WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event Exceeds $2M

Written by Jennifer Newell

Last updated on January 19th, 2022

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The current season of the World Series of Poker Circuit only started in late November, after the late WSOP in Las Vegas. The Circuit started in North Carolina, hit the Bike in Southern California, and then took the action to Aruba in December.

It may be a new year, but it’s the same season for the WSOP Circuit, which kicked off in two places. On the international side, it was King’s Casino in Rozvadov that gave players a plethora of events throughout much of January. That action is still ongoing. The other place for the WSOPC to ring in the New Year was in Oklahoma at the ever-popular Choctaw Casino near the Texas border. Play started there on January 5 and wrapped this week.

Kicking the Guarantee to the Curb

To kick off 2022, many poker players flocked to Durant, Oklahoma. There were more than a dozen WSOPC ring events on the schedule, but, of course, a lot of eyes were on the $1M guarantee on the Main Event.

The first of two starting flights brought in a huge crowd and 565 entries. The second was even bigger and added 846 entries. That 1,411-player field was one of the largest in Choctaw history and pushed the prize pool to $2,137,665, more than twice the guarantee.

Day 2 began with the 91 survivors from the first flight and 155 from the second. Only 212 players would make the money, though. It didn’t take long to get to the money bubble, and it turned out that eight people busted during that period. They chopped the bottom seven payouts, and each took $2,233. Players like James Carroll and DJ Alexander busted in the hours that followed, and Nicholas Pupillo and David Pham were among those busting later in the night.

Play stopped with 16 players to compete on the last day. Jessica Vierling led the two tables with more than 8.7M chips, with Quan Tran next holding more than 7.2M and Raul Garza with more than 5.3M.

Just One More Day

Vierling and Garza took out some of the initial players, and Tran ousted the players who exited in 12^th and 11^th places, and Vierling stepped in to bust Walter Rodriguez in tenth. Tran led the official final table of nine with 14M chips with Vierling and her 11.3M in second. None of the others even exceeded 5M chips.

Tran busted Richard Bennett in ninth while Nate Steuer doubled through two players, including Vierling. Garza eliminated Justin Coliny in eighth place, and Vierling took out Rick Alvarado in seventh, Steuer did the same to Jonathan Bennett in sixth, and Garza was back in position to oust Steuer in fifth. Tran sent Hayden Fortini home in fourth place.

Vierling doubled up a few players and lost ground. Tran sent her out in third place and took 35.93M chips into heads-up against Garza. Tran quickly put his opponent to the test with pocket sevens, and Garza called with pocket threes. Garza didn’t improve, and Tran won his first WSOP Circuit ring.

 

Congratulations to Quan Tran for taking down a field of 1,411 entrants to become the Choctaw Circuit Main Event Champion.

The native of Vietnam won his first gold ring, grand prize of $336,412, and a seat in the Tournament of Champions.

📸Eric Butlerhttps://t.co/u8yL5lPJBR pic.twitter.com/HjzS2jedVq

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) January 18, 2022

So Many Stops Ahead

In fact, there are many stops already happening or starting within the coming days. As mentioned, the Calgary stop at the Deerfoot Inn & Casino runs to January 24. Thunder Valley in Northern California will finish on the same day. And before those are done, Horseshoe Tunica gets underway on the 20^th. Here’s the schedule as it appears currently:

 

This week! pic.twitter.com/GX56hmK8If

— Horseshoe Tunica (@Horseshoetunica) January 17, 2022