Marshall White cashed in four of the final five events to earn Casino Championship honors.
West Palm Beach, Fla. (February 20, 2015) – Marshall White has won the Casino Champion title at the Palm Beach Kennel Club stop following a strong performance at the end of the series. White cashed in four of the final five events, including reaching two final tables and earning one gold ring. Both of the final tables he reached were turbo events.
White’s late charge in the series earned him the title of Palm Beach Kennel Club Casino Champion and a seat into the National Championship. White took advantage of nobody running away with the title early in the series. White finished in third place in the final event to clinch the Casino Championship event.
The early leader in the series was gold ring winner, Jonathan Abla. Abla cashed three times in the first seven events, including reaching two final tables to take the early lead in the Casino Championship race. He was not able to capture a ring at either of his final tables. Without the 50 points that comes along with a gold ring victory, Abla was never able to distance himself too far from the gold ring winners of the series. Abla had 70 points through the first seven events. At that point, White was still sitting at zero.
White’s success in the series began in Event #8 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo. He won that event to capture his first ever gold ring. He defeated a final table that included seven-time gold ring winner, Ari Engel. This gave White 50 points and put him in contention for the Casino Championship.
Following his victory, White cashed the very next event. He finished on the final table bubble (10th place) in Event #9 - $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em for 10 more points. The winner of that event was Sam Pazica. It would be Panzica that White would eventually beat out for the title.
White ended up striking out in the Main Event, firing two bullets and not making it through Day 1 in either of them. This however allowed White to play the final two events, which he would go on to cash for more Casino Championship points.
White finished in 16th place in Event #11 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em for another 2.5 points. Although the 2.5 points seemed insignificant at the time, they would be crucial to White winning the title.
Going into the final day of play White had 62.5 points, 7.5 points behind Abla. White needed a deep run in Event #12 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo to pass Abla. However, there was still one other player in contention for the title. Panzica was one of 10 players returning for the Day 3 of the Main Event. Panzica was going for back-to-back gold rings.
The turbo event went fast on the final day of play and White was in the money and had earned enough points to pass Abla, but Panzica was still in the Main Event and collecting more and more points with each elimination. Panzica’s strong run would end in fourth place adding 40 points to his total to bring him to 90. This left White needing third place or better in Event #12 to pass Panzica. White got exactly what he needed and finished in third place to bring his total up to 92.5 points.
White and the Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event winner, Darryll Fish, are heading to the 2015 National Championship where they’ll freeroll for their share of an up-to $2 million prize pool against some of the WSOP’s top performers. Besides the six-figure score, the eventual winner of the National Championship will win a gold bracelet.
More information and full point standings for the year-long race are available on WSOP.com. White’s Palm Beach Kennel Club cashes:
Event #8 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo – 145 entries – 1st place for $12,181
Event #9 - $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em - 147 entries – 10th place for $3,014
Event #11 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em – 159 entries – 16th place for $640
Event #12 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo – 110 entries – 3rd place $4,357