William Watson Captures Third Gold Ring in Opening Event Win
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana in the Louisville area to live report the $1,700 Main Event; however, that is just one of more than a dozen gold ring events that have taken place over the past week. As such, we thought we’d profile some of the preliminary tournaments and those who struck it big.
In Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold’em, 192 runners created a $63,360 prize pool that was paid out to the top 29 players including Mark Beard (13th - $890), Kevin Davis (20th = $682), and Mark “Pegasus” Smith (27th - $582), just to name a few.
In the end, 30-year-old William Watson of Lexington, Kentucky bested John Hatfield in heads-up play to win the title and $15,776 first-place prize. It also marked his third career gold ring.
The win gave him the early lead in the race for Casino Champion, which he planned to pursue.
“I am going to play everything,” Watson explained, “I am a normal Circuit grinder.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Watson | Lexington, Kentucky | $15,776 |
| 2 | John Hatfield | Dunlap, Tennessee | $9,749 |
| 3 | David Mchenry | Centennial, Colorado | $6,832 |
| 4 | Robbie Goldsberry | Bedford, Indiana | $4,891 |
| 5 | Seth Schikler | Louisville, Kentucky | $3,578 |
| 6 | Leonard Ferguson | Lake Lure, North Carolina | $2,676 |
| 7 | Michael Esquivel | Clarendon Hills, Illinois | $2,047 |
| 8 | Jerry Zehr | Plainfield, Kentucky | $1,603 |
| 9 | Michael Lutz | Louisville, Kentucky | $1,286 |