May 05 2012, Chad Holloway

The 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit continued this past week with the second-to-last stop of the season, Harrah’s Philadelphia. That stop’s Main Event begins on Saturday, May 5, so we thought it’d be a good idea to recap the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Philadelphia action thus far.

One notable event was Event #5: $555 No-Limit Hold’em, which drew 134 players and created a prize pool of $64,505. That event saw circuit regular Katherine “Kat” Bowen, an owner of an Internet service provider from Gladewater, Texas, make the trip to the East Coast in an attempt to earn more points toward the National Championship.

It was a wise decision as she soon found herself at the final table, where some superb play made her one of the final two players left with a slight chip lead over Steven Skowrownski, a 27-year-old poker pro from Indiana. In the final hand, Skowrownski was all in preflop holding and in bad shape against the of Bowen. The board ran out nine-high and Bowen captured her first WSOP Circuit gold ring and the $18,197 first-place prize.

“This has been a really great experience and this is my first Gold Ring so you can’t beat that,” Bowen said after the win.

Prior to he win, Bowen had amassed 77.5 points on the WSOP Circuit, meaning the additional 50 awarded to her for the win will no doubt be enough to qualify her for this year’s National Championship.

Here’s a look at the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Philadelphia events completed thus far: