Michael Schneider (pictured) wins his third career WSOP Circuit gold ring at Harrah’s Cherokee and in the process wins the Casino Championship title.
Cherokee, N.C. (December 10, 2015) – Michael Schneider has just won the Casino Champion title at the Harrah’s Cherokee stop. He cashed two times, both which were final tables and won one gold ring. The gold ring he won accounted for his third career gold ring and first since 2013.
Schneider’s first WSOP gold ring was in 2012 at the Harrah’s New Orleans property. He won his second gold ring in January of 2013 at Choctaw.
Schneider had a strong start to the series. He finished runner-up to Stuart Moody in Event #2 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo to earn $16,151 and 37.5 Casino Championship points. It was the first event to finish of the 12-event series.
His next cash didn’t come until more than a week later and it was in the final event of the series. Nobody the entire series was able to put together a streak of final tables and run away with the Casino Championship title, so everybody with at least 12.5 points was still in contention to win the title heading into the final event of the series.
Schneider would end up being the only gold ring winner of the series to reach multiple final tables. Going into the final event of the series, Schneider was only 22.5 points behind the Casino Champion leader, which was Event #5 - $365 PLO winner, Brian McDaniel, at the time.
Schneider made it to Day 2 of Event #12 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em with the chip lead and 14 players remaining. Meanwhile, the Main Event was the only other event still running. In total there were only four players with a shot at the title heading in to the final day of the series. They were Michael Schneider, Event #3 - $580 No-Limit Hold’em winner, Roongsak Griffeth, Hamid Izadi and Eric Musso.
Schneider, Musso and Griffeth were all returning for Day 2 of Event #12 and Izadi was in the Main Event with 20 players remaining.
Musso and Griffeth ended up going out short of the Event #12 final table, which left Schneider and Izadi as the final two competitors fighting for the title. It was basically a last longer. Izadi had a strong start to the final day in the Main Event, but was eliminated in 9th place by eventual Main Event Champion, Dan Weinman.
There were five players left in Event #12, including Schneider at the time of Izadi’s elimination. With Izadi’s elimination Schneider officially became the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Champion. Schneider wasn’t content with just the Casino Championship title. He ended going on to win Event #12 for his third career gold ring and the top prize of $18,229.
The Casino Championship title will send Schneider to the Global Casino Championship (previously called the National Championship). At the Global Casino Championship Schneider will be competing for a minimum $1 million prize pool and a gold bracelet.
More information and full point standings for the year-long race are available on WSOP.com.
Schneider’s Harrah’s Cherokee cashes:
Event #2 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo – 396 entries – 2nd place for $16,151
Event #12 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em – 248 entries – 1st place for $18,229