DARRYLL FISH WINS MAIN EVENT AT PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB
West Palm Beach, Fla. (February 16, 2015) - Darryll Fish is the latest ring winner on the World Series of Poker Circuit. He emerged victorious from a tough field in Main Event at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, earning over $173,000 and the first signature win of his career.

It wasn’t an easy path to victory for Fish. His heads up opponent—Don Icawat—had been on a hot streak all day. Icawat started the final day of the tournament in a virtual tie for last place, but kept moving up the leaderboard as his opponents busted out, and eventually started heads-up play with only a slight chip deficit to Fish, who had been at or near the top of the chip counts since the end of Day 2. After only about half an hour of play, though, Fish held all the chips, and Icawat had to settle for second place ($107,075).

The rest of the final table offered more challenges. The third-place finisher, Nancy Nguyen ($78,222), was fresh off another final table performance. She finished in fourth place at the WSOP Circuit Main Event in Choctaw less than a month ago, and has over $200,000 in Circuit earnings from those two events. There were also two four-time ring winners in Sam Panzica (4th place, $57,988) and Maurice Hawkins (7th place, $25,736). Ninth place was Jonathan Gaviao, who’s had his fair share of success on the WSOP Circuit, including Casino Champion honors at Tunica last season and a runner-up finish in the Main Event at Caesars Palace less than a year ago.

Before this tournament, Fish had already amassed an impressive poker resume, including 24 WSOP cashes and over $1.4 million in live earnings. However, his only live tournament win was a small turbo event, and finally earning a significant victory was a monkey off the back for Fish. “I’m not in the game for the titles,” he said after securing his victory, “but taking one down is a really satisfying feeling, and even though I know I’m capable of winning, it’s nice to have that reinforced by actually doing it.”

Fish also emphasized that even though the ring is personally satisfying, in the big picture, it’s not going to change much for him. “I play for my love for the game, and the ability to earn a living doing it is something that I’m really fortunate to be able to do. So I’m gonna keep grinding, keep doing what I love. Nothing much will change.” This big picture perspective seems typical of Fish, something he emphasized with his choice of attire at the final table. “I’m wearing this shirt, it’s 'People over politics.' It’s an organization that’s about activism and revealing corruption, so I try to bring attention to things that help unite people, rather than divide them.”

The tournament started on Friday. There were two starting days. Day 1A attracted 289 entries, and Saturday’s Day 1B drew 248. The 537 total entries generated a prize pool of $805,500. Day 2 was played Sunday with 99 returning players. The top 54 were paid, with a minimum payout of $3,093.

The talented final table was a good representation of the field as whole. Players who made the money but were eliminated yesterday include Jason Mercier (30th, $4,712), 2010 November Niner John Dolan (24th, $6,267), WSOP bracelet winner Leo Wolpert (23rd, $6,267), and four-time ring winner Kevin McColgan (33rd, $4,164).

In addition to Darryll Fish’s prize money and the gold ring, he also receives a free entry into the 2015 WSOP National Championship. The dates and venue for National Championship will be announced soon. He’ll likely be joined in that event by Marshall White, who earned Casino Champion honors here at the Kennel Club.

Here are the final table results. Full results are available in the event’s Live Updates page.

1 – Darryll Fish - $173,189
2 – Don Icawat - $107,075
3 – Nancy Nguyen - $78,222
4 – Sam Panzica - $57,988
5 – Daren Stabinski - $43,610
6 – Aaron Rosenthal - $33,267
7 – Maurice Hawkins - $25,267
8 – Hans Winzeler - $20,194
9 – Jonathan Gaviao - $16,070