$400 Monster Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 19: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 Ante
Players Remaining: 35 of 241

Monster Stack Flight A players returned from their last break of the night and they are only six eliminations away from ending their grind. They will stop action when 29 players remain and they will be set for Day 2 on Thursday.

Mark Stephen Edwards is back with us and trying to go back-to-back. He won the Turbo title yesterday for his second career WSOP Circuit ring and a deep run here will move him up the Casino Championship leaderboard.

$400 Monster Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 18: 2,500/5,000 with a 500 Ante
Players Remaining: 54 of 241

We didn’t see the normal quick run for the door after dinner but it happened after the next-to-last break. The tournament clock shows 54 players but they are close to breaking another table to get to 45. That will leave them 16 eliminations away from ending their night and locking the Flight A field for Day 2.

SHRP regular John Gorsuch is setting himself up for another deep run and sits among the leaders with 350,000. He made the Event 5 final table last night and finished sixth before returning today to try again. Gorsuch cashed big last summer during the World Series of Poker when he booked a fourth-place final table finish in the $3,000 Six-Handed event for a six-digit payout.

$400 Monster Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 16: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 Ante
Players Remaining: 72 of 241

We already have five tournaments in the bag for the WSOP Circuit series and we have a couple frontrunners for the Casino Championship playing near each other this evening.

John DePersio burst out of the gates and picked up his second career WSOP Circuit ring in Event 1 and followed that up with an 11th place out of 1,207 entries in Event 2. That is good enough to put him in the lead for the Casino Championship with Tom Bielecky sitting in second.

Bielcecky made the Event 1 final table along with DePersio and finished in fourth place. His follow up to that final table was a fifth place in Event 2 to put him in a dead heat with Martin Ryan, the Event 3 champion.

The Casino Champion will earn a $10,000 seat into the WSOP National Championship along with the WSOP Circuit Coco Main Event winner.

Casino Championship top five:

1. John DePersio – 60 points
2. Tom Bielecky – 52.5 points
3. Martin Ryan – 52.5 points
4. Ryan Weiss – 50 points
5. Mark Stephen Edwards – 50 points

$400 Monster Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 Ante
Players Remaining: 81 of 241

The Monster Stack is taking its time playing down and there are still 81 players remaining with less than four levels to go in the evening. It looks like they will get through 21 full levels before reaching the magic number of 29.

Ian O’Hara is one of those still with us and he joined the tournament not long after a deep run in Event 5. He returned today for the final table but had to settle for a runner-up finish to William Watson for the WSOP Circuit ring. O’Hara has two handfuls of tournament victories with his biggest coming here when he took the 2016 Coco Poker Open Championship title for more than $200,000.

$400 Monster Stack NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13: 800/1,600 with a 200 Ante
Entries: 241

Monster Stack players returned from their hour-long dinner break and registration is now closed for the first of two flights. Flight A drew 241 entries to put the tournament on an easy pace to hit the $100,000 guarantee with nearly $80,000 of it locked up with one more flight running on Wednesday.

They are scheduled to play 21 full levels this evening but they will stop if they field gets down to 12% of the starting field. In this case, that would be 29 players.

September WSOP Circuit
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
Coconut Creek, FL
Event 5
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries: 55
Prize Pool: $18,150
September 17-18, 2018

(Coconut Creek, FL) — William Watson is a World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring champion. The accolade came following a victory in Event 5 at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, a $400 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry tournament, and earned Watson $6,805 to complement his jewelry.

“It was a long time coming. I just finished second in Cherokee a month ago,” Watson said of the win.

The event drew an intimate field of 55 entries and was ripe with Casino Championship points. There were a number of notables in the action including Martin Ryan, Bernard Lee and Wally Maddah. Kicking off at the afternoon hour of 4pm, the event played 18 levels on Day 1. John Gorsuch found the rail in sixth and narrowly missed a Day 2 berth as the final five punched their ticket to another day of play. Greg Paryani bagged the chip lead and restarted the event atop the counts.

The final playing session moved fast with no shortage of double-ups. Matt Bretzfield was first to go in fifth followed by Paryani who hit the skids early. Watson eliminated Karim in third place and took a huge chip lead into heads-up play against South Florida pro Ian O’Hara. O’Hara managed a lone double-up, but ultimately bowed out in second place. O’Hara, a past Coconut Creek champion, moved over $2,150,000 in earnings for his runner-up finish.

Following the win, Watson’s poker resume boasts 26 cashes and more than $185,000 in earnings. He is 29 years old and resides in Louisville, KY.

Full $400 results:

1st: William Watson – $6,805 + WSOP Circuit ring
2nd: Ian O’Hara – $4,211
3rd: Zo Karim – $2,759
4th: Greg Paryani – $1,906
5th: Matt Bretzfield – $1,398
6th: John Gorsuch – $1,071

$400 NLH (Re-Entry) | Payouts
Level 23: 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 55

Ian O’Hara managed to double up during heads-up play, but ultimately met his fate finishing second.

On the final hand, O’Hara was all-in and claimed strong holdings of . Watson’s hand was made, but far from a winner as he turned over for a race.

Runout:

O’Hara never paired and his ace-king high was no good. Watson scooped the tournament’s final pot and went down as the champion earning $6,805. O’Hara was given $4,211 for his second-place finish.

A complete report will be posted later this evening. In the meantime, here’s a look at the tournament’s final results:

1st: William Watson – $6,805 + WSOP Circuit ring
2nd: Ian O’Hara – $4,211
3rd: Zo Karim – $2,759
4th: Greg – Paryani – $1,906
5th: Matt Bretzfield – $1,398
6th: John Gorsuch – $1,071

$400 NLH (Re-Entry) | Payouts
Level 22: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 55

In a blind-versus-blind battle, William Watson (big) and Zo Karim (small) got Karim’s roughly 240,000 chips in the middle preflop.

Watson:
Karim:

Runout:

Karim’s deuces were no good and he hit the rail third leaving Watson and Ian O’Hara to battle heads up.

William Watson – 641,000 (53 bb)
Ian O’Hara – 184,000 (15 bb)
Zo Karim – Eliminated in 3rd place ($2,759)

$400 NLH (Re-Entry) | Payouts
Level 22: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 55

Greg Paryani shoved the small blind and William Watson called from the big. Start-of-day chip leader Paryani was the at-risk player.

Paryani:
Watson:

Runout:

Watson hit a pair giving him the best of it. Paryani was eliminated in fourth place earning $1,906.

William Watson – 400,000 (33 bb)
Greg Paryani – Eliminated in 4th place ($1,906)

$400 NLH (Re-Entry) | Payouts
Level 22: 6,000/12,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 55

Ian O’Hara was under the gun and raised to 20,000. Zo Karim shoved the big blind and O’Hara called.

Karim:
O’Hara:

Runout:

Karim doubled through O’Hara.

———————

A short time late, shortstack O’Hara got his last 113,000 in the middle holding versus Greg Paryani’s . The fell two queens giving O’Hara trips and he never looked back doubling through Paryani.

Ian O’Hara – 231,000 (19 bb)
Zo Karim – 220,000 (18 bb)
Greg Paryani – 91,000 (7 bb)