Event #6: $365 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed

Retired Virginia fisherman lands a ring and $15k for two days of work

George Rowe is the newest first-time winner on the WSOP Circuit. Rowe outlasted a field of 186 entries to win the $365 six-max event at Horseshoe Baltimore, collecting his first gold ring and a career-best payday of $15,348.

The champ is a 60-year-old retired fisherman from Gloucester, Virginia — just across the river from Williamsburg and Yorktown. “I’ve worked in the water most of my life,” he said. “Scallopin’, oysterin’, crabbin’, fishin’… traveling up and down the coast with my father.”

An accident on the job in 2011 left Rowe in rough shape, though. He injured his back, and some complications thereafter ultimately led to him being placed into a coma for 16 days. “They gave me a two percent chance to make it,” he said. “That was six years ago.”

Rowe was 54 at the time of the injury, and he took it as his cue to take a bit of a step back. “That was the end of work,” he said. “Now I thoroughly take advantage of every opportunity to do something I love to do every day.”

That means fishing on most days, but every now and then, it means a game of poker, too. “I love coming up here,” he said. “I was so glad to see they had tournaments running. You meet so many good people. It’s just such a great bunch.”

Rowe has been playing the game since he was just a boy, learning the rules from his family’s social group. “I used to be around a bunch of friends of mine,” he explained. “The older people played poker, and some of them would drink too much, so I’d sit down and play their hands for them. That’s how I learned.”

The games were different back then, but Rowe has done his best to adapt to the new forms of poker, too. “When Texas Hold’em came about, I noticed you have to have a lot of patience,” he said. ?“It really is a game of patience.”

Rowe’s patience was on display fairly deep in the tournament when his stack was decimated down to just 5,000 chips — half a starting stack and barely a single big blind — in Level 16 of the day. He doubled up on consecutive hands to spark the comeback, though, and he entered the six-handed final table essentially tied for the chip lead a short while later.

He held that lead for a long while, but Ian Davis started to pull away from his final two opponents during three-handed play. Rowe eliminated Luke Springer in third place, though, taking Springer’s chips into the heads-up match with Davis. A few hands in, Rowe landed a big pot to inch into the lead, and the match was over a few hands thereafter.

Rowe credits his friend and mentor, Randy, for helping teach him the finer points of the game, and Randy was the first to send his congratulations via text message. “I know these young guns play hard,” Rowe said. “but some of us older guys play smart.

Regarding the rest of the week, Rowe said he’ll be back at Horseshoe Baltimore for the Seniors Event on Sunday, but that’s as much poker as he’s willing to commit to for the near future. “Striper season just came in at home,” he smiled.

George Rowe opens the button to 57,000, and Ian Davis defends his big blind.

The flop is    . Davis checks, Rowe continues for the same 57,000, and Davis calls. The turn is the  . Davis leads out for 125,000, and Rowe moves all in for 643,000 total. "I've got a three-hour drive," he says, glancing at his watch as his opponent ponders.

Davis spends a couple minutes in the tank, standing up to kneel on his chair at one point. "I don't understand," he says quietly. "What does this mean?" Eventually, he surrenders his cards into the muck, and Rowe wins the pot with no showdown.

The chip lead changes hands during that exchange, with Rowe edging in front of Davis.

George Rowe - 1,004,000 (42 bb)
Ian Davis - 856,000 (36 bb)

One level of Day 2 action has been put in the books, and it was quite a productive level for Ian Davis.

Davis entered the day with the shortest of the three remaining stacks, but he wasted little time trending toward the top. He found an early double-up through Luke Springer with pocket aces, and he's gone on to inch into the chip lead with just over 900,000 of the 1.86 million chips in play.

Springer, on the other hand, is now dangerously short with less than 10 big blinds left as they move to 8,000/16,000 blinds with a 2,000 ante.

David Aker was eliminated in 14th place, Michael Cooper in 13th, and the field is in the process of redrawing for new seats around the final two tables. Blinds are 2,000/4,000 with a 500 ante as Level 16 begins, putting the average stack close to 40 big blinds. Everyone left is guaranteed to earn at least $940, and it looks like there's a reasonable chance of playing all the way to a winner this evening.

T.M. Williams, Molly Mossey, and five-time WSOP final tablist Tim Finne are among the remaining players.

The starting field of 186 entries has been reduced to 42 players as Level 12 concludes. They're on a one-hour dinner break, set to return to action at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Level 8 has just begun, and this represents the last chance to join (or re-join) the Event #6 field. There is a break following this level, after which registration will close. There are 174 entries so far.

Wednesday's lone ring event is the perfect tournament for those who enjoy a little extra elbow room at the tables. The $365 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Max is always a popular event on the WSOP Circuit, and this edition figures to be no exception.

New York grinder Jeremy Perez won this event the last time around, defeating a field of 202 entries to collect his first gold ring and nearly $17,000 in cash. A similar turnout is anticipated this time around.

Here are the details for this event:

• This is a two-day event
• Players begin with 10,000 in tournament chips
• Late registration and unlimited re-entries are available until the start of Level 9 (3:30 p.m.)
• Levels 1-12 are 30 minutes apiece
• Levels 13-21 are 40 minutes apiece
• Day 1 concludes after Level 21

Cards go in the air at 11 a.m.