third.

Dines, a regular in the small stakes no-limit Hold'em games in Hammond, got her seat in the tournament when her table was selected for a high card promotion. They dealt everybody a card and the highest card was given a seat to the $1,675 Main Event. Dines took that freeroll and turned it into at third-place finish and $193,832. When she was eliminated, she left to a standing ovation from almost everybody in the room.

Bracelet winners TJ Cloutier, Bryan Campanello, Owais Ahmed, Chris Bell and Aaron Steury all made appearances at the Hammond Main Event. While Cloutier and Campanello finished short of a cash, Ahmed, Bell, and Steury all finished in the money. Steury made the deepest run of bracelet winners in the field, busting late on Day 2 in 20th place.

Some other notable players who made their way to Hammond included Tony Dunst, Kevin Saul, Joseph Elpayaa, Amanda Musumeci, Chad Brown, and Isaac Baron.

Along with the cash, the ring, and the recognition of being the winner of the largest Circuit Main Event ever, Dorrance earns himself a seat in the WSOP National Championship which will take place in Atlantic City in the spring.

Final table results:

1st: James Dorrance - $418,526
2nd: David Cossio - $260,100
3rd: Diane Dines - $193,832
4th: Steven Maniaci - $146,855
5th: Scott Anderson - $112,498
6th: Kevin Eyster - $87,103
7th: Steven Hensley - $68,173
8th: Millard Hale - $53,905
9th: Michael Oshana - $43,088

Full results available on WSOP.com.