Event #8: $365 No-Limit Hold'em

Event #8
No-Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $300 (+$65)
Total Entries: 376
Prize Pool: $112,800

Chris Leong goes wire-to-wire to win his fourth career WSOP Circuit gold ring.

LAS VEGAS (February 24, 2017) -- Chris Leong has defeated a 376-player field in Event #8: $365 No-Limit Hold'em at the Rio Circuit for his fourth career WSOP Circuit gold ring and the top prize of $24,812. This was Leong's second gold ring of the 2016/2017 season. He won the six max event at Foxwoods last August for $19,665.

Leong now has accumulated 167.5 Global Casino Championship points on the Circuit this season, which should be enough points for him to finish as one of the top 50 point earners on the season. For finishing in top 50, Leong will earn a seat to the 2017 Global Casino Championship, where he will compete for a piece of the $1 million guaranteed prizepool and a gold bracelet.

"I was thinking of going to NOLA if I didn't qualify, but now that I did, I might skip that," said Leong.

Leong plans on playing the $1,675 Rio Main Event, which begins tomorrow. If history is any indicator of future performance, a bet on Leong would pay high dividends. In the past when Leong has won a gold ring, he has followed it up with another deep run later in the series.

Leong won his first gold ring at the 2013 Caesars Atlantic City stop. Just four days after the win, he won his second career gold ring and second of the series. Earlier this season Leong followed up his gold ring victory at Foxwoods with a runner-up finish the very next day.

"Every couple of months I'll go through a little heater," said Leong. "I'm a pretty lucky guy, I'm not gonna lie."

Leong was happy with the way he played this tournament. He said that it was possibly the best poker he had ever played. Leong maintained the chip lead through most of the tournament once the money was reached. He bagged as the end of Day 1 chip leader with 18 players remaining. Right behind Leong in the end of Day 1 chip counts was Jeremy Meacham.

"I was the clear chip leader at my table and Jeremy was the clear chip leader at his table," said Leong entering Day 2 with the chip lead. "I know Jeremy, not personally, but I know who he is. I know he is a competent player, so I knew it would probably be us two heads up at the end."

Leong was right about him and Meacham meeting heads up for the ring. Both players steadily grew their chip stacks throughout Day 2. When the unofficial final table of 10 players was reached, Leong was still first in chips and Meacham still second. The two players combined had nearly half of the chips in play with 10 players left.

Once heads up, Leong and Meacham battled for about an hour before Leong was able to deliver the final blow. Meacham earned $15,335 for his runner-up finish.

Leong's impressive WSOP resume continues to grow with this win. He now has 18 WSOP cashes totaling more than $185,000. Leong has reached seven WSOP final tables, including making the final table of a 2016 $1k no-limit hold'em event at the summer series.

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Event #8 was the eighth of 13 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at the Rio. The $365 no-limit hold'em tournament attracted 376 players generating a $112,800 prize pool. The top 45 players were paid.

Day 1 began Thursday at noon and lasted 20 levels. Day 2 began Friday at 1 p.m. with 18 players remaining. The tournament ended at about 8:45 p.m.

Final table:

1st: Chris Leong - $24,812 + Circuit gold ring
2nd: Jeremy Meacham - $15,335
3rd: Chris Herrin - $11,206
4th: Samvel Mkrtychian - $8,320
5th: Mark Kehrees - $6,274
6th: Jordan Handrich - $4,802
7th: Cary Marshall - $3,729
8th: Lawrence Masi - $2,937
9th: Jacob Battenberg - $2,346

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

Jeremy Meacham finished runner-up for $15,335.

Chris Herrin has been eliminated in 3rd place for $11,206, leaving Chris Leong and Jeremy Meacham heads up for the gold ring. Leong and Meacham are now taking a one-hour dinner break.

Mark Kehrees is headed to the payout desk in 5th place to collect $6,274. This was Kehrees' 11th career WSOP cash. It was third career WSOP final table and best finish in a WSOP event.

Two-time gold ring winner Cary Marshall has been eliminated in 7th place for $3,729.

This marked the pro poker players 31st WSOP cash 10th final table. Marshall was the winner of the 2012 Harveys Lake Tahoe Main Event. He defeated a 422-player field to earn $139,260 and his first career WSOP gold ring.

Jacob Battenberg is headed to the payout desk in 9th place to collect $2,346. This marked Battenberg's 5th career WSOP cash and 2nd final table.

The tournament has worked its way down to the final 10 players. The tournament staff is redrawing the remaining players to the unofficial final table. All players remaining are guaranteed a minimum payout of $1,900.

Unofficial final table seating assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1: Chris Leong - 1,065,000 (66 bb)
Seat 2: Lawrence Masi - 219,000 (13 bb)
Seat 3: Jacob Battenberg - 50,000 (3 bb)
Seat 4: Jordan Handrich - 356,000 (22 bb)
Seat 5: Cary Marshall - 161,000 (10 bb)
Seat 6: Samuel Mkrtychian - 235,000 (14 bb)
Seat 7: Jeremy Meacham - 610,000 (38 bb)
Seat 8: Mark Kehress - 525,000 (32 bb)
Seat 9: Sean Ryan  - 152,000 (9 bb)
Seat 10: Chris Herrin - 430,000 (26 bb)

- 30 minutes remain in Level 23: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante

Event #8 is now on its first break. There are currently 290 entries (with 250 players remaining), and late-registration/re-entry will remain open until the start of Level 9 (roughly 4:30 p.m.)

Six-time ring winner Vincent Moscati is among the players in the Event #8 field.