Michael Persky Wins Second WSOP Circuit Main Event Ring 49 Days After His First

Michael Persky won his first World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. The Novato, CA resident took down the $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event at nearby Graton Casino & Resort, besting a field of 616 entries to earn $175,595.

Just 49 days after that marquee victory, Persky navigated his through another WSOP Circuit main event field in Northern California to secure another six-figure payday and his second ring. This time around, Persky outlasted 594 entries at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento to earn $170,780 and the hardware on Oct. 9, just seven weeks removed from his previous victory.

“This is unbelievable,” he told the Poker.org reporter covering the event after securing the win. “I know how hard this is. I tell people, ’I won the WSOP main event… Twice, now!”

“I need to go home. My wife, my kids, my dogs, and my business are waiting. I haven’t missed a day’s work when I was winning Graton, and I literally haven’t missed anything here. I’m a contractor. I take nothing for granted, nothing,” said Persky.

This was only the eighth recorded live tournament score for Persky, but it brought his career earnings to nearly $415,000.

In addition to the gold rings and the money, Persky has also secured plenty of rankings points thanks to his two huge title runs. He was awarded 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for each of those victories. When combined with the 400 he earned for a runner-up showing in a $600 event at the WSOPC Graton series before taking down the main event, Persky’s point total sits at 2,080. As a result, he is currently ranked inside the top 150 in the 2023 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

After the two starting flights and day 2, the 594-entry field was narrowed to just ten contenders. Persky was toward the bottom of the leaderboard, with bracelet winner Amir Lehavot out in front to start.

Persky won a key preflop flip early with pocket jacks against A-K to help him survive to short-handed action. With five remaining, he found himself on the other side of a similar race, with AK up against the QQ of John Koo. Persky spiked a king on the turn and held from there to eliminate Koo in fifth place ($44,160). With that, Persky moved into the chip lead heading into four-handed play.

Lehavot’s fate also came down to a preflop showdown between A-K and a pocket pair. His overcards were unable to best the pocket sevens of Xing Wei and Lehavot was left on fumes. He was soon eliminated in fourth place, earning $58,360. The 2013 WSOP main event third-place finisher now has nearly $6.3 million in lifetime earnings after this latest score.

Despite winning that big flip, Wei was ultimately the next to fall. His A-10 ran into the A-J of Tracy Oto, who flopped trips to all but seal the deal. Wei cashed for $78,030 as the third-place finisher.

Persky managed to take control of the heads-up match early, and after about an hour of play, closed things out to secure the ring and the six-figure top prize. Oto was awarded $105,550 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Winner photos provided by WSOP.

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