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Tunica, MS (February 2, 2017) – David Knuckles is the World Series of Poker’s most recent recipient of a Casino Champion title. He captured his first gold ring at the Horseshoe Tunica Circuit stop last week and then went on to cash three more times during the 12-event series.

It was a hot start for Knuckles. The 30-year-old poker pro jumped in Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo Re-Entry on the third day of the Circuit series. By the end of the tournament, it was Knuckles who held all the chips in play. He walked away with his first career gold ring, nearly $18,000. and 50 Casino Championship points.

The triumph put Knuckles among the venue leaders in the race for Casino Champion. However, everyone at the top was simply tied for first with 50 points a piece. It was Jeter Brock who first broke the 50 point barrier by adding min-cash to his resume, bringing his total to 52.5 points. But then, Knuckles made a big leap forward and never looked back.

Knuckles gained the outright lead after making his second final table of the series in Event #7: $365 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry. He held strong into the top-five finishers, but went out in fifth place. This granted him an additional 25 points and put him atop the leaderboard with a total of 75 points.

There would be no catching Knuckles following this point in the series, but it was not for lack of trying. A couple notables that had a chance at dethroning Knuckles for the title were Chris Conrad and Kyle Cartwright.

Conrad recorded four cashes at the Horseshoe Tunica series, including two final table appearances where he took 4th place and 7th place, respectively. However, his deep runs were only good for a total of 55 points. Cartwright bagged three cashes of his own. His first was a 4th-place finish in Event #3: $365 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry. The six-time gold ring winner later went on to cash in the Main Event. Then, once his Main Event run ended, Cartwright jumped in the very last ring event of the series. He finished in 5th place, but if he had won Event #12, he would have been crowned Casino Champion.

Building a deeper cushion and adding some icing on the cake, Knuckles was not finished after his two final table finishes. He went on to score two more cashes in the series, both coming from deep runs in large-field events. First was a min-cash in the Monster Stack, good for 2.5 points. Lastly, Knuckles had an impressive Main Event, finishing 39th out of 610 entrants, which was worth 5 points. All in all, Knuckles accumulated a total of 82.5 points and claimed the Casino Champion honors.

Knuckles will now be playing in the 2017 Global Casino Championship. The Global Casino Championship features a minimum $1 million prizepool and will award the winner a gold bracelet. All Casino Champions and Main Event winners of the season earn a free seat into the tournament. There are also 50 free seats for the players who earn the most post points over the entire 2016/17 Circuit season. Anyone winning a gold ring this season, but not earning a free seat, can buy-in to the Global Casino Championship for $10,000. All $10,000 of the buy-in will be added to the prizepool.

More information and full point standings for the year-long race are available on WSOP.com.

Knuckle's Horseshoe Tunica cashes:

Event #4 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Re-Entry – 240 entries – 1st place for $17,997
Event #7 - $365 No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry – 193 entries – 5th place for $3,684
Event #9 - $365 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack Re-Entry – 592 entries – 61st place for $581
Event #11 - $1,675 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event – 610 entries – 39th place for $3,569