Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold'em

Event #4
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $300 (+$65)
Total Entries: 179
Prize Pool: $53,700

Leon Gao scores his first career WSOP ring and first WSOP cash.

MILWAUKEE (February 7, 2017) -- Leon Gao has just won Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold'em for $14,500. He defeated a 179-player field to secure the gold ring and his first career WSOP cash.

"It feels good. I took the whole week off just for the series and I really wanted to win one ring," said Gao.

He has been hitting the felt hard so far this series and has played in three of the first four events. He busted twice in the re-entry event and the fell short of the money again in Event #2: $580 No-Limit Hold'em.

Gao said that his sleep schedule was a little off since he normally sleeps in the mornings and gets up in the afternoons. Now that the series is a few days in he has managed to get on a better sleep schedule for the tournaments.

"This was the first one that I was actually kind of rested and well prepared for," said Gao.

Gao was in the United Kingdom last year for nine months for business. There he spent a lot of his free time playing poker tournaments online and improving his game. He said that the fields online are really tough and he lost $4,000 playing, but he learned a lot and it made him a much better player.

"I played roughly four to six tournaments a day," said Gao.

Besides playing online, Gao played in a few live tournaments while in Europe. He said he cashed in two smaller events, but failed to ever make the money in some of the bigger ones he played in.

Gao lives in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. He travels the two hours to play at Potawatomi on the weekends about three times a month. However, for the series he plans on staying through the whole week and next weekend to continue playing in more events.

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Event #4 was the fourth of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at Potawatomi. The $365 no-limit hold'em tournament attracted 179 players generating a $53,700 prize pool. The top 18 players were paid.

Day 1 began Monday at 11 a.m. and lasted 21 levels. Day 2 began Tuesday at 2 p.m. with six players remaining. The tournament ended at about 3:30 p.m. near the end of Level 22.

Final table results:

1st: Leon Gao - $14,500 + Circuit gold ring
2nd: Leonardo Loconte - $8,960
3rd: Chad Graves - $6,450
4th: Sam Rameshk - $4,727
5th: Scott Moses - $3,526
6th: Kyle Kramer - $2,676
7th: Daniel Dombrowski - $2,065
8th: James Ahlers - $1,620
9th:Steven Pedlow - $1,292

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

Leonardo Loconte has finished runner-up for just shy of $9,000. This was Loconte's third cash of the series.

Leonardo Loconte - Eliminated in 2nd place

Sam Rameshk was eliminated in 4th place for $4,727. Rameshk entered the final table with just 12 big blinds and as the short stack. He managed to ladder up all the way to 4th before being eliminated.

Sam Rameshk - Eliminated in 4th place

Kyle Kramers has been the first player eliminated on Day 2. His 6th place finish earned him $2,676. This marked Kramer's fifth career Circuit cash and first final table.

Kyle Kramer - Eliminated in 6th place

Dan Dombrowski hit the rail in 7th place for $2,065. This makred Dombrowski's fourth career Circuit cash and second at this series. He finished in 27th place last night in Event #3: $365 No-Limit Hold'em (30-minute levels).

Dan Dombrowski - Eliminated in 7th place

Steven Pedlow has been eliminated in 9th place. Pedlow is a statistician from Orland Park, Illinois. His 9th place finish earned him $1,292 and his fifth career Circuit cash.

Steven Pedlow - Eliminated in 9th place

The field has been reduced to the final 10 players and the tournament staff is conducting the unofficial final table redraw. The final 10 players are all guaranteed to go home with at the least the 10th place money of $1,047. The eventual champion will earn $14,500, a WSOP Circuit gold ring and 50 Casino Championship points.

Final table seating assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1: Boshuang Gao - 246,500 (49 bb)
Seat 2: Leonardo Loconte - 115,000 (23 bb)
Seat 3: James Ahlers - 189,000 (37 bb)
Seat 4: Steven Pedlow - 129,500 (25 bb)
Seat 5: Kyle Kramer - 177,000 (35 bb)
Seat 6: Scott Moses - 252,000 (50 bb)
Seat 7: Dan Dombrowski - 397,000 (79 bb)
Seat 8: Sam Rameshk - 64,000 (12 bb)
Seat 9: Chad Graves - 142,000 (28 bb)
Seat 10: Scott Quimby - 89,000 (17 bb)

- 7 minutes remain in Level 18: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante

The tension in the room is starting to rise as the money bubble is only elimination away. Currently 20 players remain and only the top 18 will cash. It is a big money bubble too. The 18th place finisher will earn $720, which is nearly twice the buy-in, while 19th place and 20th place will get nothing.

Once one more player is eliminated hand-for-hand play will begin. Play will then go back to normal once the money is reached. The results will be posted online as players hit the rail in the money.