Lon McEachern, the long-time voice of the WSOP and esteemed Poker Hall of Fame nominated broadcaster now has another title to add to his illustrious resume, WSOP Circuit Event Champion.
McEachern defeated a field of 181 entries in the WSOP Thunder Valley $400 Seniors Event to earn his largest-ever live tournament cash of $15,008 and his first-ever WSOP Circuit ring.
Following his triumph, McEachern was on the other side of the microphone as he was interviewed by Thunder Valley Director of Poker Operations Ben Erwin and didn’t waste any time poking fun at his colleague in the WSOP broadcast booth.
“Norman Chad doesn’t have one of these. That’s all I need to say,” said McEachern, proudly displaying his new jewelry.
“It felt easy almost. The tables were great. The senior event is such a great atmosphere.”
McEachern said that his route to the title was helped by the fact that he didn’t face many spots that truly endangered his chip stack.
“There might have been a couple, but I was always ahead. I never had to come from behind. There were a couple of huge hands at the final table. I flopped the world against the guy who’d been my nemesis all day, I had ace-king of diamonds and he had pocket fives. He had been the chip leader most of the day, and I flopped an ace and two diamonds, got the diamond, and took about 95 percent of his stack and that really helped out.”
McEachern reached the final table fifth in chips but built his stack to a point where he was just behind runner-up Calvin Norman entering heads-up play down 2,000,000 to 1,600,000.
From there, McEachern got to a point where he had Norman down to his final 2 big blinds before the hand that sealed the title.
Norman moved in with and was called and dominated by McEachern with . The board came , cinching the win for McEachern with the superior ace-high.
Along with the ring and the $15,000+ first prize, McEachern qualifies for the 2023 WSOP Tournament of Champions, an event Norman Chad may have to broadcast without him should McEachern run deep enough there too.