Alex Aqel Wins 2017 WSOP Circuit Potawatomi Main Event

Alex Aqel has won the 2017 World Series of Poker Circuit Potawatomi $1,675 no-limit hold’em main event, defeating a field of 677 entries to win Wisconsin’s first ever live poker tournament with a seven-figure prize pool. For the win Aqel earned his first WSOPC gold ring and the top prize of $208,184, also setting a record for Wisconsin’s largest first-place payout.

In November of 2016 Aqel won the Mid-States Poker Tour main event at Potawatomi for $138,385, which now sits as the third biggest payday in the state’s history.

“Playing for that amount of money is a lot easier because I just recently had a big score myself,” Aqel told WSOP reporters after the win. “It was more that I just wanted to win a WSOP Circuit main event. That was huge for me.”

The 32-year-old Chicago native also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was enough to see him climb to 34th place on the POY leaderboard, which is presented this year by Commerce Hotel & Casino.

Aqel came into the final day in second chip position with eight players remaining. He won a key race midway through the final table with AJ beating pocket sevens, and then had his own pocket sevens hold up against an opponents A-6 to earn him a knockout. From there he survived to heads-up play against Chad Wiedenhoeft, who took a slight lead into the final showdown.

Aqel once again won a huge pot that involved sevens, this time making quads and winning a big pot against Wiedenhoeft’s busted flush draw. By the time the final hand arose he held a lead of more than 3-to-1. With blinds of 60,000 – 120,000 and an ante of 10,000 Wiedenhoeft raised to 240,00 from the button. Aqel made the call and the flop came down KJ9. Aqel check-called a 240,000 bet from Wiedenhoeft.

The turn paired the board with the K and both players checked. The 3 hit the river and Aqel checked again. Wiedenhoeft bet 300,000 and Aqel check-raised all in having Wiedenhoeft’s 2.6 million stack well covered. Wiedenhoeft thought it over and made the call with the J7 only to ahve Aqel show the K10 for trips kings. With that Aqel secured the pot and the title while Wiedenhoeft was eliminated as the runner up, earning $128,816.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Winner photo courtesy of WSOP.

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