Event #11: $580 No-Limit Hold'em

Event #11
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $500 (+$80)
Total Entries: 170
Prize Pool: $85,000

Kalpesh Shah wins the eleventh event of the series for $22,950.

MILWAUKEE (February 13, 2017) -- Kalpesh Shah has picked up a gold ring on the final day of the Potawatomi series. He won Event #11: $580 No-Limit Hold'em for $22,950 and his first career WSOP Circuit gold ring. He finished the series with two cashes for a combined $23,804 in tournament earnings.

"It's like a dream," said Shah about winning his first gold ring.

Shah came into Day 2 of the tournament 9th in chips out of the 14 remaining players. He said entering the day he was looking to ladder up a bit, but was mainly focused on getting to the top three, which is where the big money was.

"[I] was just trying to stay out of bad spots," said Shah.

Shah said he had a little gamble in him, but tried to focus on staying out of trouble and staying patient. Shah stuck to his game plan of staying patient and was able to weather a three-handed battle with Christopher Blik and Konstantin Mikhailov that lasted over two hours long. Blik finally hit the rail in 3rd place to leave Mikhailov and Shah playing heads up for the ring. Shah then sent Mikhailov to the rail in second place. Mikhailov's runner-up prize totaled $14,183.

Part of the challenge of playing a long day of poker with only minimal breaks is fighting hunger. Players don't always have the opportunity to get a good meal in, and it can be tough to eat at the table when play is short-handed because of the constant action.

"I didn't eat all day. I was on a liquid diet until the dinner break," said Shah. "Here is the thing though, the most amazing thing I have done in my life is I fasted on just water for 30 days; it's for religious reasons. I could handle one day of fasting easily."

Shah compared fasting for 30 days to a marathon. Shah said it's not something you can just do, but it's something you can prepare for and eventually do with the right preparation. He said that he fasted for eight days straight four or five times in preparation for the 30-day fast.

Shah was born in Mumbai, India and lived there for three years before moving to the United States. He works as an independent futures and options trader in Hanover Park, Illinois. Lately Shah has been playing more poker to try to improve his game. He mostly plays cash games and small weekly tournaments, but tries to play the Hammond and Potawatomi poker series'.

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Event #11 was the eleventh of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at Potawatomi. The $580 no-limit hold'em tournament attracted 170 players generating an $85,000 prize pool. The top 18 players were paid.

Day 1 began Sunday at 3 p.m. and lasted 18 levels. Day 2 began Monday at 1 p.m. with 14 players remaining. The tournament ended at about 9:45 p.m.midway through Level 27.

Final table:

1st: Kalpesh Shah - $22,950 + Circuit gold ring
2nd: Konstantin Mikhailov - $14,183
3rd: Christopher Blik - $10,209
4th: Brian McDaniel - $7,483
5th: Kenny Nguyen - $5,581
6th: Matthew Hamilton - $4,236
7th: Eric Rivkin - $3,269
8th: Scott Moses - $2,564
9th: Robert Clark - $2,045

Complete results can be found above under the "Results" tab.