RING NUMBER THREE FOR PHIL HUI
Atlantic City, NJ (December 5, 2013) — It took Phil Hui just 11 hours to come out on top of the 225-player field in Event 6, a $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo tournament at Harrah’s Resort. The event began Wednesday, concluded early Thursday morning and saw the victor earn his third gold ring, $16,877 and 50 points toward the Casino Championship.

Admittedly, Hui had been down on the tournament grind during the opening events at Harrah’s.

“I hadn’t played a tournament since [the WPT $10 million guarantee] in August,” he said. “I had just been playing cash and wasn’t used to all the run bad… It’s fun to grind again.”

The run bad that defined many of his early performances didn’t rear its head in the turbo. In fact it was quite the contrary.

“I run good,” he said after the win.

So good, that on the last hand, with about a seven-to-one chip advantage over Robert Georato and the blinds reaching nosebleed stakes, Hui moved all-in without looking at his hole cards. Georato took some time before announcing “call” and Hui tabled   . A king on the flop and another on the turn later Hui was a three-time winner.

Hui is a 26-year-old poker pro from San Antonio, TX. His journey to Circuit stardom started late in 2010 with his first gold ring at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe. In the years since he’s traveled the country accumulating six figures worth of earnings and a handful of gold trophies along the way.

In addition to poker success, his travels have helped him form new, meaningful relationships -- not the least of is that which he has with his girlfriend, gold bracelet winner Loni Harwood.

Hui was by Harwood’s side for the duration of her record-breaking run at the WSOP this summer. With Harwood’s $875,000 in earnings, six cashes, three final tables and gold bracelet victory, one even could even call Hui a fulltime cheerleader for his better half.

But he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“That was an unbelievable summer,” Hui said. “It’s something I’ll never forget. I felt like I won the bracelet watching her play.”

The relationship has been invaluable to the pair and undoubtedly neither would have enjoyed the same success without the other right there with them.

“It’s great to have somebody you love that you can go home and talk to about a hand,” Hui said. “I respect her game; she’s 100 times better than I am right now.”

In addition to his relationship with Harwood, it’d be remiss not to mention Hui shares a home with WSOP Main Event winner Ryan Riess.

Hui had a long summer of railing some of the game’s most successful, but Thursday was all about ring number three and seeing a proven pro get back to the tournament grind. At this rate, it won’t be long before Harwood and Riess line Hui’s rail under the bright lights of the ESPN Main Stage in Las Vegas.

Event 6 was the sixth of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at Harrah’s Resort. The $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo tournament attracted 225 entries generating a $67,500 prize pool. The top 24 players were paid.

Final table results:

1st: Phillip Hui - $16,877
2nd: Robert Georato - $10,430
3rd: John Iraj - $7,591
4th: Jason Deutsch - $5,614
5th: Ilya Dyment - $4,217
6th: Fred Betesh - $3,216
7th: Salvatore Poma - $2,491
8th: Waeel Abdalla - $1,958
9th: James Governa - $1,561

Full results available on WSOP.com.