Saturday, January 30, 2016 12:36 AM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright
Tunica, Miss. (29 January 2016) – On Thursday, Kyle Cartwright added another accolade to his already impressive World Series of Poker resume. Cartwright won Event #8: No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack at the WSOP Circuit at the Horseshoe Tunica, earning $29,484 and the sixth WSOP Circuit ring of his career.
With six rings, Cartwright is now tied for fifth place on the all-time list. This victory ends the longest drought of Cartwright’s time on the Circuit. He won his first ring in February, 2011 right here in Tunica. And within about 18 months he had amassed a collection of five rings. After that, he had to wait about three and half years before adding the sixth. “It’s been a long time,” he said after the event. “I haven’t won one since 2012, but I haven’t played too much really. I stopped travelling for the most part. I play more cash games.”
During that three year period between Circuit victories, Cartwright enjoyed tremendous success elsewhere, including perhaps his biggest poker accomplishment to date – winning a WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas. “The bracelet was always number one goal,” he said.
It’s appropriate that Cartwright’s latest victory came here at the Horseshoe in Tunica. He lives across the border in Tennessee, and considers this his home turf. “I’m almost here every weekend playing PLO.”
The tournament began at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday with 457 players. As the tournament wore on into the night, Cartwright started to accumulate a massive chip stack. When play concluded Wednesday with 29 players remaining, he led the field 1,200,000, more than double his closest competitor.
Play resumed at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, and Cartwright maintained his lead when there was only one table left. At the final table, however, a few cracks in his armor began to appear, and at times he relinquished the lead. When there were only two players left – Cartwright and Josh Palmer – Palmer was slightly ahead.
As heads-up play began, Palmer pulled further ahead. “Josh is a great heads-up opponent,” Cartwright said afterward. “He destroyed me for the first 30 minutes. It felt like I couldn’t win a hand. Then I three-outed him and doubled up, and I after that I kept winning.”
Cartwright eventually won the last of Palmer’s chips at about 12:30 a.m.
With this victory, Cartwright crosses the $1,000,000-mark is WSOP & WSOP Circuit earnings. His total now stands at $1,008,422.
Full results from the event are available in the Results Tab, above.Friday, January 29, 2016 12:43 AM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright - 6-time Ring Winner
Kyle Cartwright has eliminated Josh Palmer, and Cartwright is the winner of the Monster Stack Event. He earns $29,484 for the victory.
This is now Cartwright's sixth WSOP Circuit ring, tying him for fifth on the all-time list. He also has one WSOP bracelet.
Palmer (pictured below) takes $18,225 for his runner-up finish. Full results are available in the Results Tab, above.
A full report on Cartwright's win will be posted on Friday.
Josh Palmer - Monster Stack Runner Up
Thursday, January 28, 2016 11:20 PM Local Time
Hugh Thomas Cross
Hugh Thomas Cross has been eliminated in third place. He earns $13,314.
Kyle Cartwright and Josh Palmer are now heads-up for the ring. Palmer hold a slight chip advantage, about 4,900,000 to 4,100,000.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 11:03 PM Local Time
James Ross
James Ross is eliminated in fourth place. He earns $10,021.
He also gets 27.5 points in the Casino Champion race. That puts him in second place with three events to go.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 10:33 PM Local Time
Dustin McMore
Dustin McMore has been eliminated in 5th place, earning $7,507.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:38 PM Local Time
Raymond Lantz has been eliminated in sixth place for $5,662.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 9:35 PM Local Time
Jerry Ard has been eliminated. He earns $4,380 for his 7th place finish.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 8:56 PM Local Time
Marvin Littrell
Marvin Littrell has been eliminated. He finishes in eighth place for $3,437.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 7:52 PM Local Time
The 8 remaining players are now on a dinner break, and play is scheduled to resume at 8:50 p.m.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 5:42 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright
The Monster Stack event is now down to 10 players, and they've combined to a single table.
Kyle Cartwright is continuing his dominating performance, and he retains the chip lead.
Here are the seat assignments and chip counts for the remaining players.
| Seat |
Player |
Chips |
| 1 |
Dustin McMore |
1,266,000 |
| 2 |
Josh Palmer |
980,000 |
| 3 |
Donald Crabtee |
499,000 |
| 4 |
Marvin Littrell |
1,160,000 |
| 5 |
Kyle Cartwright |
2,272,000 |
| 6 |
James Ross |
518,000 |
| 7 |
Kyle Adams |
600,000 |
| 8 |
Jerry Ard |
528,000 |
| 9 |
Raymond Lantz |
601,000 |
| 10 |
Hugh Thomas Cross |
767,000 |
Thursday, January 28, 2016 2:07 PM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright unbags and stacks his chips before Day 2
Cards are in the air for Day 2. There are 29 players remaining in contention for the $29,484 first-place prize
Kyle Cartwright begins Day 2 with a big chip. He has 1,200,000 in chips, more than double the 577,000 of second-place Jeremy Wheeler.
Click here for full start-of-day chip counts.
And click the Results Tab, above, for results so far.
Thursday, January 28, 2016 1:42 AM Local Time
Kyle Cartwright Leads After Day 1
Day 1 of the Monster Stack event is complete, and all remaining players have bagged up their chips. Of the 457 players who started the event, 29 survived to make Day 2.
The chip leader is Kyle Cartwright, who finished Day 1 with 1,200,000. Cartwright already has five Circuit rings on his resume, as well as a WSOP bracelet.
Full chip counts and seat assignments are available here.
Click the Results Tab, above, for results so far.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 11:56 PM Local Time
With just over a minute left in Level 19, the bubble burst. The 54 remaining players are each guaranteed a payout of at least $526.
Results will be posted here when they become available.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 11:16 PM Local Time
As players return from the last break of the night, the clock shows 60 players remaining. The top 54 make the money, and bubble will likely burst soon.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 9:23 PM Local Time
About halfway through Level 16, there are now 100 players remaining, including Bernard Lee, Scott Stewart, Josh Turner, BJ McBrayer (pictured), Paul Sokoloff (pictured), and Kyle Cartwright (pictured).
BJ McBrayer
Paul Sokoloff
Kyle Cartwright
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 5:47 PM Local Time
The Monster Stack tourney is now on dinner break. The clock shows 200 players remaining out of the 457 who started.
Play will resume at approximately 6:45 p.m., and there are nine 40-minute levels before the end of Day 1.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 3:57 PM Local Time
Payout information has been announced.
There are officially 457 players, creating a prizepool of 137,100. The top 54 places will make the money.
A min-cash is worth $526, and the winner will earn $29,484.
Here are the final table payouts. A full list of payouts is available in the Prizepool Tab, above.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 3:32 PM Local Time
Level 9 has begun, and late registration is now closed. There are unofficially 457 players. We'll have an official number soon, along with payout and prize pool information.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 1:50 PM Local Time
Here's a look at a few of the players in the Monster Stack field:
Woody Moore
Josh Turner - Winner of the re-entry event here at Tunica
Bernard Lee
Scott Stewart - Defending Casino Champion
John Holley
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 1:10 PM Local Time
The Monster Stack event already has the biggest single-day field at this Circuit stop. As the end of Level 4 approaches, there are 421 entries, and late registration is available through the end of Level 8 (roughly 3:30 p.m.).