THE ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE

LAS VEGAS, NV – Everyone watching the Final Table in the Caesars Palace poker room shared the same thought; the Final Table players, the rail, the media, the cocktail waitresses. Even the eyes of Secretariat, whose large, wall-framed photo overlooked the final table, hinted at the same sentiment.

The rest of the Final Table was playing for second place. The ring had already belonged to Kurt Jewell.

From the minute he casually strolled into the poker room after Final Table play had already begun, Jewell knew all along how the finale of the $580 No-Limit Hold’em Ring Event #7 would play out.

“Hey bud, how’s it going?” he said to this tournament reporter.

After brief salutations, Jewell focused his attention to the players at the table.

“Nice to see you, I’m gonna go get my ring.”

Jewell brought along that confidence as he sat down to a nearly 2-1 chip lead over his nearest opponent, 2009 WSOP $10K Heads Up bracelet champion, Leo Wolpert. Five hours later, Jewell would make good on his prediction and don his fifth WSOP Circuit Gold Ring.

Along with the $31,113 in first place prize money, the win further cemented Jewell’s WSOP Circuit legacy.

With gold Ring #5, Jewell joins Mark “Pegasus” Smith and Kyle Cartwright, both who are on the heels of the current all-time WSOPC Ring leader, Alex Masek.

Incredibly, Jewell’s win comes just hours to the date this Valentine’s Day last year at the Harrah’s Tunica Main Event where he won his third gold ring.

Jewell, who would go on to win ring #4 just a couple of months later at Harrah’s St. Louis was happy to have snapped his nine-month Ring “drought.”

“It feels great. I’m glad to get this weight off of my back from not having won one in a long time, well what to me felt like a long time,” he said matter-of-factly.

Although Jewell maintained dominance for much of the final table, six-handed, he fell to about even in chips with Utah poker pro, Thomas Beckstad. Jewell fought back however, and ultimately eliminated Beckstad in 5^th place ($7,658).

From there, Jewell ran away from the pack, amassing an outrageous lead over his remaining opponents, two of whom were Wolpert and fellow WSOP Bracelet champion, Gavin Smith.

Just a few minutes after Smith’s elimination in 4^th place ($10,222) Jewell would eliminate his last two opponents, including Wolpert, who he busted in the first hand of heads up play in which he had a 10-1 lead. For his runner up finish, Wolpert collected $31,113.

Speaking of bracelets, Jewell is indeed a player to watch this summer during the 2013 World Series of Poker. He says that the time has come for him to start winning larger stakes tournaments including one or more of the 62 bracelet events that will be held starting in May at the Rio.

5 events are still to come. See the complete Caesars Palace Circuit schedule and event results here. The WSOP Circuit Events at Caesars Palace runs through February 18^th. You can find the complete 2012-2013 WSOP Circuit schedule here.

Final table results: