$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 7: 200/400 with a 50 Ante Flight A Entries: 218
Wally Maddah
Wally Maddah is in the midst of his 2018 WSOP Circuit debut. The Tampa area grinder is perhaps the most recognizable of all the Seminole regulars. By his own account, he owns 99 Seminole cashes — 50 in his home room in Tampa, 47 in Hollywood and two here in Coconut Creek. Do that math and that puts him one shy of 100 Seminole cashes.
He’s put a few entries toward a cash here in the $400 re-entry, but still has a long way to go to nab the elusive 100th.
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 5: 100/200 with a 25 Ante Flight A Entries: 207
Curtis Daye
The first break wrapped just about 15 minutes ago and the field has piled in nicely here for the $300,000 guarantee. Curtis Daye has enjoyed some of the best fortune during the early going and finds himself with about 55,000 chips and toward the top of the counts. Daye has a tough table with South Florida regulars Zoltan Czinkota and Elliot Zaydman facing off against him.
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 3: 75/150 Flight A Entries: 168
Mike Laake
Mike Laake made the short trek southeast to join the action here in Coconut Creek. Laake is one of Seminole Gaming’s best poker supporters and has carded more than $950,000 in wins during his on-felt career. His resume boasts a number of cashes at the Hollywood and Tampa properties, but just a few here in Coconut Creek. He’s a part of the Flight A field and looking for a strong score that would likely push him in to seven-figure territory for career earnings.
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 2: 50/100 Flight A Entries: 118
Level 1 wrapped and the field has grown nicely since kickoff just 30 minutes ago. As is, nearly 120 entries are in the game and searching for a gold ring along with a share of $300,000 guaranteed. The South Florida showing is strong with Lou Stadler, Nagui Yassa, Mike Laake and Herbert Woodbery in the early going.
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $300,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 1: 25/50 Flight A Entries: 61
It’s 11am in South Florida and cards are in the air for Flight A of Event 2 of the World Series of Poker Circuit at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek. The $400 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Re-Entry event boasts a $300,000 guarantee and four starting flights. Players begin with 15,000 chips and each flight permits 12 levels of re-entry.
Details:
11AM: Event 2 Day 1A – $400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$300,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 15,000 in chips
Day 1 levels last 30 minutes; Day 2 levels last 45 minutes
Late registration available until start of Level 13
Day 1 will end after Level 18 or Tournament Director discretion
September WSOP Circuit Seminole Casino Coconut Creek Event 1 $400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed Entries: 243 Prize Pool: $80,190 September 13, 2018
John DePersio wins Event 1 WSOP Circuit ring
The WSOP Circuit Coconut Creek series kicked off with a big opening tournament that cruised past its $50,000 guaranteed prize pool. There were 243 entries in the one-day ring event and Coco Poker regular John DePersio dominated late to win the first title of the series along with $19,649.
Those 243 entries pushed the prize pool over $80,000 and the tournament paid out the last 27 spots. The stacks were deep and the structure paced to give them plenty of play for their buy-in. There were still 72 players around when registration closed after the dinner break but they quickly played down to the bubble.
Two-time WSOP bracelet winner and former WPT Player of the Year Ben Zamani took care of the money bubble in a cooler with kings versus queens. He knocked one player out in the three-way pot and the remaining 27 players were in the money.
Plenty of local regulars cashed in the first tournament of the series including Carey Pickus, Andrew Blake, Luke Doolittle, Errol Rosen, Michael Kopjanski, John Gorsuch, and WSOP bracelet/WSOP Circuit winner Tristan Wade.
None of them would make it to the final table where DePersio entered with a big chip advantage. He knocked Zamani and former Seminole Hard Rock Poker Player of the Year Ory Hen out in one hand and followed that up with a knockout of Haim Toorgeman, the second biggest stack.
It was not a wire-to-wire win for DePersio. Both Michael Ortiz and Rodney Moret-Rojas spent some time with the lead but big hands kept coming DePersio’s way at opportune times. Ortiz took a bad beat from Moret-Rojas to finish in third place and the heads-up battle began with near identical stacks.
Both DePersio and Moret-Rojas were going for their second career WSOP Circuit ring and it was DePersio taking the top prize when he cracked kings for the title. Moret-Rojas picked up his first ring earlier this year during our first WSOP Circuit series but had to settle for the $12,139 second-place prize.
DePersio added another ring to his collection and he continues a nice run. He has only cashed in three WSOP Circuit events but all finished at a final table and two with a title.
Congratulations to John and thanks to all the players for a great start to the series.
Event 1 results:
1st: John DePersio – $19,649 + WSOPC ring 2nd: Rodney Moret-Rojas – $12,139 3rd: Michael Ortiz – $8,770 4th: Tom Bielecky – $6,454 5th: Nagui Yassa – $4,835 6th: Jorge Gomez – $3,685 7th: David Moreno – $2,855 8th: Haim Toorgeman – $2,248 9th: Ory Hen – $1,798 10th: Ben Zamani – $1,460 11th: Chris Conrad – $1,460 12th: John Gorsuch – $1,460 13th: Jean Mimy – $1,204 14th: Michael Kopjanski – $1,204 15th: Kenneth Isaacs – $1,204 16th: Tristan Wade – $1,009 17th: Harvey Freedman – $1,009 18th: Luke Doolittle – $1,009 19th: Theo Tran – $858 20th: Charlies Rizzo – $858 21st: Andrew Blake – $858 22nd: Evan Kahan – $740 23rd: Errol Rosen – $740 24th: Brian Tansy – $740 25th: Matthew Bianchini – $648 26th: Michael Pasaribu – $648 27th: Carey Pickus – $648
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed | Payouts Level 29: 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 Ante
John DePersio
Only a few hands into the new level, John DePersio opened his button, Rodney Moret-Rojas three-bet, and DePersio moved all in with his chip leading stack. Moret-Rojas quickly called with a monster.
Moret-Rojas: DePersio:
DePersio had an over card and paired his ace on the flop. The turn was no help to Moret-Rojas and the river closed out the tournament. Moret-Rojas fell short of his second WSOP Circuit ring and earned $12,139 while DePersio won his second along with $19,649.
Congratulations to John and a tournament recap will come later this morning.
1st: John DePersio – $19,649 + WSOPC ring 2nd: Rodney Moret-Rojas – $12,139
$400 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed | Payouts Level 29: 30,000/60,000 with a 10,000 Ante Players Remaining: 2 of 243
With no major pots, John DePersio continued to extend his lead as they moved into Level 29. They decided to forgo the scheduled break and continue to play it out.
flop. The 
turn was no help to Moret-Rojas and the 
river closed out the tournament. Moret-Rojas fell short of his second WSOP Circuit ring and earned $12,139 while DePersio won his second along with $19,649.
