Monday, November 20, 2017 10:59 PM Local Time
Fernando Galvan Wins the WSOP Circuit $1M Guaranteed Main Event for $247,160!
Congratulations to Fernando Galvan, winner of the $1,675 Main Event with $1,000,000 guaranteed for his biggest career cash worth $247,160! The newly-crowned champion has also earned his first ever Circuit ring and third tournament win overall.
Runner-up Corey Hochman ($152,734) found himself heads-up and down 7-to-1 in chips but with the biggest heart. The eye surgeon from Arizona came in to the day with the shortest stack and laddered all the way to second while nursing a less-than-average stack the entire way. In the final hand, Hochman got it in with ace-three but it was no match for Galvan's queens in a fitting end for the champion.
Planet Hollywood kicked up the guarantee to $1 million, up from $750,000 last year. The target was easily smashed, bringing in 845 entries for a prize pool worth $1,267,500 paying out 90 spots and almost a quarter of a million dollars for the win.
The final table of 10 came together about 90 minutes into the day, following the eliminations of Roger Franco (12th - $18,924) and Event #1 winner Marcin Milde (11th - $18,924). Play started off slowly, but things picked up and Galvan and Ali Imsirovic began to run the show. The two players began knocking others out and built up top stacks when five-handed play began. That's when Galvan turned on the jets. Imsirovic began to lose significant pots to Chris Tham and found himself with a stack that forced him to shove with queen-jack suited. Unfortunately for him, Galvan had aces and he was eliminated in 4th place for $83,959 for his deep run.
Neil Scott finally won his first Circuit ring early in the week in Event #4 and found himself deep in the Main Event. With a second ring in sight, things were looking good when he got his chips in with aces versus Tham's kings. Unfortunately for him, the flop came king-high and a fourth king hit the river for an extra needle. Scott settled for 9th place and $23,525 for yet another big cash and a great series overall.
Galvan sat on more than half of the chips in play on the dinner break with three players left, and chipped away until his opponents were forced to get their chips in the middle. The rest is history.
Here is a look at the final table results:
1st place: Fernando Galvan - $247,160
2nd place: Corey Hochman - $152,734
3rd place: Chris Tham - $112,503
4th place: Ali Imsirovic - $83,959
5th place: Bruce Kramer - $63,476
6th place: Melanie Banfield - $48,609
7th place: Mark Ioli - $37,695
8th place: Danny Elmore - $29,596
9th place: Neil Scott - $23,525
10th place: Sunny Gandham - $18,924
There were a lot of familiar faces in this event, and with 90 spots paid there were some notable names that made deep runs including Event #7 winner Bryan Devonshire, Ankush Mandavia, Jonathan Dimmig, Joe Reddick, Eric Baldwin, Jordan Cristos, Wendy Freedman, Jon Turner, Woody Moore, Defending Champion Sean Yu, Sorel Mizzi, Kevin Calenzo, Michael Del Vecchio III, Sal DiCarlo, James Hoeppner, Jeremy Ausmus, JJ Liu, and Kevin Eyster.
The next stop at Planet Hollywood is scheduled for the last week of March, so be sure to mark your calendars!
Results | Official Report
