Kevin Johnson has taken down the WSOP Circuit Biloxi $1,700 Main Event for $127,319 and his first-ever gold ring. The 27-year old player outlasted a strong 382-field to take down the coveted title.
Johnson had six WSOP Circuit cashes but this win gave his career-best of $127,319. By winning the Main Event, Johnson also secured a seat into the season-ending Global Casino Championship.
The WSOP Circuit $1,700 Main Event hosted at Mississippi’s IP Biloxi was the final one to take place this year. As mentioned above, it drew 382 entries to create a prize pool of $578,730. The top 45 finishers made it into the money, each claiming no less than $2,616 for running deep into the event.
The tournament ran between 14th to 17th December. The official 9-handed final table was reached by the end of Day 2 with just five players left to contend for the title. Johnson had entered the FT with a hefty stack of 2.295 million and scored double eliminations of BJ McBrayer and Chris Matters.
The final five who returned for Day 3 included two former gold ring winners in Luke Graham and Benjamin Thomas. Soon, Johnson became the second-largest stack. He eliminated Benjamin Thomas and Matthew Higgins on his way to reach heads-up with Luke Graham who could not go all the way.
Johnson entered heads-up with a stack of 8.18 million to his opponent’s 3 million. The dual didn’t last long. The final hand arrived soon where Johnson checked the 5c 4h 7h flop and Graham bet 325,000. The eventual winner check-raised all in for 7.8 million with 10h 7c and Graham snap-called for his last 2.8 million with 6h 5h. The board brought 9s on the turn and Ks on the river. Johnson locked up the title and the first-place prize. Graham bagged $78,678 for his runner-up finish.
Final Table Payouts:
- Kevin Johnson – $127,319
- Luke Graham – $78,678
- Matthew Higgins – $57,491
- Benjamin Thomas – $42,687
- Timothy Conrow – $32,189
- Johnny Landreth – $24,637
- Dave Alfa – $19,133
- Chris Matters – $15,070
- BJ McBrayer – $12,038