Event #8: $365 No-Limit Hold'em

Event #8
No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $300 (+$65)
Total Entries: 95
Prize Pool: $28,500
September 23-24, 2015

Miller hones his skills in home games with Phil “USCphildo” Collins, wins $8,551 at PBKC.

West Palm Beach, Fla. (September 24, 2015) — Alex Miller of Atlanta, Ga. defeated Jim Choquette heads up in Event #8 of the Palm Beach Kennel Club Circuit Thursday afternoon. The victory in the $365 no-limit hold’em tournament earned Miller $8,551 along with his first gold ring and 50 points toward the Casino Championship. For Miller, the victory marks his first WSOP-related in-the-money finish.

“The money is great, of course, but to be able to say I won a WSOP Circuit event, I’ll be proud of that the rest of my life,” Miller said. “I’ll forget about the $8,500 eventually. Or I’ll spend it or I’ll lose it in future tournaments. The ring I’ll have forever. I can’t even fathom how good it feels.”

Miller is an entrepreneur and self-proclaimed recreational player. Now 30 years old, he began playing poker seriously while in college at the University of South Carolina. It was there that he met Phil “USCphildo” Collins. Some years later Collins would go on to finish fifth in the WSOP Main Event for more than $2.2 million, but he didn’t always have a first class ticket on the gravy train.

“We were buds in college playing home games,” Miller said of Collins. “That’s where he actually learned. I was taking his money, then five or six years later he’s [finishing fifth in the WSOP Main Event].”

Playing against talent like Collins helped Miller to sharpen his game and put him in position to make deep runs like he did Thursday at PBKC. The field in Event #8 narrowed to just three remaining following Day 1 and Miller bagged the chip lead with nearly two-thirds of the chips in play. When Day 2 kicked off, it was a different story. He sputtered to start and it wasn’t long before he held the shortstack three-handed.

“I gave away half my stack with top pair versus an overpair,” Miller said. “I was a little downtrodden […] I had difficulty pushing it out of my brain and I was down to 250,000 and not feeling good. I was probably in third at that point. It wasn’t a good feeling. Then things started to turn around and ended up working out.”

As he alluded to, Miller righted the ship and eventually bested Choquette after about 30 minutes of heads-up play. In addition to $8,551 in prizes, the victory earned him something not even his former tablemate Collins has – a piece of WSOP hardware.

“I can’t even describe what’s going through my body right now. It’s awesome,” Miller said.”

Event #8 was the eighth of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The $365 no-limit hold’em event attracted 95 players. The total prize pool came to $28,500 and the top 12 finishers were paid.

The tournament began Wednesday, September 23 at noon and Day 1 wrapped toward the end of Level 21 (at about 3 a.m.). Day 2 resumed Thursday at 1 p.m. with three players remaining and action concluded toward the beginning of Level 23 (at about 2:15 p.m.).

Final results:

1st: Alex Miller - $8,551
2nd: Jim Choquette - $5,284
3rd: Joseph Patalano - $3,763
4th: Cody Pack - $2,733
5th: Tai Yuen - $2,025
6th: George Novo - $1,528
7th: Matthew Grisham - $1,176
8th: Steve Katlin - $921
9th: Alan Franco - $734
10th: Kevin Manning - $595
11th: Gary Bodley - $595
12th: Michael Terrell - $595

It's shuffle up and deal time on Day 2 of Event #8, a $365 no-limit hold'em tournament. Just three players remain from 95 starting and Alex Miller has a stranglehold on the finale with 639,000 of the 950,000 chips in play -- almost 70 percent.

Beginning the day second in chips is ring winner and Event #4 runner up, Joseph Patalano. While a victory would put Patalano's name atop the Casino Championship leaderboard through eight events, current leader Cody Pack would edge him out via the money-earned tie breaker.

The start-of-Day-2 shortstack belongs to Jim Choquette.

Three-handed chip counts:

Alex Miller - 639,000 (63 bb)
Joseph Patalano - 196,000 (19 bb)
Jim Choquette - 115,000 (11 bb)

Cards are in the air for Day 2 now with 11 minutes left in the 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante level. All three players have locked up $3,763 while the tournament's champion earns $8,551 and a Circuit gold ring.

Chip leader Tai Yuen

After roughly 90 minutes of bubble play, the field sheared itself of a player pushing those remaining into the money. From there, it took just a few hands for Michael Terrell to bust 12th and Gary Bodley 11th.

Play has now consolidated to the unofficial, 10-handed final table with Hong Kong's Tai Yuen leading the action. Yuen holds 160,000 chips and is out in front of a finale that includes Casino Championship contenders Joseph Patalano (83,500) and Cody Pack (72,000). This marks Yuen's first-ever WSOP-related cash.

Ten-handed seating assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1: Kevin Manning - 50,500
Seat 2: George Novo - 42,000
Seat 3: Alan Franco - 74,000
Seat 4: Tai Yuen - 160,000
Seat 5: Cody Pack - 72,000
Seat 6: Steve Katlin - 98,500
Seat 7: Alex Miller - 102,000
Seat 8: Matt Grisham - 132,000
Seat 9: Jim Choquette - 140,500
Seat 10: Joseph Patalano - 83,500

Action is back underway now with blinds of 1,500/3,000 and a 500 ante. All players have locked up a score of $595 while the tournament's winner earns $8,551, a Circuit gold ring and 50 points toward the Casino Championship.

Bubble play pushed the Day 1 schedule back about 40 minutes meaning action should wrap around 3 a.m. ET.

Event #8 ($365 no-limit hold'em) of the World Series of Poker Circuit at the Palm Beach Kennel Club drew 95 players generating a prize pool of $28,500. The top 12 spots finish in the money with the 12th-place player pocketing $595. Payouts increase steadily from there before topping out in an $8,551 first prize. In addition, the tournament's winner cards 50 points toward the Casino Championship and a Circuit gold ring.

Full prize structure:

Presently, the clock shows 54 players remaining. Among them are yesterday's Event #6 winner Cody Pack, Event #6 runner-up Christopher Staats, three-time ring winner Daniel Gilmer and Shawn Rice.

We will update you again as Day 1 gets a little deeper into the structure.

The clock strikes noon and cards are in the air for Day 1 of Event #8, a $365 no-limit hold'em tournament. Here's a look at the ins and outs of the opening day of play:

Noon - Event #8: $365 No-Limit Hold’em - Day 1

-$365 buy-in gets players 10,000 chips
-Blinds begin at 25/50
-Registration remains open through Level 6 (until about 3:30 p.m.)
-A 60-minute dinner break occurs after Level 12 (at about 6:45 p.m.)
-Day 1 concludes after Level 18 (at about 2:15 a.m.)
-Levels 1-12 are 30 minutes, Levels 13-21 are 40 minutes, all remaining levels are 50 minutes
-Advancing players return for Day 2 Thursday at 2 p.m.

We will provide complete attendance figures and final prize pool information shortly after registration closes.