Joe Rice won the first and last WSOP Circuit rings awarded at Turning Stone in New York
Verona, NY (28 March 2022) - The World Series of Poker Circuit at the Turning Stone Resort Casino has crowned its inaugural Main Event Champion on Monday Evening. Event #12: $1,700 Main Event attracted a combined total of 891 entries and created a massive prize pool of $1,349,865. After an epic battle it was Joe Rice who claimed victory.
A grand-prize of $238,870, a Circuit gold ring and an entry into the year end Tournament of Champions were awarded to the family man for the first-place finish.
Rice had quite the amazing series at the Turning Stone Circuit stop, as he racked up four final table finishes and a total of $274,441.This was the second ever WSOP Circuit gold ring Rice has won and he did it both in the same series. Rice defeated 406 entries in Event #1 to take home $27,372.
Rice is about to have his first baby daughter, due June 29th and it wasn't easy for him to be away from his Wife Jessica Rice and two sons, Joseph Rice JR (7 years old) and Jayson Rice (5 years old). "I told them I was coming out here to do this for them. You know, it was tough being away from them throughout the week. They cried because they missed me." Rice drove to his home in Clayton Park multiple times throughout the week sleep with the family and drove back to Verona the next morning. "They really are my heart and soul. I am glad I can make them proud."
To stay on top of his game he says plays a lot of cash games and watches a lot of poker videos. "My wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said, honestly I just want to play the Circuit (at Turning Stone) and play all the events. I told her I guarantee I will win at least one, maybe two and I will make at least $100,000."
Rice concluded, "I told my family by the end of the series the world will know my name, but most importantly they will know my family's name."
After having a fantastic Day 1 in the second flight and bagging the chip lead on Day 1 with over 800,000, it wasn't all easy cruising. He had many downslides, slipping below the 200,000 chip mark multiple times but in his words he 'managed to not tilt' and keep his head on his shoulders. At the end of Day 2 he found himself in the middle of the pack with over 2,000,000 in chips and outlasted many notables, including Scott Blumstein (35th), Shaun Deeb (111th), Zachary Gruneberg (89th), Michael Cannon (105th) and Michael Ferrer (104th).
Day 3 was a bit of a challenge for Rice as he found himself getting short on multiple occasions. With three players left he was at risk in a game changing hand with king-jack versus Robert Hovers king-queen and found a jack to stay alive. Hover was eliminated the following hand.
When the heads up battle began Rice was a 4-1 chip stack underdog and it was a four hour grueling battle before he eliminated runner-up Giuseppe Galluzzo.
Final Table Results
1st - Joseph Rice - $238,870
2nd - Giuseppe Galluzzo - $147,644
3rd - Robert Hover - $110,250
4th - John Amoia - $83,144
5th - Patrick Bowe - $63,332
6th - Jared Woodell - $48,729
7th - Matthew Eng - $37,877
8th - James Namiot - $29,747
9th - Timothy O'Donoughue - $23,605
Full Results
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