Thursday, January 14, 2016 4:59 PM Local Time
Mark Fink Wins His Third Gold Ring and $19,328 in Event #7
Mark Fink is the champion of Event #7 at Choctaw. Fink defeated a field of 263 players, winning $19,328 and the third gold ring of his career. The victory also earned him 50 points in the race for Casino Champion at this venue.
The champ is a 36-year-old electrical contractor from South Dakota, and he’s been playing poker recreationally since 2001. His competitive spirit dates back much further than that, though. “My family has always played cards,” Fink said of his background. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved playing games of any sort.”
Over the last eight years, Fink has earned more than $200,000 in WSOP-branded events. His results on the Circuit include three gold rings, an impressive 18 final table appearances, and a handful of near misses as well. He has also earned enough points to participate in the National Championship for the last two years, and he’s starting to mount a late charge up the leaderboard for this season, too.
That’s an impressive record for anyone, let alone a part-time player, and Fink gives much of the credit to a higher power. “One thing I try to do is just be a good example,” he said. “To me, Jesus is the most important thing. A lot of poker players have a bad rap. I just want to show that you can be a good person and be rational at the table and still have success.”
Fink entered the final table second in chips, but there was some significant competition standing in between him and the title. Tommy Vedes is a two-time World Poker Tour champion with more than $3 million in live tournament winnings, and he had built himself a significant chip lead over the early stages of Day 2. “Tommy came in with a monster stack,” Fink remembered, “but he lost four or five hands in a row with premium hands. So that helped the rest of us out.”
Even with Vedes bowing out in ninth place, Fink faced a daunting challenge. He was the short stack with four players remaining, and two of the others had previously tasted victory on the WSOP Circuit. Cody Pack is one of the few four-time ring winners, and he began the final table as the only player with more chips than Fink. Pack was eliminated in third place, though, and Fink went on to defeat another former ring winner, Brian McDaniel, in the heads-up duel.“I want to thank my family back home, especially my wife for supporting me and letting me travel so much,” he said after his victory. “I think she likes to get rid of me sometimes.”