Pompano Beach, Florida (February 13, 2023) - After a lengthy heads-up battle where he fought back multiple times from near elimination, Christopher Trombley of Macomb, Michigan successfully battled back to win the Harrah’s Pompano Beach Main Event for $266,186 and his first WSOP Circuit ring.
Trombley defeated Robert Lupo after over 3 ½ hours of heads-up play when he picked off Lupo’s river jam with his turned third pair. For his efforts, Lupo took home runner-up money of $164,511.
When asked about his winning hand, Trombley told WSOP.com that his read of his opponent being on a draw was correct. “I took a little more volatile route, raising just a pair of nines and getting him to call, and then he ended up stuffing the river when his draw didn’t come in…I was willing to pay off a flush but I just felt like my pair was good there.”
Trombley was very short-stacked more than once during heads-up play, but never gave up and eventually turned the tide to score the victory.
“When I got short, I didn’t panic. I know the gameplan with sub-8 bigs, 5 bigs…just not getting impatient and try to catch the cards as they come.”
The six-figure score is by far the largest for the recently converted cash game player who has now captured WSOP hardware.
Harrah's Pompano Beach Main Event Final Table Results:
1. Christopher Trombley - $266,186
2. Robert Lupo - $164,511
3. Ryan Eriquezzo - $121,111
4. Vitalijs Zavorotnijs - $90,196
5. Roman Hrabec - $67,961
6. Jeremy Eyer - $51,816
7. Blake Whittington - $39,981
8. Chet Sickle - $31,225
9. Ian Cohen - $24,680
Final Table Action
Trombley’s emergence as the champion was somewhat of a surprise given how the first half of the final table was shaking down, as the chip leader entering the day, Ryan Eriquezzo appeared poised to be there at the end.
With his mom Valerie watching on, Eriquezzo channeled ‘Mom Rungood’ for much of the day, extending his lead early, with Lubo the only player consistently able to keep pace, as after Ian Cohen’s early elimination, he reached ten million chips with his elimination of Chet Sickle in 8th place.
Eriquezzo then eliminated Blake Whittington in 7th place to approach ten million himself, and Lupo sent Jeremy Eyer home in 6th place, leaving Eriquezzo as the only player remaining with WSOP jewelry to his name.
Trombley then started building his stack into a contender with his elimination of Roman Hrabec in 5th place and took over the chip lead shortly after.
Lupo then scored another knockout by busting Vitalijs Zavorotnijs in 4th place.
That’s when things took an unexpected turn with the stunning elimination of Eriquezzo in 3rd place when his turned two pair of aces and fours smashed into Trombley’s flopped set of kings in the biggest pot of the tournament at that point.
From there, Trombley and Lupo began their epic battle, with Trombley earning his seat into the WSOP Tournament of Champions with the victory.
This concludes our coverage from Harrah’s Pompano Beach. Stay close to WSOP.com for live reporting from the next Circuit stop at the redesigned Horseshoe Las Vegas.