Seattle-based Jesse Wilke defeats Barry Kay, in heads-up action, to take the first prize of $125,401 at the World Series of Poker Circuit event in Lake Tahoe.
With all eyes entranced on the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in Las Vegas, the smaller cogs in the Caesars machine keep on rolling, with the 10th event of the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) in Lake Tahoe crowning a six-figure winner.
Jesse Wilke added $125,401 to his bank account, donned a new gold ring and secured a seat in the season ending WSOP National Championships after overcoming Barry Kay in heads-up action.
Wilke was by far the most experienced player to make the final table with only Jasthi Kumar and Yotam Shmuelov having recorded any previous scores of note. Kumar taking down a side event at the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) in Thunder Valley, back in 2013, and Shmuelov making two HPT Main Event final tables in 2013 finishing third in each.
32 year old Wilke topped a field of 380 players in the $1,675 Main Event. It was the 10th of 12 events scheduled to be held at Harveys Lake Tahoe, and it created a total prize pool of $570,000 with 45 players receiving a paycheck.
The victory was Wilke’s 10th WSOP-related cash, and he has now earned over $240,000 in a live tournament career stretching back just two years. Wilke was a former online professional before Black Friday came along and pointed him in a different direction.
“It’s been too difficult to do what a lot of my friends have done where they’re moving out of the country,” Wilke told the WSOP referring to Black Friday. “All of my friends and family are here. My husband’s career is in Seattle, so for me I’ve mostly been playing live cash games.”
It was Wilke’s second WSOPC final table of the year, after finishing in eighth place in the event held at Caesars Palace back in February. Wilke picks up a seat in the season ending WSOP National Championships, where he will be joined by the Casino Champion Steve Foutty, who earned that accolade following three cashes, two final tables and one victory.
The WSOPC Lake Tahoe Results
1st. Jesse Wilke – $125,401
2nd. Barry Kay – $77,492
3rd. Gerald Cohen – $56,624
4th. Jasthi Kumar – $42,043
5th. Dan Stir – $31,703
6th. Allen Hickman – $24,265
7th. Richard Fitzgerald – $18,844
8th. Yotam Shmuelov – $14,843
9th. Robert Donahue – $11,856
The next stop for the WSOPC is Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and the action starts on Thu 13 Nov 2014.
