Mark Davis struck gold in the WSOP Circuit $1,700 Main Event at the Cherokee Harrah's Casino.
Cherokee, NC (February 28, 2022) - Mark Davis has just won the $1,700 Main Event at the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Cherokee Harrah's Casino. After three days of play, the Birmingham native emerged victorious to earn his first WSOP gold ring, coupled with $334,678.
“It feels amazing. I got in to big-time tournament play right before COVID, but the COVID shut everything down. But this year, getting back into it, I’m basically six for six in deep runs. I’m ‘ON’ now. It's over!” said the happy winner after his third cash of the Cherokee series.
The Cherokee Circuit stop attracted a massive player field, and the $1,700 Main Event was no exception. The marquee event of the series drew a field of 1,402 players, generating a prizepool of $2,124,030. Several well-known ring-winners took a stab at the Main Event, including nine-time ring winner Robert Hankins, four-time ring winner Erik Salazar, and the Circuit phenomenon, Maurice Hawkins, with a record-high 14 rings.
Davis started Day 2 with less than the average chip stack, and got seated next to the Day 1 chip leader, Andrew Grey, halfway through the day.
“I started Day 2 with 123,000, and that is odd for me. I try to be a front-runner and have a lot of chips, so I had to kind of adjust. And then the chip leader came to our table, but I doubled through him a couple of times, and then I took off,” said Davis about his Main Event journey.
Davis did indeed take off. When the 19 remaining players bagged at the end of the night, Davis was sitting on a sizeable chip lead. 19 players remained at the start of Day 2, including some of the above-mentioned ring winners. However, non of them remained when the field had dwindled down to a Final Table.
Dallas City native, Todd Bartlett, was the first final tabelist to hit the rail. Bartlett was at-risk no less than eight times at the final table, but he eventually had to admit defeat after running into Davis. Pawley Thomas was the next player to bust, and Nicholas Power joined him shortly after.
Ring winner, Dale Roesel, was the chip leader for parts of the final day, but eventually busted in sixth place for a $72,783 payday. Roesel won his ring back in 2013, and had not played a single tournament in eight years prior to firing a bullet in the Cherokee Main Event.
Davis eventually found himself heads-up against Adam Ney. The intense heads-up battle lasted for over two hours until Davis could take it down after calling Ney's all-in and winning the flip that followed. The match-up was a familiar one, as the two final tabled Event #2 at the beginning of the series.
“I mean, the odds of that?! I don’t care what kind of player it is. The odds are astronomical to get through 3,400 players to make a final table and then meet again the same week. It’s kind of incredible. He was a very tough opponent. Very calculated and he is a really good player,” the winner said.
With the win, Davis earns $334,678 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring. He also earns a seat in the Tournament of Champions, the $1 million freeroll event that will be held in Las Vegas in the summer of 2022.
“This will be the first time I will play the series all throughout the summer. I was already making plans before this, but now, the sky is the limit. We’re gonna wreak some havoc out there!,” said the latest WSOP Circuit Main Event Champion.
Here are the final table results:
1st: Mark Davis ($334,678)
2nd: Adam Ney ($206,844)
3rd: Chris George ($157,423)
4th: Scott Dobbs ($157,423)
5th: Kevin Morris ($93,376)
6th: Dale Roesel ($72,783)
7th: Nicholas Power ($57,192)
8th: Pawley Thomas ($45,309)
9th: Todd Bartlett ($36,191)
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