CLAYTON MAGUIRE WINS WSOP.COM ONLINE NLHE CHAMPIONSHIP

MAGUIRE WINS $1K WSOP.COM ONLINE CHAMPIONSHIP

Las Vegas cash game grinder collects $210,279 top prize in Event #66

WSOP.com online gold bracelet event draws a big field – 1,247 entries

Maguire stages huge comeback and wins see-saw heads-up battle

Former gold bracelet winner Simeon Naydenov, from Bulgaria, finishes as runner up

 
MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET CHAMPION

Name:  Clayton Maguire
Birthplace:  Brighton, Colorado
Current Residence:   Las Vegas, NV
Profession:  Poker Pro
Number of WSOP Cashes:  3
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances:  1
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories (with this tournament):  1
Best Previous WSOP Finish:  44th (2014)
Total WSOP Earnings:  $309,070
Personal Facts:  Prior to this victory, Maguire biggest cash was finishing 44th in the 2014 Main Event Championship

Winner’s Quote:

“I am really happy to win the gold bracelet.  It’s mostly about the money.  But this is a feather in the cap.”


Clayton Maguire is the winner of the 2016 WSOP.com Online No-Limit Hold’em Championship.

The poker player originally from Brighton, Colorado who now resides in Las Vegas won the $1,000 buy-in tournament, which was played both online and live at the Rio in Las Vegas.  The first stage of the tournament took place online at WSOP.com.  Once the final table of six players was determined, those finalists traveled to Las Vegas to play the finale in a live setting.  All players had to be positioned in Nevada to be eligible to participate.

“It was fun to play in a big online tournament,” Maguire said after his victory.  “I used to play a lot online before Black Friday.  I don’t get to play this high very often anymore.”

Maguire collected $210,279 in prize money, making this the biggest win of his career.  However, he’s no stranger to the pressures of going deep in a WSOP event.  Back in 2014, Maguire finished 44th in the $10,000 WSOP Main Event Championship, which paid $186K.  This was his third time to cash in a series event.

The local cash game grinder, who routinely sits in $5-10 and $10-20 blind NLHE cash games, won his victory by coming out on top at a final table which included a strong lineup.  Interestingly, five of the six finalists were based elsewhere and were visiting Nevada.  The final six included players from four different countries, including – Bulgaria, Canada, Hong Kong, and the United States.  However, the lone local player ended up with the victory.

After Canadian Marc Olivier went out third, Maguire held a 2 to 1 chip lead.  He widened the gap and had Bulgarian poker pro Simeon Naydenov on the ropes, and all in several times.  However, Naydenov – who was aiming for his second WSOP gold bracelet victory after winning his first in the $1,500 buy-in NLHE Shootout -- proved to be quite a challenge.

“I had him down for a while, then he won a couple of all ins, then I got super short and started winning,” Maguire said.  “I was down to just a few blinds at one point, so this was pretty amazing.”

The Bulgarian took command and had Maguire down to just two big blinds.  A second WSOP victory was within his grasp, but Maguire proved to be just as tough.  The Las Vegas local fought back and took the lead then scooped the final pot of the tournament versus Naydenov, who finished as the runner up.  His consolation prize amounted to $150,569.

This tourney attracted an online record 1,247 entrants which created a prize pool totaling $1,184,650.  The top 153 finishers collected prize money. 

Aside from the winner, here’s a brief report of the other top finishers who made the final table:

Second Place:  Simeon Naydenov, from Sofia, Bulgaria finished as the runner up.  He was paid $150,569.  This was Naydenov’s 16th time to cash at the series.  He’s one of only two Bulgarians to win WSOP titles.

Third Place:  Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault, from Montreal, QB (Canada) finished in third place, which paid $110,172.  Carpentier-Perrault now has four cashes at the WSOP.

Fourth Place:  Spencer Taylor, from Knoxville, TN came in fourth, which paid out $82,926.  This was his second cash in a series event.

Fifth Place:  Richard Tuhrim, from New York, NY ended up as the fifth-place finisher.  He earned $59,233.  This was his sixth time to cash at this year’s series, and ninth in-the-money finish overall.

Sixth Place:  Park-Yu “Sparrow” Cheung came in sixth, which was worth $46,201.  He’s had an impressive series, finishing in-the-money nine times in 2016.

This was the 66th official event on this year’s schedule.  This leaves just two more gold bracelet events still to go at the 2016 WSOP, including the Main Event Championship, which runs through July 18th.


OTHER NOTABLE IN-THE MONEY FINISHERS: 

Thiago Nishijima, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was the highest finisher among former gold bracelet winners.  He finished in 9th place.

Billy Baxter, a seven-time gold bracelet winner and member of the Poker Hall of Fame, finished in 15th place.

Dan Kelly, a two-time gold bracelet winner, finished 18th.

Ryan Welch, a gold bracelet winner, came in 34th.

Other notables who finished beyond the top 50 included – Amanda Musumeci, Todd Brunson, Valentin Vornicu, Shannon Shorr, Max Greenwood, Moshin Charania, Matt Affleck, Joshua Beckley, Justin Young, Greg Merson, Phil Collins, Brian Hastings, Noah Bronstein, Roland Israelashvili, and Rich Zhu.

 

EVENT DIRECT LINKS:

For this event’s official final results (listing all players who finished in-the-money), please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/results.asp?grid=1232&tid=14966

For Clayton Maguire’s official player profile page, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/players/playerprofile.asp?playerID=107120

For the live reporting logs for this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/updates.asp?grid=1232&tid=14966

To access licensed images from this all other 2016 WSOP gold bracelet events, please visit:
www.pokerphotoarchive.com

For the live stream archive of this event, please visit:
http://www.wsop.com/videos/?vcat=2
(Note: Will appear 48 hours after event concludes)