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John Hubiak Wins WSOP Circuit Event 4 at Caesars Atlantic City
Atlantic City, NJ – Some professions make poker seem rather unimportant, by comparison. Matters of war and peace and life and death put the game in its proper perspective that for as exciting as poker might be at times, it pales in contrast to life’s greatest challenges.
No one knows this better than John Hubiak. He is a 29-year-old nurse who works in the intensive care unit of a trauma center. To say Hubiak works in a stressful environment on a daily basis would be an understatement. Indeed, the part-time poker player and full-time medical professional from Taylor, PA often has the lives of strangers in his hands. His split-second decisions can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
He was also presented with the coveted gold ring, which is the ultimate token of achievement given out to all tournament champions who win WSOP Circuit events held around the country.
The top 36 finishers divided prize money from a $190,120 prize pool. Among those who finished in the money was former gold ring winner Yat Cheng, who won this year’s inaugural Event 1, which completed just a few days ago. He came in 19th.
The low blinds (5,000-10,000) and average stack of nearly 300,000 in chips at the start of play meant all players at the table had time to wait it out for the best possible advantage. Play was cautious in the early going. The nine finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:
| Seat | Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
| 1 | Michael "Katman" Katz | East Brunswick, NJ | 180,000 |
| 2 | John W. Jones | Fredericksburg, VA | 327,000 |
| 3 | William Daloisi | Staten Island, NY | 351,000 |
| 4 | Juilian Manolio | Maywood, NJ | 384,000 |
| 5 | Dennis Summers | Charlottesville, VA | 305,000 |
| 6 | Alan Sansome | Clifton, NJ | 400,000 |
| 7 | Mike Grayhill | Roanoke, VA | 340,000 |
| 8 | John Hubiak | Taylor, PA | 324,000 |
| 9 | Joseph A. Siracusa | Stony Point, NY | 395,000 |
