Shan Jing, a.k.a. “PacMan” won his first World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring today. Jing bested the field of 336 entries, earning $39,103 in seventh career major poker tournament victory. Jing has previously won events at the Legends of Poker, LA Poker Classic, and elsewhere.
Jing, a 40-year-old IT professional from the Los Angeles area dominated play throughout, starting the final table as the chip leader and never being in serious danger of elimination at any point. He raced through the finale in just over three-hours, a fast pace given the wide chip distribution and quality of talent. Jing, who got the name “PacMan” because he likes the popular video game and wears yellow quite often, certainly looked hungry in this tournament. His insatiable appetite was satisfied by a steady diet of his opponents’ chips.
The $500 buy-in two-day tournament generated $162,960 in prize money. The top 36 finishers collected payouts. All the action took place inside Caesars Palace Las Vegas poker tournament room.
After Phil Bansen, from Detroit, MI busted out in tenth place, the top nine finishers were as follows:
9th Place – Jerry Treglio took a tough beat early on when he flopped trip sixes, which ended up losing to Brian Johnson’s same trip sixes, albeit with a better kicker. Treglio, who lives in Las Vegas and plays poker mostly online, collected $3,667. He also works as a disc jockey at a local nightclub.
8th Place – Joaquin Sosa went out next. He was dealt pocket jacks at the worst possible time. Sosa moved all-in but was called by Shan Jing, holding pocket aces. The bullets survived which blew up the lab tech from Chicago, who went out in eighth place. Sosa, who made previous final tables this week at Caesars Palace Las Vegas as well as at the WSOP Circuit championship in Council Bluffs, IA earlier this year, received a payout of $4,889.
7th Place – “He put it in good.” That’s all one could say when looking back at Antone Bueno’s last hand of this tournament. Bueno moved his chips in with A-K, which was called by A-5. Then, whammo! A five fell on the river, knocking out the Denver mechanic in seventh place. Nevertheless, Beuno played really good. He ended up with $6,111 in prize money.
6th Place – Rich Ziskind was another player who got his chips in with the best of it, but went bust. Ziskind held top pair with kings and moved all-in after the flop. The chip leader Shan Jing had a big enough stack to make the call, holding second pair (jacks). A third jack fell on the turn, giving Jing another row of chips. That meant Ziskind ended up as the sixth-place finisher. The nuclear scientist from Las Vegas rocketed away with $7,741. Ziskind has done well in previous events, making final tables at the Bellagio and Foxwoods.
5th Place – Dwyte Pilgrim, who is the “unofficial” WSOP Circuit player of the year (he has more cashes and final table appearances than any player) made his third trip to the final table of a Caesars event. This time, he ended up in fifth place, losing with A-10 to pocket aces on his final hand. Pilgrim, a Brooklyn-based poker pro who already has won two WSOP Circuit gold rings this year, added $9,778 to his poker bankroll.
4th Place – James Ryan was low on chips and went out next with pocket sevens. He got beat by A-9 when a nine flopped. Ryan, a 22-year-old college student from Bellingham, WA pocketed $12,222 for fourth place.
3rd Place – Ron Miller went out next. The attorney from the Dallas area was dealt J-10 on what turned out to be his final hand of the tournament. Miller lost to pocket fives. The attorney’s case was dismissed. But Miller was awarded a settlement in the amount of $15,074.
2nd Place – When heads-up play began, Shan Jing enjoyed a decisive chip lead over this last obstacle en route to victory, by the name of Brian Johnson. On the final hand of the tournament Jing got lucky – which means Johnson got very unlucky. All of Johnson’s chips went in pre-flop with A-J and it appeared the banker from North Dakota would double up and potentially challenge his rival when Jing table Q-J, a dominated hand. But a queen came on board and gave Jing the last of Johnson’s chips. As the runner up, Johnson collected $24,037.
1st Place – Shan “PacMan” Jing is easy to spot. If you are ever looking down on the inside of a poker room, he often wears a yellow jacket. He’s the player who is moving around the room, gobbling up chips. That’s right, just like the video game.
With 19 of 22 events now completed at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, the tournament has attracted more than 3,000 total entries and has awarded over $3 million in total prize money. The WSOP Circuit continues at Caesars through April 30th.