News

March 17, 2015 (Los Angeles) - It took 10 and a half hours to crown a winner on the final day of the Main Event at the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Bicycle Casino. When the last card was dealt, Gevork Kasabyan had all the chips in front of him. The Los Angeles resident wins his first WSOP Circuit gold ring and over $200,000.

Kasabyan entered Day 3 fifth in chips out of 14 players. When they combined to a single table, Kasabyan was 8th out of ten players. But a single key hand shifted his fortunes. On the 61st hand of the final table, he was all in on a flop holding . He was up against Marty Cohen’s king-queen. The on the turn gave Kasabyan the pot. He actually tripled up on the hand. It catapulted him into the lead, and he stayed at or near the top of the chip counts until the end of the tournament.

Kasabyan’s heads-up opponent already didn’t have to build his stack at the final table. Adam Weinraub accomplished yesterday during Day 2 play. He finished yesterday with the chip lead and over 25% of the chips in play even though there were 14 players remaining. He still held the lead when the final table began. The final table was a rollercoaster ride for him, though, and when Marty Cohen was eliminated in 3rd place, Weinraub was at a severe chip disadvantage to Kasabyan. He had just over 600,000 in chips, and Kasabyan had about 13 million. But a few hands and a few double-ups later, Weinraub had almost 5 million to Kasabyan’s 8.5 million. The comeback fell short, though, as Kasabyan won the next all in and earned the ring.

The tournament featured two starting days, held on Saturday and Sunday, and those days attracted 661 entries. Players were also able to register on Day 2 before cards went in the air, and another 8 players took advantage of that option, even though it meant entering the event with only seven big blinds. For some players, that approach is a recipe for success. Ashton Griffin entered on Day 2, quickly built up his stack, and ended up busting out in 41st place ($3,715). Another Day 2 entrant didn’t fare quite so well. WSOP bracelet winner Dan Heimiller still wasn’t in his seat when play began on Monday. He reportedly had been driving to the Bike from a WPT event in northern California, and wasn’t able to make it for the start of play. By the time he arrived, his stack had been blinded down to 5,000, and he was unfortunately eliminated on his first hand.

The 669 entries produced a prize pool of $1,003,500. The top 72 places were paid, and Kasabyan won $205,720 for first place. The money bubble was reached early on Day 2, and after Jesse Capps was eliminated in 73rd place, all remaining players were guaranteed a minimum payout of $2,810.

Three of the top four finishers in the 2014 version of this event finished in the money this year: Shane Schleger (19th place, $8,650), David Chase (24th, $7,295), and Danny Illingworth (72nd, $2,810). Other in-the-money finishers include Chris DeMaci (53rd, $3,350) and Maria Ho (52nd, $3,350).

In addition to his WSOP Circuit ring and the prize money, Gevork Kasabyan earns a free entry into the 2015 WSOP National Championship, which will a minimum prize pool of $1,000,000.

Here are the final table results from the Main Event at the Bike. Full results are available in the Results section of the live updates.

1 – Gevork Kasabyan - $205,720
2 – Adam Weinraub - $127,295
3 – Martin Cohen - $93,365
4 – Robert Suer - $69,430
5 – Richard Munro - $52,335
6 – Hermilo Vargas - $39,970
7 – Nick Phoenix - $30,930
8 – Brett Murray - $24,245
9 – Joshua Jackson - $19,245