Circuit Update

Matt Salsberg Scores Circuit Win On Home Turf
By Erik Fast
Canadian-born Los Angeles resident Matthew Salsberg is best known as a writer and executive producer on Weeds, which ran for eight years on Showtime. After his day job at the studio, however, Salsberg hit the poker rooms around town and became a serious part-time player.
He has managed nearly 240 cashes since first hitting the scene in 2004, including winning the 2012 WPT Grand Prix de Paris for a career-best $478,415 payday. That led to him earning the tour’s Player of the Year honors for that season.
A dozen years later, Salsberg came through with the second-largest victory of his career, taking down the WSOP Circuit Commerce Casino $1,700 main event on his home turf. Salsberg bested a 1,209-entry field to earn his first WSOPC gold ring and the top prize of $286,134. His career tournament earnings now sit at nearly $3.6 million.
“It’s been kind of a crazy few years for me, so this is wild,” Salsberg told WSOP reporters. “I have played a lot of circuit events over the years and have never won a ring, so it’s nice to get one.”
This event ran from Nov.21-25, with three starting flights and two more days of action. The strong turnout built a prize pool of $1,831,635 that was paid out among the top 161 finishers. The final table also featured bracelet winner Michael Liang, who was sent packing with $134,958 for his third-place finish.
Salsberg held better than a 3:1 lead over Anthony Marquez when heads-up play began, and it didn’t take long for him to finish it off. On the last hand, Marquez three-bet shoved with K♣ Q♦ and Salsberg called with A♦ K♠. The board came down eight high and the ace was enough. Marquez earned $190,774 as the runner-up.
Player Payout (POY)
1 Matthew Salsberg $286,134 (960)
2 Anthony Marquez $190,774 (800)
3 Michael Liang $134,958 (640)
4 Davis Khobyer $96,684 (480)
5 Luis Yepez $70,552 (400)
6 Samvel Gspoyan $52,185 (320)
7 Richard Ham $39,148 (240)
8 Aram Mkhitaryan $29,838 (160)
9 Phongthep Thiptinnakon $23,100 (80)

Lebanon’s Khorchidian Continues Breakout At Merit Poker Gatsby Gala
By Erik Fast
Nichan Khorchidian’s two largest poker tournament paydays have both come in $3,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main events held at Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino in Merit, Cyprus. He kicked off 2024 with a runner-up showing in the Merit Poker Western Series main event, earning $252,500 to set a new personal best.
On the first day of December, he managed to top that showing, defeating a field of 614 entries in the championship event of the Gatsby Gala Series at the same venue to take home $307,700. The Lebanese player now has nearly $925,000 in recorded tournament earnings, with the majority of that coming from his two scores in Cyprus.
This event featured a $1.5 million guarantee. The strong turnout saw the final prize pool swell to nearly $1.7 million, with the top 79 finishers earning a share. Several big names ran deep in this event, including Simone Andrian (51st), Nikolay Fal (40th), Shai Zurr (36th), Andrey Pateychuk (7th), and Anton Wigg (4th).
2011 WPT Vienna champion Dmitry Gromov finished third for $142,470, giving him more than $2.5 million in lifetime cashes to his name.
Heads-up play began with Khorchidian holding a slight lead over Bogdan Jontulovic. He was able to stretch that advantage ahead of the final hand, open-shoving with A♠ 8♦ from the button for around 11 big blinds effective. Jontulovic called with K♠ 3♠ and the board came down K♥ Q♣ 10♠ 3♦ J♣ to give Khorchidian a straight on the river for the win.
Jontulovic earned $211,400 as the runner-up. This was the first-ever six-figure score for the Romanian.
Player Payout (POY)
1 Nichan Khorchidian $307,700 (1,260)
2 Bogdan Jontulovic $211,400 (1,050)
3 Dmitry Gromov $142,470 (840)
4 Anton Wigg $102,570 (630)
5 Vedat Yilmaz $76,930 (525)
6 Adrian State $61,640 (420)
7 Andrey Pateychuk $51,300 (315)
8 Naji Tannoury $40,930 (210)
9 Felipe Ketzer $30,770 (105)

David Jackson Takes Down WSOP Circuit Horseshoe
By Erik Fast
The WSOP Circuit returned to Horseshoe Las Vegas for a December stop, with plenty of prize money and 18 gold rings awarded during the 12-day festival. The $1,700 main event drew 455 entries, with several big names making it down to the final table.
In the end, two-time WSOP bracelet winner David Jackson emerged victorious with the $139,996 top prize and his third WSOPC gold ring. Jackson’s previous rings came in a $580 buy-in event at Harrah’s Cherokee back in 2017 and a $400 buy-in six-max event at the same venue this February.
This victory grew the Jacksonville, Florida resident’s career earnings to $5 million. More than $1.5 million of that has come from his success in WSOP bracelet events, with over half a million in WSOPC cashes.
Ryan Leng, who has won three bracelets and four WSOPC rings, finished fifth when his K-Q lost out to the A-4 suited of Walter Connors.
Connors slid to the bottom of the chip counts during three-handed play, however. He got the last of his stack in with A-K leading Q-8 for Jackson and was ahead through the turn, but an eight on the end saw him eliminated in third place for $64,470.
Jackson took more than a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Yaniv Livnat. The final hand saw all the chips go in on a 7♠ 6♣ 2♣ flop with Jackson holding J♣ 7♦ against the 8♣ 7♣ of Livnat. The 10♦ turn left Livnat in need of a club or eight on the river. The 6♥ rolled off the deck instead, locking up the win for Jackson. Livnat earned a career-best score of $93,329 as the runner-up.
Player Payout (POY)
1 David Jackson $139,996 (720)
2 Yaniv Livnat $93,329 (600)
3 Walter Connors $64,470 (480)
4 Brian Battistone $45,364 (360)
5 Ryan Leng $32,526 (300)
6 Matt Affleck $23,773 (240)
7 Terry Fleischer $17,717 (180)
8 Martin Cornero $13,470 (120)
9 Jacob Mendelsohn $10,451 (60)