David Hengen Wins WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs Main Event For Fourth Career Gold Ring

David Hengen is the latest World Series of Poker Circuit main event champion to be decided on the popular mid-major tour. The Nebraskan defeated a field of 352 entries in the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event in Iowa, just across the border from his home city of Omaha. He was awarded a career-high payout of $116,846 for the win, as well as his fourth WSOPC gold ring.

Hengen now has more than $567,000 in career tournament earnings to his name. Over $365,000 of that has come from cashes in WSOPC tournaments.

“My wife and I are going to be taking our kids to Savannah, Georgia," Hengen told WSOP reporters after coming out on top. "It is our 15th wedding anniversary, as well as our son’s 14th birthday. I’m sure we will do something extravagant for the celebration.”

In addition to the title and the money, Hengen also secured 600 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this tournament. This was his second final-table finish of the year, having placed third in a $400 buy-in preliminary ring event earlier at this same series for $10,021 and 128 points.

With 728 total points on the year, he now sits inside the top 1,000 in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This event featured two starting flights, which drew 173 and 179 entries, respectively. From the total turnout of 252, 53 players moved on to day 2, all of whom made the money.

The final day began with just six contenders remaining and WSOPC ring winner Timothy Garles in the lead. 14-time WSOPC ring winner Daniel Lowery scored the first two knockouts of the day, eliminating Matthew Dodd (6th – $21,097) and Garles (5th – $28,011) to move into the top spot in the chip counts.

84-year-old Michael Henery was the next to fall, getting all in on a 9768 board with A5 for the bottom end of the straight. Former poker journalist and two-time WSOPC ring winner Mo Nuwwarah had him in horrible shape, though, with A10 for the higher straight with the nut-flush redraw. The 8 on the river spelled the end of Henery’s run in fourth place. He earned $37,801 for his efforts.

Nuwwarah overtook the chip lead soon after that, with pocket aces holding against the ace-jack of Lowery in a preflop all-in showdown. The two soon squared off again, but this time around Lowery was the one holding the aces. His AA did not hold up, though, as Nuwwarah’s 99 improved to a set on the river to see Lowery knocked out in third place ($51,838). He now has more than $1,593,000 in recorded WSOPC earnings, and nearly $2.5 million in total tournament scores for his career.

This was Lowery’s 12th final-table finish of the year. With four titles won and more than $400,000 in to-date POY earnings, the Arkansas native now sits in 75th place in the overall POY standings.

Nuwwarah held a sizable chip lead coming into heads-up play with Hengen, but a pair of quick double-ups saw Hengen quickly close the gap. He then overtook the lead thanks to winning a healthy pot with trip nines.

The two traded the chip advantage back and forth a couple times, with Hengen taking what ended up being the decisive lead with a flopped set of fives besting the turned eights and deuces of Nuwwarah. Not long after that, Hengen raised on the button with AK and Nuwwarah three-bet shoved holding 33. Hengen called and the board ran out KQ9A6 to give him aces up and the title.

Nuwwarah was awarded $72,216 as the runner-up, the largest live tournament score of his career. He now has more than $371,000 in recorded cashes to his name.

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

Photos provided by WSOP.

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