Ethan Bennett Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Gold Ring At Turning Stone Resort Casino

Ethan Bennett – Photo Credit: WSOP

Ethan Bennett took home his first World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring by winning the main event hosted at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York on March 25. In addition to his first ring, the top prize of $298,546 was worth just about double the Brooklyn resident’s previous total cashes. His poker tournament earnings now stand close to $450,000 thanks to his biggest win to date.

The $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em event saw a field of 1,188 entries accumulated over three starting flights, and that result posted a total prize pool worth $1,799,820. The top 170 players all took home at least $2,543 in prize money.

Day 2 began with 124 players remaining and ended with a dozen left in contention. Three bustouts were needed to get things down to the final table when cards got back into the air. Brian Ballentine (12th), Sherwin Agard (11th), and Patrick White (10th) were the unlucky trio that just missed the threshold.

When action began among the final nine, Ethan Bennett found himself third in chips. Bennett scored a big double through the chip leader Srikanth Gundela to improve to second in chips during nine-handed play. He then hung back for a bit before eliminating Gundela in seventh place for his first knockout punch.

Bennett got another bustout when he took out two-time ring winner Soukha Kachittavong in fourth place. Kathrine Brandt had been sending quite a few opponents to the rail as well, including Cindy Spier in third place. That put the chip counts for the final match in favor of Brandt over Bennett at a 2:1 clip.

The final two players then faced off for a little over an hour before they took a dinner break, and although Brandt still held the lead, the stacks were close to even by then. There was then some back-and-forth after dinner before the largest hand of the tournament took place.

Bennett scored a huge double-up when the final board read 76422 with a huge pot on the table. Bennett moved all in from the big blind, and Brandt thought for close to four minutes before calling with 5-2 in the hole from the button. Bennett had the last two cards she wanted to see when he tabled 5-3 for a straight. That gave Bennett a 5.5:1 chip advantage, and the endgame had begun.
Brandt was able to score one more double-up, but the next time she got all her chips into the middle was the final hand of the tournament.

The chips got in on another completed board reading Q43JQ on the table. Bennett bet enough to put Brandt all in, and she called holding Q-5. She was on the wrong end of a cooler again when Bennett revealed Q-J to win the hand. Brandt was eliminated in second place for a payday worth $184,521 which was also the largest score on her tournament poker resume.

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

The next tournament series (full schedule right here) on the WSOP Circuit schedule is already running at the Horseshoe Las Vegas right on the world-famous Strip. The $1,700 buy-in main event runs from March 29 – April 2.

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