Brian Altman Wins Again And Secures WSOPC Ring

Brian Altman pushed his lifetime winnings past $5.7 million while securing a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring. He was the last man standing in the $1,700 WSOP Circuit Main Event at the Isle Casino Pompano Park, Florida.

Altman outlasted 724 opponents to get his hands on the lion’s share of the $1,098,375 prize pool. The $204,935 the Massachusetts man scooped means he has $5,775,952 in live tournament winnings.

Plenty of stellar names navigated their way through the bubble and into the top 109 finishing places. Brock Wilson, Joe Serock, Loni Harwood, Yuval Bronshtein, and Stephen Song among them.

Altman Holds Massive Final Table Chip Lead

Only seven players reached the final day’s play, and Altman held the most chips by far. His 9,800,000 stack was almost three times the size of Athanasios Polychronopoulos’ 3,700,000.

Will Failla was the shortest stack at the seven-handed final table but was not the first busted player. That dubious honor went to Michael Graffeo. He raised to 125,000 from the hijack seat, Altman three-bet to 300,000, and Graffeo shoved for 1,360,000. Altman pondered his options before settling on a call. Graffeo’s Kc-Kd were against Ah-Qc. However, the Ad-7s-6s-5s-6h board cracked those kings.

Paul Snead fell by the wayside during the same level. The action followed a similar path to Graffeo’s elimination hand. Timothy Little raised to 125,000 in the cutoff, Polychronopoulos three-bet to 300,000 before Snead four-bet jammed for 1,400,000. Little ducked out of the way but Polychronopoulos called. Snead showed Qh-Qs and was flipping against his opponent’s Ad-Kh. The 7s-6s-4d flop was safe for Snead, but the Ac turn was not. The Tc completed the board and sent Snead to the showers in sixth place.

Five became four when Raymond Brint bowed out. Brint open-shoved for 1,075,000 from the small blind with what turned out to be Kc-4c. Failla called and showed Ah-8h. Neither player improved as the five community cards ran Qd-Qh-2s-Td-6d. Failla’s ace-high was enough to reduce the player count.

The Race For the Ring and a Six Figure Score

Little’s tournament ended in fourth place, a finish worth $69,842, which pushes his lifetime winnings north of $1 million. Blinds increased to 50,000/100,000/100,000a, and Failla opened to 250,000. Little moved all-in for 2,000,000, and Failla instantly called thanks to having Ks-Kh in his hand. Little could only muster the 7d-7s, and never caught up on the Qd-9c-5d-2s-9h run-out.

Failla could not put those chips to much use because he was the next star out of the door. Down to 20 big blinds, Failla open-shoved with 9c-9s from the small blind. Unfortunately for him, Polychronopoulos held Jc-Jh and called. The dealer fanned the Ad-8s-5d-Td-Kd board, and Failla busted.

The heads-up stacks were almost level and both players are superb players. Polychronopoulos cut his teeth in the online poker world but still has $2.6 million in live winnings.

Altman got lucky by catching a straight on the river to put himself in control of the one-on-one battle. He then found a powerhouse hand when Polychronopoulos jammed in his last 3,000,000 chips. The all-in player showed Kc-2c, but Altman held Ac-Qh. An ace on the flop of the Ad-Th-4d-6s-Jc board handed the title and $204,935 to Altman.

WSOP Circuit Isle Casino Main Event Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Brian Altman	Longmeadow, MA	$204,935
2	Athanasios Polychronopoulos	Delray Beach, FL	$126,653
3	Will Failla	Smithtown, NY	$93,528
4	Timothy Little	Hyattsville, MD	$69,842
5	Raymond Brint	Sylvania, OH	$52,747
6	Paul Snead	Kings Park, NY	$40,294
7	Michael Graffeo	Fort Mill, SC	$31,139
8	James Rubinski	Fort Myers, FL	$24,346
9	Joseph Brewer	Lawrenceburg, MO	$19,262

This is Altman’s latest major victory in recent times. He won the $3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $482,636. Victory in the $3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Main Event came with $613,225. Now he has a WSOPC ring for his collection of trophies.

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.

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