May 24 2012, Chad Holloway

Last year, the World Series of Poker Circuit held the inaugural $1,000,000 National Championship featuring 100 players who had qualified for the freeroll either by winning a Main Event, claiming a casino championship title, or winning enough points on the national leaderboard. What you might not know is that one man won a WSOPC Main Event and wasn’t awarded a seat to the national championship. We’re talking about our latest Rookie Roundup selection, John Riordan, who turned out to be ineligible for last year’s national championship.

In March 2011, Riordan conquered a field of 712 players to win the WSOP Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club for $210,180. He accomplished the feat at age 19, making him the youngest ring winner of all time. Florida only requires players to be 18 to play in their casinos, whereas Las Vegas requires patrons to be 21. Therefore, Riordan was unable to accept the seat into the national championship, a prize that accompanies every WSOP Circuit Main Event win.

Not being able to play the million-dollar freeroll was a missed opportunity, especially when you consider how well he had been playing. In the Palm Beach Main Event Riordan began the final day third in chips with 24 players remaining. He used that big stack to cruise to the final table, which is where he hit a few speed bumps. Nonetheless, the wunderkind kept his composure and managed to make it to heads-up play against Mike Mortin.

John Riordan

In their penultimate hand, with blinds at 50,000/100,000 and a 10,000 ante, Riordan made it 250,000 from the button and Morton defended his big blind. The latter then checked the flop and Riordan fired out a 325,000 bet, only to have Morton check-raise to 900,000. Riordan called, and that brought them to the turn.

From there, Morton moved his stack all-in and Riordan spent a few minutes in the tank before calling off his last 3.84 million chips, creating a pot of 10 million chips. Riordan’s was in the lead, but Morton’s had plenty of outs to end the tournament right there. Much to Riordan’s delight, the river missed his opponent, and he laid claim to the biggest pot of the tournament. Riordan clinched victory on the next hand.

Since his big score, Riordan has notched three other cashes. He took sixth in a $550 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Florida Million III at Orange Park for $22,000; third in the $2,500 2012 Isle Classics Main Event at Pompano Beach for $43,207; and 34th in the this year’s WSOP Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club Main for $4,573. That last score may not have been life-changing, but it was impressive considering it was just 33 spots away from a title defense in a 778-player field.

Riordan, who studied at the University of Florida, may be young, but that doesn’t mean he’s not talented. Since he was 19, Riordan has played in some of the biggest pot-limit Omaha cash games in Florida, sometimes as big as $200/400 with a $40,000 buy-in.

The WSOP will be a new experience for the rookie, but we’re confident he’ll fare well. Our guess is he’ll be making some noise in no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha events throughout the summer.

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February 27 2012, Mickey Doft

Day 3 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event began with 21 players remaining from the starting field of 778. After about four hours, the final table of nine was reached. One of the notables who fell short of the final table was Brian “Stinger 88″ Hastings. Having bypassed Day 1 entirely, he opted to buy in on Day 2 with a 20-big-blind stack, and made an excellent run, but came up just short in 11th place. Here’s how the final table of nine stacked up:

It was a fast and furious start as pocket aces were aplenty. Chris Parsons was the first to fall when he ran into Jamil Wakil’s . A on the flop was not enough to save Parsons, giving him the ninth-place finish.

On the following hand, Sterling Savill got his eight-big-blind stack into the middle with . Jim Harnden looked him up, but Matthew O’Brien picked up in the small blind and isolated the pot. The board ran out and O’Brien’s aces held to send Savill away in eighth place.

David Stefenski bid adieu in seventh place, getting his chips into the middle holding . Drazen Ilich had him at risk with , but was not happy to see the flop come down . Stefanski took the lead, but lost it right back when the smashed the turn to give Ilich the set. Stefanski still had outs to a flush on the river, and he made it happen when the fell. However, that also filled up Ilich’s boat to end Stefanki’s run.

Six-handed play lasted for about two hours before Drazen Ilich met his end. A preflop raising war between Ilich and O’Brien culminated with Ilich all-in and at-risk holding to O’Brien’s . The flop kept Ilich ahead, but the turn vaulted O’Brien to the lead. Ilich wasn’t saved on the river, and he was eliminate in sixth place – making five WSOPC final tables for him without the elusive first-place finish.

Jamil Wakil was the most aggressive player at the table and his aggression led to him building a sizable chip lead early on. However, two hands in quick succession did Wakil in. First, on an board, Wakil put Rob Williamson to the test following a three-bet shove. Williamson, with about 17 big blinds behind, called all-in with for a Broadway draw. Wakil was well ahead with , but the nailed the turn. A stunned Wakil didn’t catch up on the river, and his day was about to get worse.

Wakil was involved in another hand where his hijack raise was called by Jim Harnden in the big blind. Harnden then overbet the flop. Wakil called to see the turn, and after Harnden bet two-thirds of the pot, Wakil reraised all-in. He was stunned to see Harnden call and turn over , which happened to be well ahead of Wakil’s . The river ended Wakil’s event in fifth place.

The final four players departed for a dinner break and when they returned a half hour later, the chips were flying. Roman Valerstein lost a race with to Harnden’s when a king hit the flop. O’Brien followed him to the payout desk about 15 minutes later after a his river bluff with on a board ran smack into Harnden’s .

Heads-up play began with Harnden holding about a 3.5:1 chip lead and in two hands he had all of the chips. It ended when he three-bet shoved into Rob Williamson’s . The board ran out , giving Harnden a pair of queens to earn the gold ring, as well as $226,395.

Final Table Payouts

The World Series of Poker Circuit’s next stop is at Caesars Atlantic City from March 1 through 12. For the remaining WSOPC schedule, and to find out when you can get in on the action, head over to WSOP.com.

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