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JASON STRASSER WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AND $186K IN FOXWOODS

Online pro turned investment banker Jason Strasser finds time to win the ring.

Aug 19 2013 07:41 PM ESTJessica Welman and Jay Newnum

JASON STRASSER WINS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AND $186K IN FOXWOODS

These days it seems like we hear a lot about players who have left the poker world for the bright lights and big city. Jason Strasser is no exception. Like November Niner David Benefield, Strasser gave up full time poker play to pursue a career in finance in New York City. Like Benefield though, the 28-year-old still finds time for poker. The hobby proved to be a profitable one for Strasser, as he won the first Circuit Main Event of the season, taking down the Foxwoods title for $186,600.

"I played a ton of poker back in my younger days." Strasser commented after his victory. "This game has been really good to me but it hasn't been a big part of my life for the past five years."

Strasser defeated a field of 591 entries to earn the win, the ring, and the first automatic bid into the 2014 WSOP National Championship. The road was not an easy one for Strasser either. At a final table with some top regional talent like Bryan Leskowitz and Joseph Morneau, Strasser was up against tough competition, plus he had to battle back from a short stack.

At one point during final table action, Strasser was down to less than ten big blinds. He found some good spots to pick up chips though and his patience, combined with a couple of lucky cards, helped to put him right back in the thick of things.

The tournament came down to Strasser and start of day chip leader Wes Wyvill, who entered at the last possible minute on Day 2, built up a massive stack, and put those chips to dominant use over the course of final table action. At one point, Wyvill even had Strasser down 2-1 heads-up, but Strasser rallied and ended up in the winner’s circle.

"Everyone has gotten amazing in poker in the last five years." Strasser said about the competition he faced. "They're so much better than I am at this point."

Strasser will be heading to the National Championship, but one player who failed to lock up his seat today was John Ting, who came into the day with one of the bigger stacks and a more than decent shot at the Casino Champion title. With 11 players returning, Ting needed to outlast two players and make the final table to surpass Ryan Methia on the Casino Champion leaderboard. Instead, Ting made an early exit in 11th place.

Joe Morneau continued his productive 2013 by following up his Little One for One Drop final table appearance in Vegas this summer with a third place finish here. The top 63 finishers in this tournament each earned a piece of the $888,568 prize pool. Some of the notables who cashed in this tournament include Randal Sklar (49th), Grant Lang (24th), bracelet winner Leo Wolpert (18th), and Raj Patel (13th).

The Circuit now takes a couple weeks off before the action resumes at IP Biloxi on September 5th.

Here are the final table results for the Foxwoods Circuit Main Event:

1st: Jason Strasser - $186,600
2nd: Wes Wyvill - $115,069
3rd: Joe Morneau - $84,414
4th: Bryan Leskowitz - $62,555
5th: Mike Guadano - $47,095
6th: James Rubin - $35,898
7th: Scott Baker - $27,545
8th: Keith Donovan - $21,770
9th: Frank Pezzullo - $17,357

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