Cherokee, North Carolina (December 5, 2016) – A Main Event Champion has been crowned at the World Series of Poker Circuit series at Harrah’s Cherokee. After two starting flights and four long days of poker, Brad Albrinck has finally collected all the chips in play. Albrink conquered a field of 968 entrants in Event #10: $1,675 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event to win his second gold ring and a whopping $275,877. The signature, WSOP tournament finished around 11:30 pm Monday night on the Harrah’s Cherokee main stage.
This was Albrinck’s second Main Event triumph in just over three years, an astounding feat to say the least. His first Circuit title came in September of 2013 at the Horseshoe Casino in Albrinck’s hometown of Cincinnati. With being his first gold ring, as well as having his friends and family close by at the time, it was hard for Albrinck to compare his debut Main Event victory to his most recent here in Cherokee. However, Albrinck did mention how his current first-place finish seemed to be not as likely to manifest.
“You know, I started the day pretty short-stacked, so it was maybe less expected. Especially because this guy had all the chips for a lot of the final table,” said Albrinck.
The “guy” Albrinck was referring to was his heads-up opponent, Jason Rivkin, who seemed to be the clear favorite to walk away the champion, particularly as the final table unfolded. Albrinck came into Day 3 in the bottom half of the chip counts and Rivkin came in as the overall chip leader. Both players made the final nine, but Rivkin continued to dominate.
By the time the two faced off, Rivkin held a 5:1 chip advantage against Albrinck. However, a fateful double up took place early in heads-up play that changed everything. Albrinck got it all in with pocket nines. Unfortunately, he ran into Rivkin’s pocket queens. It looked bleak Albrinck, but then a nine on the river secured him the double and breathed life into the 31-year-old.
“If it was meant to be, it was meant to be,” Albrinck admitted to thinking why the pivotal hand took place. “It was going to be over, and I was not going to have to focus anymore. And then once I hit I knew it was going to be a grind after that.”
And a grind it was. The two competitors duked it out for nearly three hours before all the chips were in one man’s corner. Albrinck kept his head through and through till the end, proving yet again that he has the mental endurance to win these long-hour, multi-day tournaments.
“It does take discipline,” Albrinck stated. “Sometimes you just have to pass on a few spots and really think things through. It does take some mental focus.”
The engineer, who has always enjoyed strategy games, now has nearly $800,000 in WSOP earnings. His impressive total comes from 27 different cashes, not bad at all for someone who only plays poker part time. On top of the six-figure payout and WSOP gold ring, Albrinck also earned himself an automatic bid to the 2017 Global Casino Championship, where he will look to continue his poker success.