Final Table Takedown: Donovan Dean Wins Third WSOP Circuit Ring

Donovan Dean was on a family vacation when he got bit by the poker bug. Instead of soaking up the sun and going for a swim, Dean was in the condo, glued to the poker on TV. Like many during the poker boom, Chris Moneymaker’s win at the 2003 WSOP main event had made an impression on Dean, and he quickly fell in love with the game.

After years playing cash games, Dean decided to dip his toes into multi-table tournaments. In 2016, he took down his first WSOP Circuit ring, banking $54,777 on only his third attempt. As it turns out, the win was less than a blessing, tricking Dean into thinking that he was ready for more. For five years, he chased every tournament within driving distance, finding more downswings than upswings.

It wasn’t until the pandemic that Dean began to take his own game more seriously and dedicate himself to being the best he could be. With no live cash games to play, the Alabama resident instead focused on transforming his tournament game. As a result, he came out of the lockdown raring to go.

After several notable finishes including four wins at the Pearl River Poker Open and a final table at the Venetian DeepStack series worth $117,561, Dean picked up his second gold ring in 2022, taking down the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee main event in North Carolina for $356,963.

After a deep run in the WSOP main event in Las Vegas, he returned to Harrah’s Cherokee in August and once again took down the main event, this time for $326,206. He now has more than $1.7 million in career tournament earnings. The family man credits his children as the motivation he needed to succeed, who are his biggest fans.

Card Player caught up with Dean to break down a couple key hands from his most recent victory.  

Craig Tapscott: You’ve won all your rings at Harrah’s Cherokee. In fact, you have eight WSOP Circuit final tables there in total. It must feel like you have home-court advantage every time you take a seat. 

Donovan Dean: It’s definitely home for me. It’s a 3.5-hour drive from my house, but I feel comfortable there. I haven’t missed a stop there since 2016. I get up before a tournament and eat at Peter’s Pancakes in the morning, which makes the day good for me.

I’ve played with 90 percent of the players there, so it helps to know everyone’s tendencies and how they play against me. My style of play has had a lot of success there, especially in the main events. I’ve been deep 3-4 other times on day 2.  

CT: What was the key to becoming a winning player? Perhaps one moment that was eye-opening and changed how you approached the game.  

DD: COVID.

CT: Really?

DD: Yes. [The pandemic] ended up being a blessing for me. Instead of playing live cash games, I played tournaments on ACR Poker daily. I was playing against the best in the world because everyone else was home too.

I remember one tournament where I had Alex Foxen on my left for about five hours. I paid attention to everything he did. He was ranked number one in the world at the time. After that, I started three-betting relentlessly, and then the game changed for me. I’ve always been naturally aggressive, but that took me to a new level. Then, the wins started coming. 

CT: Let’s talk about two big hands you played during your recent win.   
 
Event: WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee
Buy-In: $1,700 
Entrants: 1,451 
Prize Pool: $2,198,265 
First-Place Prize: $326,206 
 
Stacks: Donovan Dean – 650,000 (130 BB) Jesse Bryant – 470,000 (94 BB) Villain 2 – 340,000 (68 BB) Villain 3 – 500,000 (100 BB) 
Blinds: 3,000-5,000 Big Blind Ante: 5,000 
Players Remaining: 200

Bryant opened to 13,000 from UTG+1. Villain 2 called from UTG+2. Villain 3 in middle position called. Dean raised to 45,000 from the button holding Q Q.  
  
Craig Tapscott: Share your thoughts on your choice of bet sizing from the button in this situation? And what sizing would you have made it if you were in the blinds?  

Donovan Dean: I feel like at 45,000, I get a lot of information about the hand. Jesse now has to raise all of his big hands because he doesn’t want to go to the flop 3-4 ways here. He also has to fold his marginal hands because there are two people with big stacks behind him. 

If I was in the blinds, I would probably make the bet 65,000 just because I want to get the hand over with. There’s a lot of dead money in there and I don’t want to play this hand from out-of-position against multiple opponents.

Bryant reraised 135,000 more. Both Villain 2 and 3 folded. Dean called. 

DD: I decided to call because we both were super deep, and I wasn’t sure if I had the best hand or not. If I made a set here, I could win a huge pot.  

Flop: 6 5 3

Bryan bet 75,000. Dean called. 

CT: What range of hands do you think he would continuation bet with here? From your experience with Bryant, could it be close to 100% of his range in this spot?

DD: I honestly don’t have a lot of history with Jesse. I did watch his main event run, though, and he played great. I think he only has a big hand in this spot. Now I have to decide whether pocket queens are the best hand. It was a 25 percent pot bet. I thought I could reevaluate on the turn. 
 
Turn: 10 

Bryant moved all in. 
 
DD: If I had called and was wrong here, I’m down to under 200,000. If I fold, I still have 450,000 or 90 big blinds in a field that I deem relatively soft and can use my big stack to my advantage. So, I folded my queens face up.  

Bryant won the pot of 459,000. 

DD: After I won the tournament, Jesse told me that he had pocket kings. So that fold saved me the tournament.  

CT: What were you thinking when you decided to fold your hand face up? Wouldn’t that give away a lot of info to your opponents?  

DD: I guess just to get more information from him. I’ve played with most of these guys for years. I’m not really too worried about giving away information. My main objective there was just to try to figure out what he had.   

CT: From your experience, is NOT folding in spots like this a big leak for many players. They can never let go of a big pair in these situations. What advice can you share about these types of spots? 

DD: It’s hard to fold big hands, but sometimes you must look at the bigger picture. If I fold here and still have 90 big blinds, I’m in a pretty good position to grow my chips and possibly bag a big stack. If I call here just hoping I have the best hand and lose, then I’m at the mercy of the deck after that. I’d rather be more in control. 
 
CT: How did you begin to incorporate three-betting more into your game?

DD: I honestly just started three-betting any hand I usually flat called with. And then continuation-bet most flops. I’ve started mixing flats into my game recently and playing a lot more street poker. 

Stacks: Donovan Dean – 8,000,000 (100 BB) Villain 1 – 1,700,000 (21 BB) 
Villain 2 - 1,600,000 (20 BB) 
Blinds: 40,000-80,000 Big Blind Ante: 80,000 
Players Remaining: 18 

DD: This hand propelled me to the big chip lead going into the final table.  

Dean opened from mid-position to 160,000 holding K J.
Villain 1 called from the cutoff. Villain 2 reraised from the big blind to 400,000. 

CT: What was your read on the villain in the big blind? 

DD: I mean, I obviously think he has a strong hand. The raise was so small, and there’s a chance to go three ways to the flop. 
 
Dean called, as did Villain 1. 

CT: The raise sizing from the player in the big blind clearly put your decision over to a call.

DD: I could have definitely folded here because the big blind obviously had a big hand. But I have a lot of chips already, and I’m just not folding K J for a 2.5x raise in position.  

Flop: 8 7 4

Villain 2 moved all in, and Dean called. Villain 1 moved all in for slightly more and Dean called.  

Turn: 6

River: J

Dean won the pot of 5,040,000. 

DD: The WSOP dealer of the year, Mr. Caleb Cushing, found me the 6 on the turn to scoop this massive 5 million chip pot! 

CT: What would the bet sizing by the big blind have to have been for you to consider folding preflop?

DD: If he makes it 7.5-8 big blinds I’m just folding. He had aces, though. He obviously didn’t want us to fold. He just got unlucky.

CT: Overall, what are the major mistakes many players make when it comes to both preflop and bet sizing overall?

DD: Most people over-play their hands both preflop and post-flop. I don’t understand why some people play their big hands so much bigger and stronger than their marginal hands, but you see a lot of that on the circuit.

People are scared to go broke with their big hands, so they overplay them. What happens is they either don’t get paid off or go bust when they’re beaten. The name of the game is extracting chips when you have the best hand. ♠