There Will Be a New Champ, Defending Champion Ben Wiora Out
Back in February, Ben Wiora defeated a venue record of 463 entries to take down the Mid-States Poker Tour Wisconsin State Poker Championship at Ho-Chunk Gaming Wisconsin Dells for $114,512. Wiora, primarily a cash player and a regular in Ho-Chunk's games, went into that event with just $16,662 in scattered tournament cashes.
Wiora began that final table as the chip leader and emerged as the clear front-runner with about a third of the chips in play seven-handed. He proceeded to steamroll the rest of the table going wire-to-wire for the win.
The six-figure score was nearly 10 times Wiora's previous largest, which was $12,848 for a runner-up finish in the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond $580 Pot-Limit Omaha. It was life-changing money for the local boy from Mauston, Wisconsin.
"I feel very fortunate," Wiora told PokerNews. "Having familiar faces dealing the cards and playing at my home casino allowed me to be very comfortable from start to finish in the tournament. I also knew many of the players in the field which may have helped me as well."
To learn more about Wiora, check out PokerNews' feature piece titled Big Cheese: Ben Wiora Goes from Low-Stakes Grinder to Wisconsin State Poker Champion.
Wiora returned to the MSPT in Wisconsin Dells, but was unable to make it through Day 1a. He expected to play Day 1b, but is under the weather and won't be in the field today. So there will be a new champion and another player has a shot at their biggest score.