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HARD ROCK TULSA MAKES ITS MARK ON THE CIRCUIT
27 March 2018 (Tulsa, Okla.) – In just its second season on the World Series of Poker Circuit, the stop at the Hard Rock Tulsa is fast becoming one of the tour’s favorites. And for some players in particular, this was a Circuit stop to remember.
Mashir Khan (pictured) earned the title of Casino Champ with an impressive series of consistent deep runs. He cashed four times, including three final tables – a fourth place finish, a seventh place, and on the last day of the Circuit series he finished in third place in the Main Event to catapult himself to the top of the leaderboard. He finished with 102.5 points to become Casino Champion and win a free entry into the 2018 Global Casino Championship.
He’ll be joined at the Global Casino Championship by Jonathan Poche, who won the Main Event for $216,307. This is Poche’s second career ring, and his first also came in a Main Event (at Harrah’s New Orleans in 2011). Poche put in a dominating performance – he led the field after Day 1A, and no one from either of the other two starting flights surpassed his chip total heading into Day 2. Then at the final table, he surged back into the lead with six players remaining, then kept pulling away.
This was a record-breaking field for the venue’s Main Event. In the first year here at the Hard Rock, the Main Event drew 574 entries. This year, the casino added a $1,000,000 guarantee, meaning they’d need 667 entries to avoid an overlay. The event ended up with 721 entries, creating a prize pool worth $1,081,500.
The final ring at the Hard Rock Tulsa went to one of the Circuit’s long-time stars. Blair Hinkle already had four rings on his resume, and now with his fifth he’s tied for 15th on the all-time list. He also holds a number of Circuit records – the only player ever to win two Main Events at the same stop in back-to-back seasons, and the only player ever to win three Circuit Main Events at the same venue (Horseshoe Council Bluffs). He won the $2,200 High Roller event here in Tulsa, earning $50,319 and his first ring from any casino outside of Council Bluffs.
Hinkle now has one ring for each finger, as well as a WSOP bracelet. One other bracelet winner earned a ring at the Hard Rock Tulsa – Kevin Eyster won Event #8: $365 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed. This is the third ring of Eyster’s career. Two of them came in six-max events, as did his bracelet.
