2018 World Series of Poker Circuit
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Coconut Creek, Florida
Event 2
$365 No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry
$300,000 Guarantee
Entries: 1,766
Prize Pool: $529,800
February 9-12, 2018

Event 2 of the first-ever World Series of Poker Circuit at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek ($365 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry) concluded Monday afternoon following four days of action. Coming out on top of the 1,766-entry field was Alfred Karlsson of Sweden. Karlsson, 24, earned $86,067 along with his first gold ring.

“It feels great,” Karlsson said. “I’ve never won a live tournament before. It’s a really great feeling. It might be the biggest [accomplishment][of][my][career].”

Karlsson plays poker professionally and concentrates much of his efforts on online tournaments. He came to South Florida on vacation and entered Event 2 only at the urging of his friend’s girlfriend.

“I wasn’t going to play any poker, but I ended up doing it,” Karlsson said. “I don’t regret it.”

The victory came following four grueling days of play. The playdown stages began Sunday at 12pm on the heels of Friday and Saturday’s starting flights with 205 still in. It took about 15 hours to reach heads up play. From there, Karlsson and the eventual runner-up, Karthik Ramakrishnan, dueled back and forth for about two hours before staff bagged and tagged them to return for a decisive day of play Monday. Well rested and ready to go, they came back and played another 90 minutes before Karlsson put the finishing touches on his feat.

“I don’t really like live poker — It’s too slow,” he laughed. “Maybe now I’ll start liking it a bit more.”

Joining Karlsson in the money were notables Neil Blumenfield, Mike Laake, Loni Harwood and Phil Hui. For Karlsson, the win marked his sixth live cash — first in the States — and moved him just shy of $200,000 in live earnings.

With 1,766 entries, Event 2 handily bested its $300,000 guarantee. The prize pool topped out at $529,800 and saw the top 189 finish in the money. It kicked off the first-ever WSOP Circuit at Coconut Creek and sets the tone in a big way heading in to next weekend’s $1,000,000 guaranteed Main Event.

Event 2 final results:

1st: Alfred Karlsson – $86,067 + Gold ring
2nd: Karthik Ramakrishnan – $53,505
3rd: Joshua Richison – $39,873
4th: Byron Schenk – $30,209
5th: Joe Carrafa – $23,142
6th: Paul Louis – $17,918
7th: Scott Vetter – $14,024
8th: Carlo Buzzetta – $11,089
9th: Josh Wasserman – $8,864

10th: Morris Funk – $7,158
11th: Rogerlio Padilla – $7,158
12th: Daniel Barnes – $7,158
13th: Richard Fortner – $5,838
14th: Alejandro Armas – $5,838
15th: Jermaine Phang – $5,838
16th: Steven Carswell – $4,811
17th: Santana Noronha – $4,811
18th: John Roverto – $4,811
19th: Craig Witz – $4,005
20th: Mike Policastro – $4,005
21st: Matthew Howard – $4,005
22nd: Joseph Casella – $3,370
23rd: Matthew Zarcadoolas – $3,370
24th: Kevin Deng – $3,370
25th: Riley Fuller – $2,861
26th: Boris Kasabov – $2,861
27th: David Inselberg – $2,861
28th: Anthony Sementelli – $2,453
29th: Kelly Slay – $2,453
30th: Neil Blumenfield – $2,453
31st: Uri Tenenboim – $2,124
32nd: Vittario Iemolo – $2,124
33rd: Mark Edwards – $2,124
34th: Michael Del Prete – $1,854
35th: Jeffrey Moore – $1,854
36th: Kyle Taddei – $1,854
37th: Robert Transue – $1,637
38th: Michael Goldfarb – $1,637
39th: Phil Knapic – $1,637
40th: Vito Polera – $1,637
41st: Trung Van – $1,637
42nd: Allan Bieler – $1,637
43rd: Sherry Kittay – $1,637
44th: Shea Smith – $1,637
45th: Yigal Hen – $1,637
46th: Michael Newman – $1,457
47th: Aaron Young – $1,457
48th: Maurice Costigan – $1,457
49th: Wally Maddah – $1,457
50th: Carlo Rodriguez – $1,457
51st: Erik Christensen – $1,457
52nd: Dmitry Savelyev – $1,457
53rd: Matt White – $1,457
54th: Edward Lark – $1,457
55th: Casey Kaplan – $1,309
56th: Steven Lake – $1,309
57th: Bruce Philips – $1,309
58th: Ricardo Eyzaguirre – $1,309
59th: Greg Kolo – $1,309
60th: Alan Leon – $1,309
61st: Daniel Couzens – $1,309
62nd: Michael Foley – $1,309
63rd: Howard Becks – $1,309
64th: Ira Schwartz – $1,187
65th: Jay Klitzner – $1,187
66th: Nicholas Chiapetta – $1,187
67th: Kenneth Bruno – $1,187
68th: Brandon Burkenfeld – $1,187
69th: Mike Laake – $1,187
70th: Mark Dube – $1,187
71st: John Shepherd – $1,187
72nd: Elizabeth Nugent – $1,187
73rd: Evan Young – $1,086
74th: Benjamin Sriqui – $1,086
75th: Damion Loli – $1,086
76th: Kareem Bernardo – $1,086
77th: Mark Cannon – $1,086
78th: Matthew Reed – $1,086
79th: Jack Battaglla – $1,086
80th: Lewis Lurie – $1,086
81st: Scott Wyler – $1,086
82nd: Scott Williams – $996
83rd: Bienvenido Santiago – $996
84th: Robert Kessler – $996
85th: Jorge Aristizabal – $996
86th: David Longuil – $996
87th: Gregory Marcus – $996
88th: John Thorpe – $996
89th: Raminder Singh – $996
90th: Israel Tzivin – $996
91st: Giovanni Quintero – $917
92nd: Manuel Toribio – $917
93rd: William Scarsdale – $917
94th: Kip Deloria – $917
95th: Robert Golden – $917
96th: Loni Harwood – $917
97th: Pedro Diaz – $917
98th: Robert Wido – $917
99th: Stephen Harris – $917
100th: Alan Percal – $842
101st: Robert Urquhart – $842
102nd: Steve Raeman – $842
103rd: Anthony Berouty – $842
104th: Kobi Ribak – $842
105th: Christopher Mandousaridis – $842
106th: Ryan Rackleff – $842
107th: Ariel Rosello Quintana – $842
108th: Ryan Jaworski – $842
109th: Manny Minaya – $842
110th: Brian Reilly – $842
111th: Shawn Clark, Sr. – $842
112th: Anthony Cicali – $842
113th: Joseph Conti – $842
114th: Andrew Thompson – $842
115th: Solange Lucas – $842
116th: Michael Garcia – $842
117th: Haralambos Sideris Sansiviero – $842
118th: Lazaro Castellon – $774
119th: Aldring Gomez Torres – $774
120th: Richard Whitebrook – $774
121st: Daniel Jones – $774
122nd: Brandon Duvdivani – $774
123rd: Samuel Uwich – $774
124th: Danny Calway-Fagen – $774
125th: John McCarthy – $774
126th: Henry Billete – $774
127th: Harjinder Chawla – $774
128th: Luis Mantilla – $774
129th: Ethiel Garcia – $774
130th: Rex Schuman – $774
131st: Eric Beringer – $774
132nd: Mario Corrales – $774
133rd: Stephen Thomas – $774
134th: Lery Jones, Jr. – $774
135th: Charles Reed – $774
136th: Francois Zayas – $710
137th: Errol Massey – $710
138th: Adam Weinberg – $710
139th: Christopher Halkitis – $710
140th: Justin Lee – $710
141st: Jose Reyes – $710
142nd: John Stevenson – $710
143rd: Sebastian Gallego – $710
144th: Mitchell Smith – $710
145th: Andrew Kaplan – $710
146th: Alfredo Araujo – $710
147th: Emanuel Ibarry Quinonez – $710
148th: Eric Polirer – $710
149th: Phil Hui – $710
150th: Jonathan Williams – $710
151st: Joaquin Sosa – $710
152nd: Agop Rustemoglu – $710
153rd: Lacy Wills – $710
154th: Richard Shtrax – $652
155th: Gary Levinger – $652
156th: Jacobo Fernandez-Hernandez – $652
157th: Carlos Garcia – $652
158th: Tolga Camadan – $652
159th: Vincent Devita – $652
160th: Femi Fashakin – $652
161st: Greg Inman – $652
162nd: Dafney Adisson – $652
163rd: Michael Larkin – $652
164th: Ronnie Plyler – $652
165th: Gerald Fehr – $652
166th: Jack Rolnitzky – $652
167th: Carlos Hostos Musso – $652
168th: Frank Scala – $652
169th: Edward Mallon – $652
170th: Seth Gilson – $652
171st: Paul Balzano – $652
172nd: Antonio Rey – $599
173rd: David Carpenter – $599
174th: Steven Richardson – $599
175th: Jonathan Gold – $599
176th: Jonathan Marks – $599
177th: Jeff Kessler – $599
178th: James Sullivan – $599
179th: Randolph Spain – $599
180th: Tim Shane – $599
181st: Frank Muir – $599
182nd: Rodrigo Araujo – $599
183rd: Joseph Buonodono – $599
184th: Jorge Gomez – $599
185th: Zoltan Czinkota – $599
186th: Carlos Sanchez Vegas – $599
187th: Jeremy Pappano – $599
T189th: Jonathan Ounjian – $299.50
T189th: Franklin Lacava – $299.50
T189th: John Dermody – $299.50
T189th: George Davis – $299.50