Another World Series of Poker Circuit stop happened at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. One of the important events was Event #9: $3,250 High Roller 8-Max that saw Mark Zullo winning the first prize. He managed to best a field of 104 and won his first WSOP ring ever.
The event was attended by several poker stars, but it was Zullo who managed to win in the end, claiming the prize of $89,150.
Right now, Zullo’s career is a bit under the half-million mark. The native to Seville, Ohio, had a lot of success in poker, but most of his action takes place on the web. Therefore, this is his biggest live cash, and Zullo stated that it felt great.
He added that he had been playing poker for a very long time, but that he had never won a live tournament before, which made the WSOPC High Roller rather special for him.
One of the hands that really made the difference in the event was when aces met kings. What Zullo did was basically crack Gary Lucci’s aces, taking a lot of chips and entering the final six with a huge lead. After that, Zullo did not invest a lot of energy, putting the events on the autopilot mode, as he was a massive chip leader.
He managed to make it to the heads-up play with no too much trouble. However, he had to focus on the last part of the competition as his final opponents, Brock Wilson, wasn’t going to give up easily.
Zullo stated that Wilson had “crushed” him during the heads-up play, but that he had had a lot of luck in the end.
The Final Table — It Was a Tough Competition
The final day saw 51 runners making it through, out of 104 in total. The top 16 players were paid, and the unlucky player who had to burst the bubble was John Dollinger. He went home with no cash in his pockets earned from this tournament.
The events really become interesting when the tournament narrowed down to the final eight players. The first one to hit the rail was David Prociak from Orlando, Fla., who won $8,933 for his effort.
Gary Lucci, the player who suffered a terrible loss from Zullo, ended up seventh in the end, earning $11,110. After that, Stephen Song had to hit the rail with $14,319 as a prize.
The fifth-placed player was Anthony Askey from Manassas, Va., who hit the rail with $19,100 as a prize, and Jake Schwartz from New York soon followed with $26,338. The three-handed play saw Faraz Jaka from San Jose, Calif., hit the rail with a total of $37,505 in his pocket.
The two remaining players, Brock Wilson and Zullo, started the heads-up part of the game with Zullo having a huge chip lead. Although Wilson fought back bravely, he had to settle for the second place, earning a total of $55,099.
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