Mark Davis Become the WSOP Circuit Cherokee Champion

Mark Davis made the relatively short trip from Birmingham, Alabama, to Cherokee, North Carolina, and is returning as a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) champion. Davis had a respectable $150,477 in winnings before WSOPC Cherokee. He now has $485,155 and a coveted gold WSOPC ring to boot.

The $1,700 buy-in tournament drew in 1,402 entrants, which meant a massive prize pool. The WSOP guaranteed $1 million but paid out $2,124,030 to the top 210 finishers. A min-cash weighed in at $2,547 although a double elimination on the bubble saw Roger Jones and Dong Li bank $1,273 each.

Nobody at the final table walked away with less than $36,191 such was the prize pool’s size. Todd Bartlett received this sum when he busted at the hand of Davis. Bartlett moved all-in with a short stack with 2h-2c, and David called with Ad-9s from the small blind. An ace on the flop of the As-7h-Qh-7c-Js board resigned Bartlett to a ninth-place finish.

Eighth place and $45,309 went to Pawley Thomas. The North Carolina native only had four big blinds when he shoved from the cutoff. Kevin Morris called in the big blind and showed Qd-5d, which was against Ah-6c. By the river, the board read Qh-Ts-Kh-6s-8d. Game over for Thomas.

Davis Among the Leaders While Short-Handed

The final seven became six when Nicholas Power ran out of luck. Power committed his stack with Ac-Tc and can count himself unlucky to run into the Ah-Kd of Adam Ney. The ace-king remained best as the five community cards fell 4d-9c-3s-7h-2d.

David closed the gap on the chip leader by eliminating Dale Roesel in sixth place. Roesel led for 850,000 on the Qs-7h-6h-Ah flop but David raised to 1,800,000. Roesel ripped in his stack and David snap-called. Davis showed Kh-Qh for the nut flush but Roesel’s As-6s had outs to a full house. The Tc river was not one of them and he headed for the showers.

Morris collected the $93,376 fifth-place prize, the last payout not to tip the scales at six figures. Morris pushed all-in with the lowly 9s-6s, Chris George isolated with a re-jam with Qc-Qs, and everyone else folded. The Qs-8h-7s brought some drama to proceedings. Furthermore, the 9c turn gave Morris more outs. However, the 2d proved inconsequential and Morris headed to the exits.

Scott Dobbs busted almost immediately after Morris bowed out. George raised on the button and called when Dobbs three-bet shoved for 5,500,000 from the small blind. It was Ac-8s for Dobbs and Ah-Kc for George. The 4d-Ks-Kh flop left Dobbs drawing dead, rendering the 5h turn and 7c river meaningless.

Final Three Have One Hand on the Title

Ney held a narrow lead over Davis, with George bringing up the rear by some distance. Unsurprisingly, George crashed and burned in third place. Ney set his opponents all in on the river of the 5c-As-Jc-8s-2h board. George tanked for a while before calling with Qd-8d. However, Ney revealed the 4c-3c for a straight, which sent the tournament heads-up.

The heads-up stacks were pretty close but Ney began pulling away from Davis. Ney could not shake off his opponent no matter what he tried. However, the momentum shifted in Davis’ favor and eventually emerged victorious.

The final hand saw Davis raise to 1,100,000 and call when Ney jammed into him. Ney flipped over 2d-2h, Davis the As-9s, and the race was on. A 9d-8d-Qs flop put Davis in the lead with the 9h turn extending that advantage. A 7c river busted Ney in second place for $206,844, leaving David to bank the $334,678 top prize and the title of champion.

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Mark Davis	Birmingham, AL	$334,678
2	Adam Ney	Atlanta, GA	$206,844
3	Chris George	Roswell, GA	$157,423
4	Scott Dobbs	Covington, GA	$120,760
5	Kevin Morris	Elmira, NY	$93,376
6	Dale Roesel	Hixson, TN	$72,783
7	Nicholas Power	Mcdonough, GA	$57,192
8	Pawley Thomas	Fayetteville, NC	$45,309
9	Todd Bartlett	Dallas City, IL	$36,191

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

View Articles