HORSESHOE COUNCIL BLUFFS CIRCUIT RECAP

Debut winners nearly sweep gold-ring victories and local players fight for Casino Champ.

April 9, 2018 (Council Bluffs, Iowa) -- The World Series of Poker Circuit series at Horseshoe Council Bluffs reached a conclusion on Monday with the final hand of the Main Event. Just over one million dollars in prizepool money was collected throughout the series and a total of twelve WSOP gold rings were handed out over the course of twelve days.

Eleven out of the twelve gold rings went to debut, WSOPC winners. The only player to add to his gold ring collection was Tim McReynolds. The 73-year-old Attorney bagged his third Circuit title by topping 159 entrants in the Six Max event. McReynolds, who is a pupil of Bernard Lee, won his 2nd gold ring just two months prior at the Rio Las Vegas Circuit, also in the Six Max event.

Omaha, Nebraska showed up big at the 12-event series. In fact, McReynolds was only one of six Omaha-based players to win a gold ring. The first was Clayton Vandiver. The 83-year-old defeated 120 entrants in Event #2: $365 No-Limit Hold’em Bounty.

Following Vandiver’s victory, the multi-flight re-entry tournament took place. Between four separate starting flights, Event #3 attracted a field of 495 entries, which was the largest sum of the series. In the end, it was Matt Hartigan taking down Event #3 for his first gold ring and a top prize of $31,928. Hartigan is originally from Florida, but now lives in Omaha, Nebraska.

Rounding out the six Omaha victors was Bhaskar Setti, winning Event #5, Sean Moore, winning Event #7, and Bradley Sullivan, winning Event #12. Sullivan, a 26-year-old who often frequents the “Shoe,” played a bit of a spoiler by taking down the final tournament.

An interesting situation materialized during the last ring event of the series. Henry Gingerich, who already led in the race for Casino Champion, went bust in 11th, good for 10 more points. The addition solidified his total points at 100, on the dot. A victory was not yet written in stone though.

Gingerich left behind three players that could overtake his lead. Five-time casher at the series, Paul Cogliano, runner-up in Event #9 and local poker player, Ryan Phan, and McReynolds all had a chance at being Casino Champ, but they needed to finish first in order to seize the title.

Cogliano dropped out in 6th place; McReynolds hung on till the final four but was knocked out in 4th place; And Phan fell in 3rd place. Sullivan of course took it down, which meant Gingerich’s reign held and he did finish as the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Casino Champion.

The Iowa local cashed in half of the ring events and made three final table appearances. An exact breakdown of his points accumulation is as follows: Event #2: 8th place (17.5), Event #3: 15th place (10), Event #5: 2nd place (37.5), Event #8: 7th place (20 points), Event #10 Main Event: 25th place (5), and Event #12: 11th place (10).

With the Casino Championship, Gingerich is awarded an automatic seat to the 2017/18 Global Casino Championship, which will be held in early August this year. One other player claimed an automatic bid to the GCC during the series, the winner of the Main Event, David Davenport.

Davenport, a Physician from Kansas City, Missouri, did not even plan on playing in the Council Bluffs Main Event. However, a push from his friend got him to enter and the rest was history. Davenport defeated gold bracelet owner, Jeff Tebben heads up for the Circuit Main Event title, taking home $97,754 and his first WSOP gold ring.