CASINO CHAMPION PROFILE: DANIEL HEREDI
Poker can really be quite fickle. For Daniel Heredi of Hungary, hard work did not pay off with many results the past couple of years. While he wasn’t playing all the time, when he did play tournaments, the big scores weren’t coming. In fact, prior to this month at the WSOP Circuit event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the biggest score young Heredi could muster was worth $1,134. Now though, he is a two-time ring winner, a Casino Champion who punched his ticket to the 2014 WSOP National Championship in Atlantic City, and over $50,000 wealthier.

But, as Heredi found out in Las Vegas, sometimes when the good fortune rains, it pours. Over the course of 12 days while the Circuit paid a visit to the Caesars Palace poker room. His hot streak began early with a win in Event 3 at a stacked final table that included three-time ring winner Jessie Bryant and Ben Keeline.

That win padded Heredi’s bankroll with a $27,043 payday, plus offered a boost of confidence that carried over into subsequent events. In Event 6, the Six-Handed tournament, Heredi narrowly missed a second final table, finishing eighth. That cash put him just a few points behind early Casino Champion frontrunner Sal Musto, but it was his 66th place finish in the Circuit Main Event that put him in the lead.

The lead didn’t last long though, as Nancy Birnbaum’s third final table of the series in the Main Event put her in the driver’s seat on the final day of the series. The pressure was back on Heredi, who would need to final table the 12th and final event in order to finish the series on top. Heredi cruised to the final table without a problem. He then cruised to a second victory in just a matter of a couple of hours to pick up his second ring, $17,000 more dollars, and a Casino Champion title for the record books.

With two wins, three top-ten finishes, and four cashes, Heredi amassed an incredible 122.5 points, which is the most one player has ever earned at a single stop this season. It is also just five points off the most one player has ever amassed at one stop. Last season, Mark Bonsack was able to rack up 127.5 points at Horseshoe Council Bluffs to take the Casino Champion title by posting first, second, and fourth place finishes.  When asked how the second ring felt compared to the first one, the soft spoken Heredi confirmed it was just as nice as the first one.

“It’s pretty too,” he said with a laugh, admiring his second piece of Circuit hardware.

He has some pretty tokens to remember a pretty remarkable run. Now let’s see if Heredi can add a pretty bracelet to his collection when he takes his seat in the National Championship in just a couple of months,.