The Five Biggest Poker Winners From Delaware

Delaware may be tiny, but the state packs a punch when it comes to gambling. The second-smallest U.S. state was the first admitted to the Union. It was the first state to legalize sports betting following the Supreme Court ruling that repealed The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Online poker is now up and running in Delaware, so expect the list of the state’s five biggest winners to change quickly.

Abraham Korotki is the Only Delaware Player With $1M+ in Winnings

The five biggest live poker tournament winners from Delaware have $4,105,911 in winnings. Abraham Korotki is responsible for $1,901,477 of that sum. The poker veteran, who hails from Bethany Beach, Delaware, has cashes dating back to 2006.

February 2006 saw Korotki record his second-ever live cash, and what a result it was. Korotki topped a field of 124 entrants in the $10,000 WSOP Circuit Atlantic City. His reward? $433,008 and a coveted WSOPC ring.

That huge prize is still Korotki’s largest score to this day. He has five other six-figure prizes, however. The last of those came in July 2017 when he won a $2,700 No-Limit Hold’em side event at the Borgata in New Jersey. Korotki banked $349,329 that day.

Matthew Burnitz hails From the Biggest City in Delaware

Wilmington, Delaware, is where you find Matthew Burnitz, who is second in the state’s all-time money listing. Burnitz has $698,543 in earnings; his biggest haul weighs in at $488,850.

Burnitz won that princely sum in September 2012. He finished second in a $3,200 WPT Atlantic City side event, losing heads-up to Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Hamnett. The Delawarean does not play a lot of poker — he has 36 recorded cashes — and has not received a payout since September 2019. Perhaps we will see him in action now the COVID-19 restrictions are easing?

Eric Doerr is an Atlantic City Regular

Eric Doerr lives in Newark, Delaware, but is often seen in New Jersey grinding poker tournaments. It is in New Jersey where he enjoyed a career-best $196,863. Doerr was the runner-up in a $1,650 event at the Borgata in August 2009.

Doerr has several victories in low-stakes live events. The largest prize came as recently as March 2019 when he netted $19,192 in a $400 event in, you guessed it, New Jersey. He only has one cash in Las Vegas, but that should change if he heads to Nevada for this year’s World Series of Poker.

Jason Loehrs Has a WPT Side Event Title

Jason Loehrs of Wilmington, Delaware, has $478,934 in winnings, enough for fourth in the state. The $383,431 he won in January 2016 makes up the bulk of Loehrs’ lifetime winnings. Loehrs secured that impressive sum after triumphing in a $560 buy-in side event at the 2016 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open. He outlasted 5,100 opponents on his way to victory.

The COVID-19 pandemic robbed Loehrs of the opportunity to complete a superb hattrick. He cashed in the 2018 WSOP Main Event (960th – $17,025) and again in 2019 (889th – $17,135). We have little doubt, a third consecutive cash was on the cards had the series not been postponed.

Chris Odle The Former Online Poker Star

Fifth-place in the Delaware all-time money list is Chris Odle, who calls Middletown home. Odle racked up more than $1.1 million in online poker winnings before Black Friday. Amazingly, he was ranked as high as fifth in the world during 2006!

Odle is rarely seen on the live poker circuit these days. He cashed in an event in Las Vegas in July 2017 and again in June 2019.

Like Loehrs, Odle has multiple WSOP Main Event cashes to his name. A 468th place finish in 2016 netted him $25,235. A 49th place two years earlier saw Odle collect a career-best prize worth $152,025.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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