Monday, May 19, 2014 8:01 PM Local Time
Congratulations to Bryan Campanello, Winner of the Harrah's New Orleans Main Event ($175,459)
After a roller coaster of a heads up match, Bryan Campanello has been crowned the victor in the 2013/14 World Series of Poker Harrah's New Orleans Circuit Main Event. For his championship win, Campanello was awarded his third gold Circuit ring, a seat to this week's National Championship, and $175,459 in first-place prize money.
The day began with 10 players returning for the unofficial final table of the Main Event. John Parten became the unofficial final table bubble boy when he fell by Campanello's hand on just the second hand of the day. From there, the official final table of nine was set. Thanks to Parten's early elimination, start-of-day short stack Fadi Massaad earned himself a pay jump. Despite a double up in the first orbit, Massaad could not gain any further footing and was eliminated in ninth place.
Agustin Berumen was the next player to fall. Berumen got the last of his money in with pocket fours against The Lodge Casino Main Event champion Eric Blair's pocket tens. The tens held through the community cards and Berumen made his way toward the rail. The eliminations continued at a rapid pace after that with James Henson falling in seventh place and John Kloch in sixth.
Coming into the day, Blair looked to become the first ever back-to-back Circuit Main Event winner. That dream was dashed before the day's end, however, as Blair fell to eventual champion Campanello. In Blair's final hand, he called all in for his tournament life with against a four-bet ship from Campanello. Campanello rolled over , paired his ace on the flop, and eliminated Blair in fifth place for $44,037.
Danny Doucet was the next player to feel Campanello's wrath. Doucet moved all in preflop with ace-deuce and found a call from Campanello's pocket eights. The board ran out clean, sending Doucet to the rail. A few hands later, Gary Friedlander eliminated Alan Ramkhalawan in third place and was left to face a WSOP bracelet winner in heads up play.
Despite beginning heads up play with a slight chip advantage, Campanello was unable to gain any ground early on. After looking bleak for a moment, Campanello found a double up and battled on. The chip lead changed hands several times over the course of the roughly four-hour heads up match with Campanello all in and at risk for his tournament life three separate times. The third time was a charm, however, as from there he was able chip away at Friedlander's remaining stack and assume a distant chip lead.
On the final hand, Campanello's pocket queens held up against Friedlander's queen-jack after a preflop all in. The Texas-native was crowned his third Circuit ring, first Main Event title, and a seat to this week's National Championship.
Here's a look at the final table payouts:
1st - Bryan Campanello - $175,459
2nd - Gary Friedlander - $108,523
3rd - Alan Ramkhalawan - $79,356
4th - Daniel Doucet - $58,886
5th - Eric Blair - $44,307
6th - John Kloch - $33,796
7th - James Henson - $26,134
8th - Agustin Berumen - $20,486
9th - Fadi Massaad - $16,276
That does it for our coverage of the 2013/14 World Series of Poker Circuit! Be sure to tune in May 22-24 for live coverage of the 2013/14 National Championship at Bally's Atlantic City where 100 of the Circuit's elite as well as any Player of the Year Points Qualifiers will do battle for a piece of the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.