Wednesday, February 8, 2017 5:44 PM Local Time
Travis Lauson Wins Potawatomi's Six Max Event
Event #6
No-Limit Hold'em Six Max
Buy-In: $300 (+$65)
Total Entries: 247
Prize Pool: $74,100
Wisconsin bar/restaurant owner continues to dominate at Potawatomi.
MILWAUKEE (February 8, 2017) -- Travis Lauson won his first career gold ring Wednesday at Potawatomi. He took home $19,639 for his first place finish. It was Lauson's first-ever cash on the WSOP Circuit. This was the second poker title Lauson has won at Potawatomi. Last April he won an MSPT event here.
"It's really kind of validation. I took down an MSPT title, so this second win seals the deal," said Lauson about his gold ring victory.
Lauson has been really good at Potawatomi. Not only does he have two major wins here, but he also has a runner-up finish in an MSPT event here in September of 2015.
"It's kind of my home casino. I definitely feel I have that home field advantage," said Lauson about Potawatomi.
Lauson is from Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Green Bay is closer to him, but there are not a lot of big tournaments there, so he comes to Potawatomi to play when big events are in town. Lauson plans to play in as many events as he can for the remainder of this series, including playing in Thursday's $2,200 High Roller event.
To get the ring Lauson had to get through a tough Day 2 field. The Day 2 field started with eight players including two multi-gold ring winners. Mark Fink is a four-time gold ring winner, but he started the day as the short stack and ended up busting within the first five minutes of Day 2. The other multi-gold ring winner was Jim Juvancic. Juvancic is a two-time gold ring winner and posed a huge threat to Lauson throughout Day 2. Lauson had position on Juvancic though. Juvancic had the chip lead after hitting quads to knock out James Wadzinski in 7th place and Deana Miller in 6th place. However, by the time play got to three-handed Lauson had control of the tournament and over half of the chips in play. He never looked back after that and took down the title a short while later.
"I can't lie. The deck really hit me in the face today. It all worked out," said Lauson.
The six max format suited Lauson's aggressive game well. He said that it was the event he was most looking forward to coming into the series.
Lauson is a bar/restaurant owner. The 39-year-old owns five bar/restaurants in Manitowoc.
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Event #6 was the sixth of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at Potawatomi. The $365 no-limit hold'em six max tournament attracted 247 players generating a $74,100 prize pool. The top 27 players were paid.
Day 1 began Tuesday at 11 a.m. and lasted 21 levels. Day 2 began Wednesday at 2 p.m. with eight players remaining. The tournament ended at about 4:45 p.m. near the end of level 24.
Final table results:
1st: Travis Lauson - $19,639 + Circuit gold ring
2nd: Jim Juvancic - $12,144
3rd: Daniel Sandoval - $8,441
4th: Yoon Kim - $5,932
5th: John Bertz - $4,212
6th: Deana Miller - $3,020
Complete results can be found above under the "Results" tab.