A part-time poker player from Norcross in Georgia, Charles Johnson has won WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event. Johnson remained the last man standing from a strong field of 957 entries. He collected his first WSOP Circuit gold ring and took home his first six-figure payout of $272,744.
By day, Johnson works as a manager in a contact center. By night, he plays poker. He entered the game of poker four years ago and spent a long time learning the game’s nuts and bolts.
After this big victory, Johnson let his emotions take over and said, “There are a lot of people who’ve been doing this for a lot longer than I have and have never been here,” he said, struggling to keep his composure. “I feel blessed. Like… just blessed.”
The player has had a tough time on the felt over the past several weeks, but his losing streak eventually ended with the victory of the Main Event. He survived through a starting flight without having to re-enter and ended Day 1 with a respectable stack of 159,000. By the end of Day 2, he emerged as the chip leader. From there, the player followed his own strategy, built a good stack and eventually succeeded in beating a huge field to take down the coveted title.
Johnson faced the well-known James Moon. The two-handed duel started with Johnson as the chip lead with 10.585 million to his opponent’s 8.56 million. With both players being deep into blinds, the heads-up game lasted long for 54 hands, during which chips went back and forth. On the last hand, Johnson moved all in and Moon called. The latter tabled 9s-9h to his opponent’s Js-10d. The board ran out Qc-8s-5h-Ad-9d and Johnson took down the Main Event title with straight.
Final Table Payouts (INR):
1st: Charles Johnson – $272,744
2nd: James Moon – $168,700
3rd: John Whitlow – $124,515
4th: Ed Yancey – $93,164
5th: Krzysztof Stybaniewicz – $70,584
6th: Nate Gentry – $54,147
7th: David Jackson – $42,046
8th: Ryan Jones – $33,060
9th: Trung Pham – $26,298