DANIEL WEINMAN WINS HARRAH
Weinman, a 27-year-old Atlanta pro, collects $280,260 and his first gold ring.
 
Cherokee, N.C. (December 7, 2015) – In April 2013, Daniel Weinman found himself heads up for the WSOPC Main Event title at Harrah’s Cherokee. He was denied by North Carolina native John Bowman, though, and was forced to settle for the runner-up consolation prize. Eighteen months later, Weinman has found his redemption in the same building. The pro from Atlanta is the newest WSOPC champion, conquering the Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event and claiming the ring that eluded him the last time around.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Weinman said in the moments after his big win. “I was in the same spot two years ago the first time they held this event here. I had the chip lead for a long time at that final table and couldn’t really close it out.”

As was the case the last time, Weinman was the chip leader and the most experienced player at the final table this time around, and he was in and out of the top spot on the leaderboard all day long. He was responsible for the first two eliminations of the final table, first with pocket aces against Hamid Izadi’s pocket nines, then ace-ten against Virgil Beddingfield’s ace-five.

From there, Weinman was able to coast his way into three-handed play, and he was only at risk for his tournament life on one occasion. At that point, Kelly Joe Andrews was the one in control of more than half the chips in play, but over the course of two orbits, Weinman took his whole stack. First, Weinman three-bet shoved with pocket threes against Andrews’ king-jack, fading his opponent’s straight and flush draws to double up and turn the tides. One orbit later, he found the same pocket threes against Andrews’ ace-queen, and once again, Weinman’s small pair held up.

That knockout gave Weinman a big lead entering heads-up play against Edward LeBlanc, and the duel lasted just a few short hands. On the last one, LeBlanc ran his queen-deuce into ace-deuce, and five cards later, Weinman was posing for the winner’s photos with his new piece of jewelry. He continued to reflect on the win as he did so, admitting that he felt the pressure.

“I was actually really nervous. I haven’t been deep in a big tournament in a long time and I played 40 tournaments at the series this summer… Something about the final day of the tournament — the pressure is real. I didn’t sleep well, I couldn’t eat this morning, and I still haven’t eaten all day. This is fun; I forgot how fun it is making a final table.”

Winning a tournament is even more fun than making the final table, and once the photos and interviews were complete, the champ was finally able to take a deep breath and soak in the win. 

“It feels pretty cool to win something this big,” he said.

For his victory in the Main Event, Weinman earned the top prize of $280,260, the gold ring, and an entry into the 2016 Global Casino Championship.