03 March 2020 (Hammond, Ind.) - Sergey Sergeev has just won the Horseshoe Hammond Higher Roller World Series of Poker Circuit. The Russian topped a stacked starting field of 80 players in the $2,200 event, to earn $45,518 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring.
The two-day event attracted 68 entrants on Day 1, but only 27 of them survived to move onto the final day with Day 2 adding six more entries totaling 33 runners to start the final day.
Those players competed for 12 money spots, and the money bubble broke on Level 17, the fifth 40-minute level of the day. Jake Bazeley (14th) and Michael Hahn (13th) were the last two eliminated before the money.
David Moses (12th - $3,778), Todd Sladek (11th - $3,778), and Frederick Conforti (10th - $4,225) were the next three to go, sending the final nine to the unofficial final table. Once players took their seats after the redraw, Daniel Sepiol went out in ninth ($4,225) shortly after the final table formed, and the official eight-handed final table was in place.
Final Table Action
Tom Brachowski, who entered the final table in the middle of the pack with a 32-big-blind stack (261,000), won a trio of big pots in short-handed play, all resulting in eliminations, and found himself the first to go over the one-million chip mark.
Brachowski was responsible for the knockouts of George Pappas (7th - $6,061), Pete Maizy (6th -$7,746) and three-time ring winner Michael "Texas Mike" Moncek (5th - $10,312).
By the time Brachowski eliminated Moncek he held 1,270,000 chips, nearly three-times the stack of the closest competitor.
That big lead evaporated in the span of a few hands at Level 22, however, with Sergeev taking three pots off Brachowski in a matter of minutes.
The third and final of those battles saw Sergeev win a 1.6 million pot, with his set of twos besting Brachowski’s pair of aces. The big hand sent Brachowski out in fourth place for a $14,277 payday.
That hand was the start of the rapid rise of Sergeev into first place, which ended with the Russian taking home his first WSOP Circuit ring.
Full Results
Live Updates for the Event
Here are the official final table results:
1: Sergey Sergeev - $49,518
2: Jorden Helstern - $30,605
3: Sami Shurbaji - $20,526
4: Tom Brachowski - $14,277
5: Mike Moncek - $10,312
6: Pete Maizy - $7,746
7: George Pappas - $6,061
8: Kevin Andriamahefa - $4,949