They said the year of the Circuit grinder was last year, but five-time ring winner Kyle Cartwright must have missed the memo. Sure, last year he made a WSOP final table, finishing ninth, but this year he decided to outdo himself by winning his first bracelet, over $360,000, and adding to his ever-growing poker jewelry collection.The Memphis resident came into the third and final day of the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event with the chip lead, but faced formidable competition, including former November Niner Ylon Schwartz, who is fresh off a sixth place showing at the National Championship in Atlantic City last week. In fact, it looked as though it would be the bracelet winner Schwartz vs the ring winner Cartwright heads-up for the poker glory, but instead the two clashed during three-handed play, leaving Cartwright to face Jason Paster for the gold.
“Winning this means a lot to me,” Cartwright said. “Winning a gold bracelet has been my whole life’s dream, and now finally it’s come true. I’m excited and happy, so I’m going to head out and party. It’s going to be a fun night.”
Cartwright’s win is the biggest score of his poker career and pushes his total WSOP earnings near $1 million and reminds all of us that the Circuit players are a force to be reckoned with whether it be for rings, bracelets, or all the marbles.
“The first gold ring that I won, I would say that I wasn’t really a strong player, at all,” Cartwright said. “Then I played on the Circuit more and now, I have all these friends around me and I can ask them questions all the time. We talk about poker a lot – all different hands, tips, and advice – it all helps out. It takes practice and training, just like a real job. It is a job. We pay taxes.”
This was the first large-field open No Limit Hold’em event of the summer and it drew 2,223 players, generating a $2,000,700 prize pool. The top 243 finishers made the money, including Humberto Brenes (233rd), Amanda Musumeci (118th), Andrew Lichtenberger (46th), Mark Radoja (29th), and Jeff Gross (13th).Here are the final table results for the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em Event 4:1st: Kyle Cartwright - $360,4352nd: Jason Paster - $223,5183rd: Ylon Schwartz - $157,9264th: Daniel Dizenzo - $113,5505th: Matthew O’Donnell - $82,7266th: Jeremy Dresch - $61,0687th: Robert Kouhnn - $45,6358th: Ken Weinstein - $34,5529th: Michael Sortino - $26,489