Event #1: $365 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack

Jorge Nieto Wins First Circuit Ring, After a Close Call Two Seasons Ago

Durant, Oklahoma (January 13, 2017) – In the wee hours of the morning on January 13^th, 2017 Jorge Nieto earned not only his first World Series of Poker Circuit ring, but his first ever live tournament win.

Nieto bested a field of 1,096 entries in the $365 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack opening event of the 2016/2017 Circuit series at Choctaw Casino. Nieto came into the final table third in chips, but when they reached the final eight, he was single-handedly responsible for eliminating every one of the players from 7^th place on. 

“I knocked out everybody, 7^th on. There wasn’t really a big hand that occurred, I was just collectin’ chips,” Nieto explained casually.    

This victory came after a very close call during the 2014/2015 Circuit Season when Nieto took second place in the $365 No-Limit Hold’em Event at Harrah’s New Orleans for $11,589.  

Despite the deep runs in WSOP Circuit events, Nieto said that he definitely does not consider himself a professional poker player. In fact, the 24 year old Texan said that he has a full time job as a pipe fitter and boiler maker, and only plays poker in-between jobs. He explained that his work schedule is very similar to that of a World Series of Poker tournament employee. He works for a company that sends him out on a job for maybe six weeks to a few months, and then he is home waiting for his next job assignment. It’s during those in-between periods that he manages to fit in playing a little cash and some tournaments.

Nieto also made it very clear that this win does not change much for him, especially in the way of his job. 

“I won’t ever play poker full time,” Nieto said point-blankly, “I mean, if it was a million dollars that might be different, but it’s just $60,000. I can blow through that in one day.”

“Blacckjack!” Nieto’s friend Derek Robinson chimed in, “Blackjack is his weakness, that’s why there are two of us to get him out of this casino tonight,” Robinson said as Nieto chuckled aloud.

“I don’t even know why I play that game, but I love to hate it. I love it until I lose, and then I am just sick,” Nieto elaborated about his relationship with blackjack.

When Nieto hit the heads up stage of play, he actually had his opponent Jeff Blake 7:1 in chips.  But Blake managed to double more than a few hands to extend play for nearly another full level. The final hand took place when Blake shoved all in holding   , top pair on a board reading      and Nieto called with two pair holding   . Nieto said at that time to the dealer, “Please let him brick on me one time,” referring to the multiple double-ups that had occurred during their heads up match. The   river was safe for Nieto eliminating Blake in second place for $37,062, and awarding Nieto the top prize of $60,005. 

“I feel really good. I have been wanting a ring forever, that’s what I have been playing for. This wasn’t about the money, it was about the ring. Now I will treasure it, and it will remind me of my accomplishment,” Nieto concluded as his friends nodded their heads in agreement.   

“He said that yesterday when he bagged up, that he just wanted the ring. This sure is an accomplishment,” Nieto’s friend Derek Robinson confirmed.    

Below are the results of the final table. Full results from this event are available in the Results tab above. 

1 – Jorge Nieto – $60,005
2 – Jeffrey Blake – $37,062
3 – Rocky Le – $27,540
4 – Cory Smith – $20,714
5 – Justin Jass – $15,773
6 – Maurice Green Jr. – $12,152
7 – Quentin Crossley – $9,473
8 – Pete Petree – $7,467
9 – Joseph Taylor – $5,951

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At the conclusion of this event, Jorge Nieto now leads in the Casino Champion race with 50 points. The player who accumulates the most overall points in the twelve gold ring tournaments at Choctaw Casino earns the title of Casino Champion, and receives an automatic entry into the $1 million 2017 WSOP Global Casino Championship. The winner of the Choctaw Main Event earns an automatic entry to the Global Casino Championship as well. All players who cash in ring events will receive points that apply to both the Casino Champion race and the season-long race to claim one of the 50 at-large Global Casino Championship bids awarded to the top point earners throughout the season. More information on the points system is available on WSOP.com.

Here is the list of gold ring winners from Choctaw so far:

EVENT #1: Jorge Nieto defeated 1,096 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack) for $60,00

With this tournament now wrapped up, there are still 11 more gold ring events before the WSOP Circuit at Choctaw concludes on January 23, 2017.

Rocky Le just got it all in holding    against Jorge Nieto's    on a board reading    . The   turn gave Nieto a full house, and the   river became inconsequential. 

This marks Le's first ever World Series of Poker cash, and he is taking home $27,540.

Rocky Le - 3rd Place - $27,540

Justin Jass - 5th Place - $15,773

Quentin Crossley - 7th Place - $9,473

Joe Taylor's most recent World Series of Poker Circuit cash came in the 2015 New Orleans Re-Entry Event where he took 4th place for $22,198. He has three total WSOP cashes under his belt and two of them have been final tables (including today's appearance).

Joe Taylor - 9th Place - $5,951

About midway through Level 29 the field has been reduced to the final ten players. Each player is guaranteed to earn at least $4,797 but all eyes are on the top prize of more than $60,000 awaiting the champion. Blinds are currently 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 ante, so the 2,192,000 average stack is around 36 big blinds.

Here is a look at how the final table stacks up heading into the home stretch of play:

Seat 1: Jeff Blake - 2,500,000 (41 bb)
Seat 2: Jorge Nieto - 2,875,000 (47 bb)
Seat 3: Teo Rodriguez - 240,000 (4 bb)
Seat 4: Cory 'Gray' Smith - 3,700,000 (61 bb)
Seat 5: Pete Petree - 2,600,000 (43 bb)
Seat 6: Justin Jass - 2,115,000 (35 bb)
Seat 7: Rocky Le - 1,765,000 (29 bb)
Seat 8: Quentin Crossley - 1,220,000 (20 bb)
Seat 9: Joe Taylor - 1,620,000 (27 bb)
Seat 10: Morey Green - 3,005,000 (50 bb)

Level 19 is just beginning, and the round for round that's customary here at Choctaw concluded right before the break after Level 18, leaving the remaining players all in the money. The board shows 112 players remaining, and each of them are now guaranteed a payout of at least $539 to start off their series'.

Blinds are now at 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante. The average stack is currently 195,714.

Players will play three more levels before bagging and tagging for the night. 

Registration has closed for Event #1 here at Choctaw, and the staff has finalized the numbers.

This $365-buy-in monster stack event drew a field of 1,096 players, generating a Monster-sized prizepool of $328,800. That money will be shared by the final 117 players, with a min-cash worth $539. The eventual winner will collect the series' first gold ring, the top prize of $60,005, and 50 Casino Champion qualifier points.

A full breakdown of the payouts can be found in the "Prizepool" tab above.