WSOPC Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 30K Opener

Robert 'Bobby' Miller Wins First Circuit Ring in Choctaw $580 One-Day Event

Durant, Oklahoma (January 18, 2017) – Robert ‘Bobby’ Miller has just defeated a field of 375 entries to take down the World Series of Poker Event #10 ($580 No-Limit Hold’em One-Day) at Choctaw Casino, earning his first Circuit ring and $41,239.

“This feels so good, the best. I’ve been close a bunch of times, but I’ve never won a tournament outright before,” Lawson had to say about his victory.

Miller did not wake up this morning with the intention of playing poker.

“I was working and it was too wet so I decided to come on down here. It was a one day deal, so I thought I better come on down and play. I have to work tomorrow so I couldn’t play two days,” the concrete construction worker explained.

Because of Miller’s work, he doesn’t always get to travel a lot to play, but he always makes it a point to come to Choctaw whenever they have bigger events. He also said that he has never missed a WSOP stop at this location, even if he can only play an event or two. 

Miller has played poker for many years. He said that he used to play online when it first started, and then transitioned to live play after Black Friday. He currently plays tournament poker at least once a week in his local area, and plays almost exclusively Texas Hold’em. But he thinks that this win will increase the amount of tournaments that he plays, and he will also likely increase the number of higher buy-in events that he plays.    

Miller said that he tends to cash a great deal, but that until today he had yet to close out a tournament. “I get in the 10% a lot, I just don’t win,” Miller explained about his high likelihood of cashing in tournaments.   

Miller had to wade through a final table of very accomplished players, including WSOP Circuit ring winner Josh Vizcarra, and  five-time ring winner Joshua Turner.  And for Miller, it ultimately came down to heads up play against WSOP Circuit ring winner Carter Myers. 

Myers shoved all in holding    and Miller called with   . The flop came    , giving Miller a set of tens, but also giving Myers a flush draw. The   turn and   river were safe for Miller, and Myers was eliminated in 2^nd place ($25,491).

When asked what he feels is most special about the ring, Miller responded laughingly, “I’ve got one. That’s what’s most special! I’ve been trying to win one of these suckers forever.”

Below are the results of the final table. Full results from this event are available in the Results tab above.

1 – Robert Miller – $41,239
2 – Carter Myers – $25,491
3 – Mark Abboud – $18,626
4 – Joshua Turner – $13,830
5 – Salah Nimer – $10,429
6 – Rex Worrell – $7,982
7 – Joshua Vizcarra – $6,199
8 – Dennis Johnson – $4,883
9 – Stephen Carra – $3,900

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At the conclusion of this event, Nathanael Kogel still leads the Casino Champion race. Kogel won Event #5 ($365 No-Limit Hold'em), and then took down Event #8 ($365 No-Limit Hold'em) less than 48 hours later. He also cashed in Event #2 ($365 Re-Entry) giving him a total of 102.5 points. Christopher Staats and Enrique Melguizo are tied for second place with 60 points each. The player who accumulates the most overall points in the twelve gold ring tournaments at Choctaw Casino earns the title of Casino Champion, and receives an automatic entry into the $1 million 2017 WSOP Global Casino Championship (seat valued at $10,000). The winner of the Choctaw Main Event earns an automatic entry to the Global Casino Championship as well. All players who cash in ring events will receive points that apply to both the Casino Champion race and the season-long race to claim one of the 50 at-large Global Casino Championship bids awarded to the top point earners throughout the season. More information on the points system is available on WSOP.com.

Here is the list of gold ring winners from Choctaw so far:

EVENT #1: Jorge Nieto defeated 1,096 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack) for $60,005.

EVENT #2: Charles Adkins defeated 5,280 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry) for $237,622

EVENT #3: Wesley Cooper defeated 377 entries ($365 Congress 5-Card Omaha High Low) for $24,882

EVENT #4: Andrew Telfer defeated 506 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em One Day) for $32,636

EVENT #5: Nathanael Kogel defeated 399 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold'em) for $26,334

EVENT #6: Christopher Staats defeated 498 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em Six Max) for $32,870

EVENT #7: Enrique Melguizo defeated 330 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em) for $23,269

EVENT #8: Nathanael Kogel defeated 360 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em) for $24,841

EVENT #9: Peter Lawson defeated 279 entries ($365 No-Limit Hold’em) for $20,089

EVENT #10: Robert Miller defeated 375 entries ($580 No-Limit Hold’em One-Day) for $41,239

With this tournament now wrapped up, there are still 2 more gold ring events before the WSOP Circuit at Choctaw concludes on January 23, 2017.