Donovan Dean Captures Second Career WSOP Circuit Harrah's Cherokee Main Event Title

Donovan Dean is now a two-time World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee main event champion. The Alabama resident took down the WSOPC $1,700 main event at the North Carolina poker hotspot back in December of 2022, and then backed that up with a title run this summer. The more recent victory saw Dean defeat a field of 1,451 entries to earn $326,206 and his third career WSOPC gold ring.

This was the second-largest payday yet for Dean, trailing only the $356,963 that he secured with his first win in this tournament. His third ring was earned back in 2016 in a $360 buy-in tournament at this same venue.

Dean now has nearly $1.7 million in career tournament earnings, with the majority of that coming from his success in WSOPC events.

This event awarded 960 Card Player Player of the Year points to its champion. With six final-table finishes totaling 1,642 points, Dean is now sitting inside the top 200 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

The strong turnout for this $1.5 million guaranteed event resulted in a final prize pool of nearly $2.2 million, with the top 213 finishers earning a share. Among the big names that ran deep were 2023 WSOP main event champion Daniel Weinman (28th), four-time ring winner Bradley Mercer (25th), and bracelet winner Russell Brooks (10th).

The final day began with Dean in the lead and nine players remaining. He scored his first knockout of the day when his 9-7 bested the A-K of short-stacked Srinivasa Vadlamudi (8th – $33,870) in a three-way all-in that included Tommy Doyle.

AJ Rebhan knocked out Justin Hall (7th – $44,450), four-time WSOPC ring winner Brett Bader (6th – $59,249), Tuan Nguyen (5th – $80,192), and Michael Hunsucker (4th – $110,186) to narrow the field to three.

Doyle was the next to fall, with his pocket threes running into the pocket nines pof Dean, who made a straight by the river after the chips went in preflop. Doyle earned $153,664 as the third-place finisher.

The final hand of the tournament ended up being a classic preflop coin flip, with Dean holding KJ against the 88 of Rebhan. The board came down A107J5 and Dean made a pair of jacks to lock up the pot and the title. Rebhan secured $217,454 as the runner-up.

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

Photo credit: WSOP / Regina Cortina.

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