REX CLINKSCALES WINS HARRAH
CHESTER, PA (May 7, 2013) – Rex Clinkscales has finally done it. After falling short of the win in 14 career WSOP Circuit Final Tables, he is at long last the proud owner of a WSOP Circuit gold ring.


Clinkscales emerged the victor late Monday night in the Harrah’s Philadelphia Main Event, taking home $121,095 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring.

“This is unbelievable,” said Clinkscales after the win. “Every Final Table, I’ve run so bad. I’m just glad that I don’t have to hear it anymore from people about not having a ring.”

With the win, Clinkscales makes his exit from the fraternity of players, who time and time again, have climbed high but have failed to reach the proverbial mountain top. Here is the current list of players with most Circuit Final Tables, but no ring:

Player

Final Tables

Dean Schultz

12

Charlie Dawson

11

Joel Merwick

9

Michael Beasley

9

Drew Woodke

9

Adam Green

8

Manelic Minaya

8

Allie Prescott

8

Edward Corrado

8

This year’s Main Event drew its largest field ever with 351 players, generating a total prize pool of $526,500. Day one consisted of two starting flights. By the end of the day’s play, Rachel Kranz, a novelist and amateur poker player from New York, NY held a commanding chip lead.

Day two saw 36 players make it into the money, including notable pros Matt Glantz, Everett Carlton, and Cory Waaland. Kranz endured a roller coaster day two and was ultimately eliminated in 35th place, just in the money.

All the while, Clinkscales stayed under the radar, trying to stay in contention. He ended day two second to last in chips with 262,000 and 14 players remaining. Michael Assante led the remaining players to start day three with 1,149,000.

Clinkscales stayed alive through day three, doubling at critical moments while other players hit the rail. He remained near the bottom of the pack, but managed to stay alive. Assante however, lost traction after doubling a few of the shorter stacks and was ultimately eliminated by Ken Silberstein in 5th place ($30,516)


It appeared that Silbertein, who was the runner-up in last year’s Main Event at Harrah’s Philadelphia, would get the win that eluded him in 2012. Silberstein held over 70% of the chips in play with just Clinkscales and Mike Jukich separating him from redemption.

Clinkscales faced an 8-1 deficit vs. Silberstein, but was he was undaunted. In one of the most critical hands of the night, Silberstein called Clinkscales’ all-in for about 680,000 in chips. Silberstein’s A-3 was trumped by Clinkscales’ A-Q. The board ran out clean for Clinkscales, putting him well in contention. Silberstein would also double up Jukich before being eliminated in a disappointing 3rd place ($54,614).


It was down to Jukich and Clinkscales heads up with Jukich holding a slight chip lead vs. Clinkscales. The two battled it out for nearly three hours heads up. Clinkscales slowly built up a 2-1 lead over Jukich before the final hand of the night saw both players all-in with Clinkscales’ pocket 7’s vs. the K-J of Jukich. The final board of the night was no help to Jukich, giving Clinkscales the win.

In addition to the cash and the ring, Clinkscales earns a seat to the WSOP National Championship. Interestingly, because Clinkscales has already locked up a seat by virtue of being the current points leader in the National Championship, he has practically donated a seat back to one of the 60 at-large hopefuls in the points race.

This year’s casino champion at Harrah’s Philadelphia was Chris Reslock, a 65-year-old poker pro and retired taxi cab owner/operator from Atlantic City, NJ. Reslock won two events this series to beat out Peter Ippolito for casino champion honors.

The Casino Champion is the player who earns the most points through the 12 events at Harrah’s Philadelphia. This player will earn an automatic seat to the WSOP Circuit National Championship to be held May 22– May 24 at Harrah’s New Orleans. More information about the WSOPC National Championship can be found here. An explanation of the points system can be found here.

See the complete Harrah’s Philadelphia Circuit schedule and event results here. The WSOP Circuit Events at Harrah’s Philadelphia runs through May 6th. You can find the complete 2012-2013 WSOP Circuit schedule here.

The final results are as follows:

PLACE

PLAYER

CITY / STATE / COUNTRY

CASH EARNED

1

Rex Clinkscales

LAS VEGAS, NV, US

$121,095

2

Michael Jukich

ARLINGTON, VA, US

$74,863

3

Kenneth Silberstein

PLAINFIELD, NJ, US

$54,614

4

Andrew Rudnik

ARLINGTON, VA, US

$40,509

5

Michael Assante

WHITESTONE, NY, US

$30,516

6

Leonardo Palermo

ORTLEY BEACH, NJ, US

$23,340

7

Anthony Natale

US

$18,112

8

Jonas Wexler

SOUTHAMPTON, PA, US

$14,258

9

Beverly Cheney

GRANDBURY, TX, US

$11,383

10

Patrick Friday

US

$11,383

11

Kristopher Bradshaw

SCOTTVILLE, MI, US

$9,208

12

Matthew Weber

SACRAMENTO, CA, US

$9,208

13

David Moersdorf

Gatlinburg, TN, US

$7,555

14

George Zinaty

CHARLOTTE, NC, US

$7,555

15

Noam Fliegelman

US

$7,555

16

James Sloat

FORT MEADE, MD, US

$6,281

17

John Renzi

MARCUS HOOK, PA, US

$6,281

18

Michael Taylor

CHANDLER, AZ, US

$6,281

19

Lawrence Pileggi

Pittsburgh, PA, US

$5,291

20

Cory Waaland

GREENVILLE, NC, US

$5,291

21

Natale Kuey

BRONX, NY, US

$5,291

22

Ido Ashkenazi

FAIR LAWN, NJ, US

$4,517

23

Antoine White

Middle River, MD, US

$4,517

24

Kevin Smith

ROYERSFORD, PA, US

$4,517

25

Brett Schwertley

OMAHA, NE, US

$3,907

26

Abraham Araya

CARROLLTON, TX, US

$3,907

27

Thomas Christopher

ROCHEPORT, MO, US

$3,907

28

Matt Glantz

LAFAYETTE HILL, PA, US

$3,422

29

Aaron Overton

PHILADELPHIA, PA, US

$3,422

30

Everett Carlton

ST PAUL, MN, US

$3,422

31

Erik Roussakis

BERWYN, IL, US

$3,033

32

Ryan Hall

NEWARK, DE, US

$3,033

33

Loukas Michael

SILVER SPRING, MD, US

$3,033

34

Eugene Borukhov

US

$2,722

35

Rachel Kranz

NEW YORK, NY, US

$2,722

36

Robert Russo

NORRISTOWN, PA, US

$2,722

 

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