Cherokee, North Carolina (10 May 2023) - The World Series of Poker Circuit is back at Harrah's Cherokee for the fourth time this Circuit season, with 18 gold rings awarded between May 4-15.
Always among the largest circuit stops of the WSOPC calendar, Cherokee has again attracted a plethora of players from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and more around the south.
Thus far, seven circuit ring winners have been confirmed through the early events of the series with the results of the 8th and 9th events pending soon.
This May Cherokee stop kicked off with Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold-em - Big 30K stack which drew 398 entries, which is down from the 545 in the same event from the February stop. The prizepool was $131,340 and the lion's share of that was won by Daniel Kusnerak who won the 1st place prize of $26,954 and his second career WSOP ring. The North Carolina player won his second ring five years after his first once, which was won in 2018 also in Cherokee.
Rush Smith of Atlanta is the story of the series thus far as he has already conquered two fields to win two rings. His first victory was a massive one in Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold'em which was a multi-flight that spanned several days and drew a large field of 2,232 which was good enough to make a prizepool of $736,560. Smith came out on top to win $104,177 for his first career ring. His second career ring would come just four days later as he also won Event #6: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed for $41,949.
Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold'em was won by Christopher Storie for his first career ring as he overcame a tough final table that included Cherokee regular crushers Donovan Dean, Blake Whittington and Hamid Izadi.
The ever-popular Seniors event was again a big hit as it attracted 837 entries and was won by a seasoned circuit ring winner in Simon Philip of Pensacola, FL who took down his third ring and the $48,050 top prize. It was his first ring in Cherokee as his previous two had both come in Hammond.
Event #5: $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em is one of the higher buy-ins of the series and attracted a field of 255 players for a prizepool of $248,625. John Petro of Virginia won his first live ring, second overall as he took down the $57,137 victory.
The most recent event completed at the time of this recap was Event #7: $600 No-Limit Hold'em won by John Evans of Indiana as he not only won his first ring, but also registered his first career WSOP cash with the $30,266 grand prize.
Here is a look at the results of the events thus far:
Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold'em - Big 30k Stack - Daniel Kusnerak ($26,954)
Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold'em - Rush Smith ($104,177)
Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold'em - Christopher Storie ($37,630)
Event #4: $400 Seniors - Simon Philip ($48,05)
Event #5: $1,100 No-Limit Hold-em - John Petro ($57,137)
Event #6: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed - Rush Smith ($41,949)
Event #7: $600 No-Limit Hold'em - John Evans ($30,266)
The $1,700 buy-in Main Event is the premier event of the series and will be made up of three starting days beginning on Thursday May 11. Day 2 will be Sunday May 14 and will be made up of the survivors from Days 1a, 1b and 1c.
February's Cherokee Main Event drew 1,703 entries to make a huge $2,356,299 prizepool. Brian Altman won the grand prize of $391,753.
WSOP.com will be on hand starting tomorrow for result updates of the remaining preliminary events of the series and provide full live reporting coverage of the Main Event starting on Thursday.