Frank Covich records a win and a runner-up finish to earn Casino Champ honors at Horseshoe S. Indiana.
Elizabeth, Ind. (October 15, 2015) – Frank Covich has won the Casino Championship title at the Horseshoe S. Indiana stop following an impressive performance that included two final tables and a gold ring victory. Covich accumulated more than $50,000 in tournament earnings over the course of the 12-day series.
Covich took a share of the lead in the Casino Championship standings after he won Event #2 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry. The win gave him 50 points, which tied him for the lead with Joseph Mattingly and Robert Cheung. Mattingly won Event #1 and Cheung won Event #3.
Event #2 was the biggest WSOP cash of Covich’s career. He defeated a field of 731 players to earn $43,860 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring.
Covich’s share of the lead wouldn’t last long though. Mattingly followed up his Event #1 win with another final table in Event #6 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em. He ended up finishing in fourth place after taking a bad beat at the final table for another 27.5 points. This final table put a big cushion between him and the rest of the field with just half of the series remaining.
Covich was nowhere to be found during the weekdays of the series. He works in security and was working during the week. This limited Covich’s chances for points greatly and he was only able to play on both of the weekends of series.
Covich made his return on the second Saturday of the series for the second flight of the Main Event. Unfortunately for Covich, he did not last long in the Main Event. Instead of firing a second bullet, Covich headed over to Event #11 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em to play in that tournament. It would end up being a wise decision as he went on to reach the final table. Once the final table was reached, Day 1 of the tournament was over and players bagged. Covich bagged as the chip leader and knew he was coming back Sunday with a great chance to pass Mattingly for the Casino Championship lead.
Covich would end up needing a fourth place or better to pass Mattingly for the Casino Championship lead. A fourth place finish would tie Covich with Mattingly in points, but Covich held the tiebreaker with much more in tournament earnings because of his re-entry win. Covich battled hard throughout the day and the field was quickly reduced from nine to four players. He had overtaken the lead from Mattingly. Covich went on to finish second to Lucas Johnston. His second place finished earned him 37.5 points, bringing his total to 87.5 points.
When Covich’s tournament ended there was just one more player Covich had to fade to clinch the Casino Championship. There was nobody left in the Main Event that could catch Covich, but Justin Harvell still had chips in Event #12 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em and could pass Covich with a second place finish or better. Fortunately for Covich, Harvell would end up busting just short of the money.
Covich earns an automatic bid to the 2016 Global Casino Championship where he compete for a prizepool in excess of $1 million. Joining him will be this stop’s Main Event Champion, Russ Head. Head defeated a 374 player field in the Horseshoe S. Indiana Main Event to earn his second career gold ring. It was redemption for Head, who finished runner-up in the very same even the year prior.
More information and full point standings for the year-long race are available on WSOP.com.
Covich’s Horseshoe S. Indiana cashes:
Event #2 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry – 731 entries – 1st place for $43,860
Event #11 - $365 No-Limit Hold’em - 113 entries – 2nd place for $6,286