Mark Barrientos Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa Main Event

In 2019 Mark Barrientos raced to the finish line in a fast-paced $250 buy-in World Series of Poker Circuit no-limit hold’em event, earning a five-figure payday and his first WSOPC gold ring. More than four years removed from that win, the Wichita, KS resident battled his way back to the winner’s circle, topping a field of 397 entries to come out on top in the 2023 WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event.

Barrientos was awarded $126,900 and his second gold ring as the champion. The win was also worth 600 Card Player Player of the Year points.

“The first ring meant a lot,” he told WSOP reporters. “A lot of guys made fun of me because it was a turbo tournament, so I felt that I had something to prove. This one feels a little better because I think I played better through this one.”

This was Barrientos’ first-ever six-figure score. It increased his lifetime earnings to $163,106, with the vast majority of that prize money being secured on the WSOP Circuit.

The $601,455 prize pool for this tournament was paid out among the top 60 finishers. Notables that ran deep included bracelet winner Jordan Morgan (53rd), 2017 champion of this event Will Berry (39th), bracelet winner Bryan Campanello (15th), and Kasey Mills (12th), who finished fifth in another WSOPC main event at this venue back in the spring.

The final day of the event began with just seven players remaining after ring winner Angela Jordison hit the rail late on day 2 with her pocket fives losing a preflop race against Barrientos’ ace-king.

Lionel Jiang came into the last day with the lead and soon added to it by eliminating Mark Martin (7th – $18,065). James Stone then scored two knockouts, busting Tomas Teran (6th – $23,519) and Wayne Nicholsen (5th – $31,087) to narrow the field to four.

Stone was ultimately the next to head to the rail (4th – $41,707) thanks to running pocket eights into the pocket queens of Jiang. Barrientos then made aces up against the tens up of Brent Gregory. All of the chips went in on the river and Gregory’s run concluded in third place ($56,785).

Jiang entered heads-up play with the lead, but Barrientos edged ahead. He was then able to pull away in time for the final hand, which saw Jiang shove from the button with 62. Barrientos called with K2 and the board came down KJ83J. With that, Barrientos locked up the pot and the title. Jiang earned $78,440 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller / 8131 Media.

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