Monday, September 28, 2015 9:29 PM Local Time
Christian Rodriguez Wins PBKC Last Chance Ring
Event #12
One-Day No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $300 (+$65)
Total Entries: 112
Prize Pool: $33,600
September 28, 2015
Rodriguez breaks through for first tournament win; avenges fifth-place finish in this summer’s Monster Stack.
Circuit events wrap at PBKC; John Vale earns Casino Champion honors in a runaway.
West Palm Beach, Fla. (September 28, 2015) — Christian Rodriguez got the WSOP victory that was coming to him Monday night at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The Boynton Beach, Fla. pro bested 112 players in Event #12, a $365 last-chance ring event, to nab his first tournament trophy along with a $10,079 first prize. Even with no previous victories under his belt, Rodriguez’s young resume is already quite decorated.
“I went to Vegas this summer and made it to the final table in the Monster Stack,” he said. “I ended up getting fifth – four spots away from a bracelet. It was good money, but I really wanted to win. This is my first official win and for it to be a Circuit ring feels fantastic.”
Referring to his $335,000 score as only “good” is a bit of an undersell, but as he mentioned, it was a few spots shy of a win. He returned to the felt for the 2015/2016 Circuit season and again experienced success early final tabling the $580 prelim at the Kennel Club.
“It’s beyond redemption,” he said of winning the ring. “I final tabled the [PBKC] $580 re-entry and got seventh in that one. I fell short there and it feels fantastic to close it out […] Keep going after your dreams. That’s all I can say.”
In addition to Rodriguez, the eighth-place finish of John Vale yielded another tournament headline. Vale preceded his deep run in Event #12 with first-, fourth-, another eighth-place and a ninth-place finish. In all, he amassed 127.5 points toward the property’s Casino Champion race and won the title handily. Putting his performance in perspective, over the course of the first four stops of the season combined, no other player has been able to top 110 points. His solid play earned him a berth in the season-ending WSOP Global Casino Championship where he’ll compete alongside the PBKC Main Event champion for his share of a guaranteed $1,000,000 prize pool and a gold bracelet.
The PBKC series marked the fourth of 21 stops on the 2015/2016 schedule and is one of two times the WSOP will call South Florida home this season. With the conclusion of Event #12, it’s officially wrapped, but Circuit action kicks off again at Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, Ind. this Thursday.
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Event #12 was the last of 12 gold ring events on the WSOP Circuit schedule at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The $365 one-day no-limit hold’em event attracted 112 players. The total prize pool came to $33,600 and the top 12 finishers were paid.
The tournament began Sunday, September 27 at noon ET and played out in its entirety in one day. Action concluded during Level 23 (~9 p.m.) making the total duration of the event about nine hours.
Final results:
1st: Christian Rodriguez - $10,079
2nd: Mark Dumonski - $6,230
3rd: Blake Dennison - $4,436
4th: Javier Zarco - $3,222
5th: Haribhai Gopaul - $2,387
6th: Elliott Merlin - $1,802
7th: Daniel Gilmer - $1,386
8th: John Vale - $1,086
9th: Steven Bennett - $866
10th: Brian Reinert - $702
11th: Ernest Hogan - $702
12th: Zachary Laxen - $351
13th: Eugene Nussbaum - $351