Will Pengelly Wins 2018 WinStar River Poker Series Main Event20-Year-Old Student Tops Field of 807 Entries To Win $249,310 |
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William Pengelly has won the 2018 WinStar River Poker Series $2,500 buy-in, $2 million guaranteed no-limit hold’em main event, defeating a field of 807 entries to take home a $249,310 payday. The 20-year-old college student at the University of North Texas had to miss a day of class in order to finish out the final table, which he did in just over 3 hours. Things were expedited by the fact that an ICM-chop was agreed upon with five players remaining, leaving just the title and the championship bracelet to play for.
In addition to the title and the money, Pengelly also earned 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his first POY-qualified score ever, and it alone was enough to see him catapulted into 180th place in the overall rankings.
Pengelly began the day in third chip position but fell to one of the shorter stacks early in the final table. He righted the ship by winning a flip with the A
K against Johnny Deas’ pocket sixes. He flopped a royal flush draw but ended up pairing his ace on the river to win the pot. He flopped a set of jacks not long after and knocked Deas out in eighth place ($46,060), a disappointing finish for the man who began the day with the chip lead.
From there it wasn’t long until the deal was cut, with Pengelly earning the top payout as the player with the largest stack.
Plenty of big names made deep runs in this event but failed to make the final table, including: Men “The Master” Nhuyen (14th – $24,040), Joe Elpayaa (19th – $19,820), Chris Tryba (32nd – $8,900), Seneca Easley (33rd – $8,900), 2014 Card Player Poker Tour Choctaw main event winner Austin Lewis (34th – $7,840) and Andy Philachack (39th – $6,980).
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | William Pengelly | $249,310 | 1,368 |
| 2 | Ekrem Bozkurt | $215,170 | 1,140 |
| 3 | Jeff Banghart | $206,570 | 912 |
| 4 | Ricky Green | $205,710 | 684 |
| 5 | Dean Baranowski | $144,000 | 570 |
| 6 | Matthew Bray | $75,440 | 456 |
| 7 | Alan Cummins | $58,580 | 342 |
| 8 | Johnny Deas | $46,060 | 228 |
| 9 | Brian Green | $36,640 | 114 |
Winner photo credit: PokerNews.
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