Phan Runner-Up Again as Ross Takes WSOPC Cherokee

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Aug 14, 2018 3 min read

"No more mortgage!"

That's what burst out of Adam Ross' lungs after he conquered a field of 1,056 to win the first World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event of the season, at Harrah's Cherokee in Western North Carolina. Ross won $295,970 after having previously totaled about $70,000 in cashes.

To secure the win, Ross had to get past one of the hottest players on the American circuit, Ryan Phan. The Omahan and recent LFG Podcast guest nearly secured his own second six-figure prize less than a month after making a stellar run to 11th place in the WSOP Main Event for $725,000.

Official Final Table Results

Out of the 1,056 players, 108 would be paid out. Dylan Wilkerson, JJ Liu, Scott Stewart, Jared Jaffee, Sean Yu, Maurice Hawkins and Josh Reichard were some of the players making it into the money but falling short of the final day of play.

Day 3 saw 21 players return with Phan having one of the bigger stacks. He further helped himself with an early cooler where he flopped trip jacks with jack-ten against an opponent with jack-nine and faded the chop to scoop a big one, according to the live updates.

Ross won a big flip for his tournament life with nines against the ace-king of Irene Carey to ensure he advanced to the final table with a solid stack over 40 big blinds.

Final Table Action

Ross' big breakthrough came with nine players remaining, when Justin Adams opened under the gun to 605,000 at 60,000/120,000/20,000. Ross made it 1.25 million in the big blind and Adams shoved for about 3 million. Ross called since he held aces, crushing the ace-king of Adams. After paying off the double for nearly all of his chips, Adams busted in ninth.

Phan then got his last 12 big blinds in with fives and ran into an overpair, exactly the way he busted the Main Event. This time facing kings instead of jacks, Phan managed to run a backdoor straight to survive against Raveesh Asnani.

Short stacks Charles Johnson and Tyler Payne went bust, then Phan found two kings in the hole and four-bet all in over a Ross open and a Matthew Ernst three-bet. Ernst called for about 30 big blinds with A♥K♥ but did not improve, moving Phan to 13.5 million at 100,000/200,000/30,000.

Andrew Kelsall shoved his last 16 big blinds with K♣J♣ from the button and Ross woke up with kings of his own in the small blind. Kelsall turned a flush draw but didn't get there.

The first six-figure payday then went to Todd Mercer, who shoved with pocket fives for about 17 big blinds. Asnani pcked up jacks and held on to reduce it to three-handed play and take control of two-thirds of the chips.

Phan then doubled through Asnani when both flopped top pair of tens but Phan's king kicker was superior to a nine. However, Ross doubled right back through Phan with nines against A♥Q♥.

Ross continued to climb, and Asnani fell to 12 big blinds. He shoved them in the small blind over a Phan button raise, and Phan called with king-queen. Asnani could only muster a dominated queen-jack and busted out in third, leaving Phan and Ross heads up and even.

Phan took control early and went up 3-1, but a bit of a cooler in Ross favored evened things. They saw an 8♥7♥4♥ flop with Phan holding middle two pair and Ross flopping the straight.

Ross would move into the lead after that and he wouldn't let it go. After picking off a two-barrel bluff from Phan on an ace-high board, the two flipped for Phan's final seven big blinds. Ross turned a set of deuces to make it a no-sweat river.

It was Phan's second runner-up finish in a Circuit main after also falling short against Hawkins back in 2016 at Council Bluffs, Phan's home casino.

Here's a look at all of the ring winners from the Cherokee stop:

_{Photo courtesy of WSOP}

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