ICYMI, Jonathan Hilton (@ballallday12_3g) won a bracelet and the National Championship last night: wsop.com/news/2013/May/…
— WSOP(@WSOP) May 25, 2013
Jonathan Hilton wins the first WSOP gold bracelet ever issued on U.S soil, outside of Nevada, Jason Mercier issues a bracelet challenge, Joe Serock finds a WSOP sponsor and the WSOP Carnivale of Poker schedule is released.
The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) has reached its climactic conclusion and Jonathan Hilton is the main benefactor of the WSOP National Championship free roll, after winning the first gold bracelet to be awarded on U.S soil outside of the state of Nevada.
Hilton qualified for the $10,000 free roll after his eight WSOPC cashes, and his solitary victory at Council Bluffs, was good for 23rd place on the National Leader Board. It was the second time that Hilton had been heads-up for the elusive WSOP gold bracelet, after taking the bridesmaid berth in the $1k event that Dominik Nitsche won in his first-ever visit to the WSOP last year.
The event was the reward for the prominent players on this seasons WSOPC. The top 62-players on the National Leader Board joined 38 WSOPC Main Event winners, and Casino Champions; and 27 specially invited WSOP Player of the Year (POY) qualifiers. Only the WSOP POY had to fork out a buy-in – $10k to be exact – meaning 100-players had a freeroll with the WSOP stumping up $1 million in prize money.
The final table saw a good mix from all three disciplines: Max Steinberg, Brock Parker, Joe Tehan and Jeremy Ausmus bringing the class and the experience of the WSOP POY roster, Robert Panitch, Nicolas Vaca-Rondon and Jonathan Hilton finding their way from the National Leader Board and John Bowman representing the Casino Champions.
The heads-up encounter fell between Hilton and WSOP bracelet holder Max Steinberg. Hilton taking the title, $355,599 in cash and the all important wrist candy after Steinberg missed his open ender (holding [9d] [7s] on [Kh] [Tc] [8d] [Ad]) and Hilton’s [Ks] [Ts] stayed resolute until the sweet end.
The Mercier WSOP Challenge
So with the WSOPC in the books it’s time to turn our attention to the 44th Annual WSOP. The action will kick off on Wednesday May 29th when the casino employees will duke it out for their shot at gold, and the pros will do likewise in Event #2: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Eight Handed.
One man who will be ready to rock and roll will be the current Global Poker Index (GPI) top tanked tournament player in the world, Jason Mercier. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner has set tongues-a-wagging after putting out 3 to 1 odds that he will win a bracelet at this years series, and will also lay small odds that he will beat anyone in a bracelet race except for Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth.
So far Daniel “Jungleman” Cates and David ‘Viffer’ Peat are two of the bigger names to respond to Mercier’s challenge.
RunGoodGear Signs Joe Serock
Who said that sponsorship deals in poker are harder to find than Dodo poop?
Joe Serock has just joined AP Phahurat, Lauren Kling, Jamie Kerstetter, Brent Hanks and Rob Salabru as representatives of the poker-clothing brand RunGoodGear at this summers WSOP.
“The RunGood HQ is pumped on having Joe represent the RunGood brand during the world’s biggest stage of poker. With this pick-up I think the company has to be running pretty pure,” Tana Karn, President of RunGoodGear.com told PokerNews.
WSOP Carnivale of Poker Schedule Released
The schedule for the WSOP Carnivale of Poker has been released. There will be 21-events in total, although the WSOP have promised to add further events once the fish start to get knocked out of the WSOP Main Event.
The events will take place on Monday’s and Tuesday’s:
June 3rd – $365 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 4th – $580 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 4th – $365 Omaha Hi-Lo (Two Day Event) June 10th – $365 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 11th – $580 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 11th – $365 H.O.R.S.E (Two Day Event) June 17th – $365 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 18th – $580 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 24th – $365 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 25th – $580 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) June 29th – $560 Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (One Day Event) July 1st – $365 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) July 2nd – $580 No-Limit Hold’em/Six Handed (Two Day Event) July 2nd – $365 Pot-Limit Omaha (Two Day Event) July 8th – $365 No-Limit Hold’em Event (Two Day Event) July 8th – $250 Mega Satellite for Main Event July 9th – $580 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) July 9th – Mega Satellite for Main Event July 10th – $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) July 10th – $250 Mega Satellite for Main Event July 11th – $1,675 No Limit Hold’em Main Event Day 1A July 12th – $1,675 No Limit Hold’em Main Event Day 1B July 13th – $580 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event) July 13th – $5,000 Open-Face Chinese (Two Day Event) July 14th – $365 No-Limit Hold’em (Two Day Event)
