It’s been a week of wonderful women making their mark on the tournament scene, beautiful bounties, and bad beats worth almost $500K. Also mixed in with our latest roundup of Big Winners is a near miss for 2022 World Champion Espen Jorstad, a record-setting event in Texas, and some fun in the sun from Cyprus. So, if you want to know who won what last week, scroll down for CardsChat’s Big Winners of the Week ending Sunday, Aug. 28.
Scott Ball
WSOP Online Mystery Bounty Event
GGPoker
$1 million
The biggest of this week’s Big Winners is Ball, but he didn’t do it by taking down a tournament. The WSOP bracelet winner and former Twitch poker manager made it to Day 2 of the $210 Mystery Bounty event. 51,003 entries were collected and Tapio Vihakas of Finland went on to win a bracelet and $367,953. However, it was Ball who banked the biggest prize long before a champion was crowned. He hit a mystery bounty prize on Day 2 and, despite initially thinking it was worth $1,000, the WSOP bracelet winner was later informed it was 1,000X that amount. He checked his balance and there it was, a bounty worth $1 million.
Benjamin Flanagan
Bad Beat Jackpot
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh
$490,708
Flanagan might have thought quad aces were good enough to win in a $1/3 cash game at Rivers Casino last Thursday, but he was wrong. Fortunately, it wasn’t all bad news. Even though Raymond Broderson won the pot with a royal flush, Flanagan was the ultimate winner thanks to Rivers’ Bad Beat Jackpot. With the progressive prize pool at $1.2 million when the bad beat occurred, Flanagan, a recreational player from West Virginia, scooped 40% of the jackpot. Broderson banked 30% ($368,029, while the other six players at the table shared $61,338.
Charley Du
Mega Millions XXIII
Bicycle Casino
$335,300
Over the weekend, Charley Du took down the 23rd installment of the Mega Millions at LA’s Bicycle Casino. With 5,302 entrants generating a total prize pool worth more than $2.2 million, the event was one of the biggest ever for the Bike. Du defeated Sami Bechahed heads up to claim the first-place prize of $335,300 after starting Day 3 as player 51/51 with just two big blinds in his stack. He was able to get a few double-ups before starting the final table fifth out of six players, and running hot until the end. Du had just two cashes to his resume before this result for less than $4,100.
Jonas Lauck
WSOP Online Monster Stack
GGPoker
$173,224
The Monster Stack event lived up to its name last week and, when the final chips fell, Lauck was the biggest monster of all. The German pro and 2016 WCOOP Main Event winner was one of the 36 survivors who made it to the second and final day of the $800 event last Monday. Ioannis Konstas led at the start of play, but Lauck gradually made his way into contention as a number of familiar European pros fell by the wayside. Lauck eventually toppled Ilya Anatski to claim his second WSOP bracelet, three years after winning his first in Las Vegas.
Beau Wilshire
Mid-States Poker Tour Main Event
Grand Falls Casino
$104,579
Wilshire had to beat another strong MSPT field last Monday to take home his first tournament title. The cash game grinder from Kansas, who plays online under the handle Don K. Nado, washes golf carts in his spare time. Wilshire didn’t say whether or not beating a field of 503 players in the $1,100 event would push him to give up his side hustle. However, he did say winning his first tournament means he now has a trophy he can show his parents so they can stop thinking he’s a “drug dealer.”
Eduard Barsegyan
EAPT Main Event
Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party
Merit Casino
$100,000
Russia’s Barsegyan was one of 675 players who made the trip to Cyprus last week for some poker fun in the sun. The $1,000 event got underway on Monday with a $500K guarantee. Five starting flights ensured that number was beaten by a comfortable margin and that Barsegyan was able to take home a six-figure score after dominating Friday’s final session.
Rob Yong
The One Drop
Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party
Merit Casino
$87,000
Businessman and Dusk Till Dawn owner Yong is a regular in poker’s highest stakes cash games, but he hadn’t won a live tournament until Sunday. The Englishman was one of 13 players who entered the $10K One Drop charity event in Cyprus. Five re-entries pushed the prize pool to $174,600, which meant Yong won just short of $90K by beating someone he’s getting to know extremely well right now. That person is 2022 WSOP Main Event Espen Jorstad. Yong invited Jorstad to be his partner in the $200K buy-in Coin Rivet Invitational, but he managed to show the World Champion a trick on two during their heads-up clash.
Randy Wolf
Legends of Poker Mystery Bounty Event
Bicycle Casino
$30,170
Another exciting Mystery Bounty Event took place at the Bicycle Casino last week where the big mystery bounty was pulled by Michael Ung. It was the second time in 14 months that Ung pulled a $50K mystery bounty. However, it was former MLB pitcher Randy Wolf who won the event, taking home the second largest payday of over $30K, with more than $7,000 coming from bounties. Before he played poker in LA, Wolf played in the Majors for 16 years as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, and Detroit Tigers. Now, it looks like he will be striking players out at the poker table.
Andrew Moss
Art of Poker
The Lodge Card Club
Round Rock, Texas
$20,750
North Carolina’s Moss got his second recorded live result Sunday after beating a record-setting field in Texas. The $250 event is one of the biggest ever held at Lodge Card Club and Moss was the man who brought the action to a close. His victory over Ahir Chatterjee was complete when his pocket deuces held up in the final hand. In addition to his biggest live score and a trophy, Moss won a pair of Beats headphones for his efforts.
Jessica Vierling
WSOP Circuit No-Limit Hold’em
Tulsa Hard Rock
$13,641
Vierling took down her ninth live event last Friday and, more importantly, her first WSOP Circuit ring. The German pro, who now lives in Las Vegas, made the trip to Tulsa for the $400 event. With consistency on her mind, she wasn’t even thinking about the prize money as she worked her way through the 136-player field. After the event, Vierling said she “finally” achieved her goal of winning a WSOP ring after beating Byron Abernathy heads-up.
Emily Glancy
Goliath X Women’s Championship
CBS Arena, Coventry
£5,865
($6,851)
Glancy, who’s a Fantastic Ladies in Poker Ambassador, proved she’s a worthy figurehead by winning Grosvenor’s £110 ($130) Women’s Championship. Known on the circuit as Miss Risk it for a Biscuit 72AllDayz, Glancy likes to lead by example, and she did just that last Saturday. An impressive turnout in the ladies’ event meant Glancy had to outlast 218 players to win the title. That’s what she did and, thanks to pocket nines, she secured her 11th live result and her first GUKPT trophy.
Daniel Smyth and Kevin Taylor contributed to this report. Know a big winner we missed? tips@cardschat.com
