14 October 2019 (Baltimore, MD) - Faisal Siddiqui won his first World Series of Poker gold circuit ring and $113,143 at the Horseshoe Baltimore circuit main event.
Siddiqui topped a field of 303 players and a final table pack with professionals and successful circuit grinders to win the title and one-up his previous best circuit main event finish. He finished second in the 2014/2015 circuit main here at the Horseshoe. He won $127,484 for his finish there.
Siddiqui said he was initially a little overwhelmed with the talent at the final table.
"A lot of the messages I was getting was that the others are equally afraid of you as you are afraid of them," he said, "That kind of helped me get my nerves right."
He gave a shout out to his family and John Gorsuch, the 2019 WSOP Millionaire Maker winner, for their support and friendly, positive messages during his main event run.
Siddiqui 51-year-old who works in software and technology. He says the really wonderful thing about poker is that he can come to events as an amateur and compete against professionals.
"There is no other sport in the world that is like this. I also play golf. I could never beat Phil Mickelson at golf. But at the final table today, there were multiple pros, and I was able to beat them, which is a great feeling. It's not about the money it's about playing the best in the world and coming out ahead," he said.
Siddiqui entered the final table with the chip lead and he said that he was inspired by third-place finisher Ryan Jones demeanor at the table after he watched Jones grind a short stack early in play during Day 1a.
"He kept about his wits, and kept playing good poker, and letting things come his way," Siddiqui said, "playing with him I learned a lot. In the end it was bittersweet that I knocked him out."
The day started with eight players remaining and Ryan Tamanini fell in eighth place when he got all in preflop against Jones. Jones won the race and Tamanini took home $11,860.
Mark Redding was next to go after he flipped against Malebranche for about twenty big blinds each. Redding finished in seventh place and won $15,247.
Minutes later, Joseph Cashen finished in sixth place for $19,961 after Cashen accidentally exposed a card and played the entire hand with an ace exposed. He eventually shoved all on on the river of a paired board and Jones called with pocket aces to eliminate Cashen in probably the most unique hand of the tournament.
It took only a few more hands for Shinya Shimada to find his way to the rail. He three-bet shoved his last ten big blinds into Jones who was behind. Jones made trip eights on the river to send Shimada home with fifth-place money ($26,605).
The most likely winner of the Casino Championship, Mike Wang, who already had two circuit rings from this stop was eliminated in fourth place. Siddiqui doubled through Wang and then Jones finished him off on the next hand.
The players continued three-handed for about four hours before Siddiqui sent Jones to the rail. Jones shoved all in on the river and Siddiqui eventually called to win the hand with a better two pair.
It didn't take long for Siddiqui to finish off Malebranche heads up to claim the title.
Siddiqui now has $247,806 in WSOP tournament winnings on five circuit cashes. He had three top-three finishes before today when he claimed his first-ever WSOP circuit ring in the Horseshoe Baltimore circuit event.