Tyler Barnes Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's Cherokee Main Event

The latest World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event drew a sizable field of 1,659 entries, easily surpassing the $1.5 million guarantee to create a final prize pool of $2,513,385. After two starting flights and two more days of action, North Carolina resident Tyler Barnes emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $383,856. He scored every elimination at the official final table on his way to closing out the win.

This was Barnes’ second WSOPC gold ring victory and by far his largest tournament score. Before this six-figure windfall, his top payout was the $39,051 he secured for taking down the $600 buy-in event at a 2022 WSOPC stop at this same venue for his first ring.

In addition to the title and the money, Barnes also walked away with 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was enough to move him inside the top 40 in the 2024 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

“It feels great to win,” Barnes said. “I’d like to give a shoutout to Ryan D’Angelo for coaching and supporting me through this.”

D’Angelo, a bracelet winner, was among many highly accomplished tournament players who made it deep in this event alongside Barnes. D’Angelo ultimately hit the rail in 12th place for $31,876. Several other notables survived to the top nine, including 2021 Wynn Millions main event winner Andrew Moreno, who held the chip lead when the field combined onto the final table.

Barnes scored his first knockout at the final table by winning a preflop race against Rubin Chappell (9th). He then busted Christopher Mo (8th) and David Yue (7th) to continue his climb up the leaderboard.

The next key hand saw all the chips go in the middle with Barnes holding KK against Moreno’s JJ. The larger pair held up and Moreno was eliminated in sixth place. The $80,857 payout increased his career earnings to more than $4.3 million.

Adam Hendrix was the next to fall. The Alaskan ran A-Q suited into Barnes’ pocket nines preflop. Hendrix added flush and straight draws to his overcards by the turn, but a brick on the river saw him eliminated in fifth place ($104,413). He now has over $6.2 million in lifetime cashes.

Two-time bracelet winner Michael Wang got all-in on a Q92Q board with KK. Barnes had turned trips with Q10. The J on the end saw Wang sent to the rail in fourth place ($136,052). Like Hendrix, Wang surpassed $6.2 million in total scores thanks to his run in this event.

15-time WSOPC gold ring winner Maurice Hawkins was knocked out via a three-way all-in. He held A10 facing the J9 of Barnes and the 98 of Zak Gilbert. The final board read QJ496, giving Barnes two pair. Hawkins earned $178,870 as the third-place finisher, the sixth-largest score of his career. He is now approaching $5.4 million in lifetime earnings.

The final hand saw all of the chips go in after a flop of Q96. Gilbert was ahead with QJ. Barnes held 76. The 5 turn gave Barnes a straight draw to go with his other outs. The 8 on the end completed that straight to eliminate Gilbert in second place ($237,256).

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

Photo credits: WSOP.

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