World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Day 3: Jewell Shines Brightest with Victory!
Everyone knew that playing from 16 players to a winner would take awhile and there surely was no disappointment in that matter for Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Hammond Main Event. Play kicked off at 2:00 p.m. local time in Hammond, Indiana and concluded the following day at 4:15 a.m. in the morning. When it was all said and done, Kurt Jewell emerged victorious!
The eliminations came pretty quickly at the beginning and before anyone was able to blink a few times, the players were redrawing to one ten-handed table. That single last table of play came after Kevin Ammerman hit the rail in 11th place after his A♣K♥ went down to the A♦10♦ for Nick Jivkov.
Jewell led the final ten players, staying in the top spot after starting the day there. He wasn’t the one who did the deed of setting the official final table though. That task was completed by Edwin Choi when he eliminated Matthew Shepsky with a straight. Shepsky held a set when the money went in on the turn and couldn’t fill up on the river.
Shortly after the official final table was set, Casey Hayes was next to go in ninth place. Choi had limped under the gun with the A♦K♠ and Hayes jammed the A♥J♥ from the next seat. Choi made the call and went on to flop a king to send Hayes out the door. Another 15 minutes or so went by before Daniel Cohen exited. Cohen ran A♥K♥ into Jared Kenworthy’s pocket aces to bust and he took home nearly $30,000 for his eighth-place finish.
Next to hit the rail was Bryan Devonshire. He came into the day looking to claim his second WSOP Circuit Main Event title after having won the Rincon event last season. Devonshire went out in seventh place though and it wasn’t in the least bit pretty.
Choi limped from the small blind and Devonshire raised to 170,000 from the big blind. Choi reraised to 395,000 and then Devonshire moved all in for 950,000. After tanking for a bit, Choi made the call and tabled the powerful 8♣2♣. Devonshire held the real hand though with the K♠K♦. Unfortunately for Devonshire, the flop came down 8♦4♥2♦ and gave Choi two pair. The turn was the Q♠ and the river the 10♦ to finish things off and send Devonshire out the door with a $37,047 consolation prize.
Will “Monkey” Souther got crippled prior to Devonshire busting, but thanks to Choi’s ninja-like skills on the flop to steal one from Devonshire, he earned a money jump. His increase in pay would only go so far as one spot when Souther was then eliminated in sixth place. He ran the A♥J♦ into Choi’s pocket kings. Those kings did the opposite of what they did for Devonshire and held up this time to propel Choi to the chip lead.
A good amount of time passed before the next elimination happened. The player to exit in fifth place was Jivkov. He three-bet shoved the Q♣8♣ from the small blind after Choi raised from the button. Choi happened to have the mother of all hands with two aces and the rest was history.
With Jivkov hitting the rail at just after 10:00 p.m., a full two levels passed and then some before Choi exited in fourth place, three-and-a-half hours later. Choi was short and tried to shove from the small blind against William Reynolds’ big blind. Reynolds called the shove with just the J♠7♦ and Choi held the 6♦4♣. After flopping a seven, Reynolds got the win and the knockout with the final board reading A♣10♦7♠K♠Q♠.
Reynolds would then see his last hand come up an hour and a half later. He was all in with the A♣4♦ and up against the A♠6♣ for Jewell. The board ran out K♣Q♣3♠5♥J♣ and the ace high with a six kicker won the hand for Jewell, just barely eliminating Reynolds in third place for $110,567. That set the heads-up battle between Kenworthy and Jewell with Jewell leading the way with 11.9 million to 5.54 million.
The start-of-day big stacks aren’t the ones who always win these things. At least that’s what we’ve seen happen so often over the years. So many times the short stacks pick up a little bit of run good and the next thing you know, the chip leader is a short stack and then out the door. That wasn’t the case this time for Jewell. He finish Day 2 as the chip leader atop the final 16. On Day 3 he never gave it up for an extended period of time. It was pretty much smooth sailing for Jewell the entire day. Even if he did happen to double up some of the short stacks, he had plenty of chips to do so and was able to recover quickly and unscathed.
Jewell doubled up Kenworthy on the flop of 9♣5♣2♠ when the two got all the money in. Kenworthy held the J♠9♥ and Jewell the 9♦8♦. The turn was the 7♦ and then the river completed the board with the 5♠. This put the two are a virtual deadlock in chips just moments before the final hand came up.
Kenworthy limped the button and then Jewell raised to 750,000. Kenworthy moved all in for 8.1 million and Jewell opted to make the call with the Q♠J♦. He was dominated by the A♣Q♦ for Kenworthy. The flop came down 10♦5♦4♠ and Kenworthy was a turn and river away from a huge double up to cripple Jewell. The turn brought the 2♠ and that left Jewell needing a jack and a jack only to win the event. The dealer burned one more time and then slapped the J♣ on the river to deliver a crushing blow to Kenworthy. Jewell was able to spike his three-outer to win the hand and eliminate Kenworthy in second place.
Jewell was awarded first place of over $240,000, a $10,000 seat to the Regional Championship on Monday, a guaranteed seat in the National Championship and the WSOP Circuit gold championship ring!
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kurt Jewell | $242,909 |
| 2 | Jared Kenworthy | $150,104 |
| 3 | William Reynolds | $110,567 |
| 4 | Edwin Choi | $82,514 |
| 5 | Nick Jivkov | $62,384 |
| 6 | Will “Monkey” Souther | $47,772 |
| 7 | Bryan Devonshire | $37,047 |
| 8 | Daniel Cohen | $29,087 |
| 9 | Casey Hayes | $23,120 |
Things aren’t done yet in Hammond thought for the WSOP Circuit. On Monday the $10,000 Regional Championship kicks off and some of the biggest names in poker will be on hand for that event. PokerNews will also be on hand bringing you all the coverage from the floor so stay tuned!
