Congratulations to Jonathan Chehanske, WSOP Circuit Harrah's Rincon Main Event Champion ($107,862)
306 players had a dream this weekend: to be the next WSOP Circuit Main Event Champion. Only one player could live this dream, and that was Jonathan Chehanske He walks away with $107,862, a beautiful gold WSOP Circuit Ring, and an automatic bid to the WSOP National Championship in May!
We came into today down to our final nine players, and the eliminations were fast and furious in the beginning. The first player to go was our short stack to start the day: Ted Jivkov. Jivkov was the victim of the ultimate preflop cooler, when his 
ran into the 
of Erik Roussakis. The board brought no miracles, and he was knocked out in 9th place.
David Randall was the next player to exit, and he too ran into pocket aces. This time, it was Lorenzo Bosforo who held them, and they were too much for Randall’s pocket nines. This was Randall’s second final table of the series, as he finished 3rd in the $1,000 buy in event on the first day of the Main Event.
A few hands later, we lost James Czarnecki. He put his tournament life at risk holding 
, and he was up against the 
. A five came on the flop, and that spelled doom for Czarnecki, who headed to the payout desk with a 7th place ticket.
We played six-handed for over two hours until we lost another player, and that unfortunate player was Lorenzo Bosforo. Bosforo four-bet shoved preflop for his last 600,000 with 
, and Soi Nguyen made the call, holding 
. The tens held, and Bosforo was eliminated in 6th.
Erik Roussakis was second in chips when he was eliminated in 5th place in what was the biggest pot of the tournament to that point. Action started with Roussakis raising to 75,000 in early position. Nguyen defended his big blind, and the two saw a flop of 
.
Nguyen checked to Roussakis, who fired out 100,000. Nguyen grabbed some raising chips, shuffled them for a bit, then tossed in a raise to 230,000. As he has done often throughout the final table, Roussakis acted quickly, and raised it to 500,000. Nguyen let out a small sigh, and announced all in. Roussakis let out a sigh himself before making the call, and we had the biggest pot of the tournament.
Nguyen: 
Roussakis: 
Nguyen flopped bottom set, but he still had to sweat, as Roussakis could catch a spade to win the hand. The turn was a black king, but it was the . The river was the other black king, the , and though it gave Roussakis the flush, it also gave Nguyen a full boat.
We were four handed for quite some time, even though the dinner break, until we lost two players in two hands. On the first hand, Edmund Liu shoved from under the gun with 
, but he ran into the 
of Jonathan Chehanske. He was not able to catch an ace, and he went home with $35,779 for his efforts.
On the very next hand, Chehanske played executioner again, as his 
held against the 
of Lynda Tran. That gave us our heads up battle between Chehanske and Soi Nguyen.
Heads up play only last about 30 minutes, as both players were extremely aggressive. There was a raise or three bet on every hand, and it didn’t take long for the two to get the money in. Jonathan Chehanske raised it up to 90,000, and Nguyen three bet it to 210,000. Chehanske made the call, and the flop came 
. The action was like rapid fire, as Nguyen bet out 310,000, Chehanske moved all in, and Nguyen snap called.
Nguyen: 
Chehanske:
Chehanske was out in front, but Nguyen was still drawing very live, as a diamond would give him a flush. The hit the turn, and we were down to the river. That card was the , and while it did give Nguyen the flush, it also made a full house for Chehanske. Chehanske embraced his girlfriend in victory, while Nguyen made his way to the payout desk, falling just short of the title.
That wraps it up for us here! A huge congratulations again to Jonathan Chehanske for a wonderfully played tournament. It’s been an action packed four days, and we've enjoyed bringing you all the action. Be sure to tune in next time, as the next Circuit stop will be in Los Angeles in January. Until then, good night!