Cory Waaland knocked out every single player at the most recent final table and now Waaland has his first WSOP Circuit gold ring.
The 26-year-old poker pro from Greenville, won the most recent WSOP Circuit tournament which was played at Caesars Atlantic City. He topped a big field of 495 players en route to an impressive first time victory that paid $31,928 in prize money. Known in the online poker world for his moniker – MJ 23 STYLEZ – one can see immediately see the Michael Jordan references. After he won, Waaland even performed the all-too-familiar Jordan shrug with his palms turned up, as if to say “I can do no wrong.”
Indeed, Waaland did no wrong on this night – busting every single player at the final table in a long session that lasted some nine hours. It was the culmination of a two-day competition which ended very late on Friday night inside a nearly deserted poker arena, except for a few of Waaland’s close friends, and the eventual runner up–Charlie, Xu from Mays Landing, NJ.
“This is sweet,” Waaland said. “It all went great for me tonight. It was about a perfect as it gets.”
CAESARS ATLANTIC CITY
WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT
EVENT 1 2/28/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $365
PLAYERS 495
PRIZE POOL $247,500
1. Cory Waaland . . . . . $31,928
2. Charlie Xu . . . . . . . . $19,740
3. Thomas Ennis . . . . . $14,421
4. David Clarke . . . . . . $10,691
5. Michael Marder . . . . $8,040
6. Bogdan Berdej . . . . . $6,133
7. Mitchell Friedberg . . $4,745
8. Greg Pogarsky . . . . . $3,723
9. Timothy Bishop . . . . $2,963
EVENT 5 3/5/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $580
PLAYERS 195
PRIZE POOL $97,500
1. Dave Fox . . . . . . . . . $25,350
2. Kevin Gugliaotta . . $15,469
3. Waeel Abdalla . . . . . $11,370
4. Mario Rodriguez . . . $8,304
5. Pedro Rios . . . . . . . . . $6,204
EVENT 4 3/4/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $365
PLAYERS 390
PRIZE POOL $122,000
1. Jeffrey Gurfinkel . . $25,740
2. Ciprian Tutu . . . . . . $15,900
3. Mitch Schock . . . . . $16,623
4. Michael Foulkrod . . . $8,630
5. Gregory Graham . . . $6,508
6. Ramin Azizoghli . . . . $4,981
7. Jonathan Bakhshian $3,868
EVENT 3 3/3/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $580
PLAYERS 196
PRIZE POOL $98,001
1. Chris Reslock . . . . . $25,480
2. Paul Sokoloff . . . . . . $15,740
3. Douglas Cressi . . . . $11,365
4. Christopher Heeney . $8,347
5. Michael Jukich . . . . . $6,236
EVENT 2 3/1/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $365
PLAYERS 809
PRIZE POOL $242,700
1. Christopher Leong . $48,540
2. John Hirsch . . . . . . . $29,925
3. Byung Yoo . . . . . . . . $22,061
4. Josephine Alexander $16,443
5. Bryan Kessler . . . . . $12,419
6. Daniel Marcus . . . . . $9,502
7. William Phillips . . . . . $7,361
8. Matthew Croker . . . . $5,774
9. Silvio Mantuano . . . . $4,585
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