Sean Yu Wins 2019 WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Main Event For His Seventh Gold Ring

Sean H. Yu has won the 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit Bicycle Casino $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, defeating a field of 678 total entries to win his seventh WSOPC gold ring and the first-place prize of $210,585. This was the third largest score of Yu’s career, and it brought his lifetime live tournament earnings to over $2.1 million.

The 43-year-old poker pro from Los Angeles entered the final day of this event as the chip leader among the twelve remaining players, having bagged up 4,575,000 at the end of day 2. His nearest competition was Andrew Moreno with 4,040,000. Only one other player had more than 2 million, in Ben Moon (2,015,000). Yu furthered his advantage by scoring the first knockout of the day, cracking Mark Babekov’s pocket kings to send him home in 12th place ($15,840).

Yu remained in the lead when the official final table of nine was set, with Moreno still hot on his heels. Yu picked up pocket kings and called the all-in shove of Zachary Gruneberg, who held A10. Gruneberg did spike an ace on the flop, but Yu nailed a king on the flop as well for a set. He held up from there to send Gruneberg packing with $19,700 as the ninth-place finisher.

Moreno earned the next elimination. He called the shove of Ralph Wong with QQ. Wong was behind with A9, but took the lead on a 996 flop. Moreno surged back in front with the Q on the turn. The 4 on the river locked up the pot for Moreno. Wong earned $24,815 as the eighth-place finisher.

Yu eliminated Jordan Meltzer in seventh place ($31,855) to further extend his lead. Scott Vener was the next to fall, getting in his last seven big blinds with 86 against the A2 of Ben Moon. An ace on the flop gave moon the strong lead in the hand, which he maintained through the river to bust Vener in sixth place ($40,910).

Moreno overtook the lead by winning a big pot to eliminate Aaron Messmer in fifth place. Messmer shoved with 99 from under the gun and Sean Yu called the 1,450,000 bet. Moreno also called, holding 1010. The flop came down 1074 and Moreno bet 1.6 million into the side pot. Yu folded and Messmer got the bad news. The 3 on the turn left him drawing dead. The A was a mere formality, and Messmer was sent to the rail with $53,565 for his deep run.

While Moreno took the lead with that hand, but Yu quickly regained it by scoring the next two knockouts in quick succession. Moon shoved from the button for around 15 big blinds with QJ and Yu called from the button with K10. Yu flopped a king and held from there to knock Moon out in fourth place ($71,070). Just minutes later Moreno min-raised to 200,000 from the button and Yu called from the small blind. Matteus Lessa moved all-in for 3,150,000 with pocket fours and Moreno folded. Yu made the call with pocket nines, which held up to eliminate Lessa in third place ($95,570).

With that Yu took 128 big blinds into heads-up play against Moreno, who had 75 big blinds.

“Yeah, I had a feeling Moreno was going to be my toughest opponent, so I thought we were going to go heads up,” Yu told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. “I thought we were going to, honestly, play for a long time. I thought it was going to drag on for like three, four hours, at least.”

Instead, the heads-up match was quickly brought to an end by a cooler flop. With blinds of 60,000-120,000 and a 120,00 big-blind ante, Yu raised to 300,000 from the button with 66. Moreno called with the 62. The flop brought the 962 and Moreno checked. Yu bet 325,000 and Moreno check-raised to 880,000. Yu called and the turn brought the 3. Moreno bet 2,100,000 and Yu moved all-in. Moreno called to put himself at risk, only to see that he was drawing dead. The Kon the river secured the pot and the title for Yu, while Moreno was eliminated in second place. He took home $130,295 for his deep run, bringing his career live tournament earnings to $762,939.

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

Winner photo provided by WSOP.

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