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

In Italian, pesce means “fish.” But France’s Florian Pesce proved his poker skills have no correlation to his last name.

Pesce topped a massive field of 1,710 entries to win the 2025 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event.

He netted $368,380 and his first WSOPC gold ring as the champion. This was his largest recorded score yet, bringing his career haul to more than $685,000.

This victory also came with 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year. This was Pesce’s first final-table finish of 2025, but it alone was enough to catapult him into 34th place on the POY leaderboard presented by Global Poker.

The massive turnout to North Carolina for this event saw the $1,500,000 guarantee surpassed by more than a million dollars. The top 188 finishers all earned a share of the $2,590,650 total prize pool, with six-figure payouts for the final four.

The event featured two starting flights and two days of combined-field action. The penultimate day saw play delayed as the result of a bizarre disruption that took place with 65 players remaining.

Someone entered the tournament area as players were leaving for a break and flipped over three tables, scattering chips across the floor in the process. The tournament staff was able to recreate the stacks and play resumed after being halted for roughly two hours.

The final day began with 17 players remaining and three-time ring winner Dylan Wilkerson out in front. He ultimately hit the rail in 14th place after a rough start to the day.

Matthew Davis (9th) and Cody Copenhaver (8th) both lost big preflop coin flips to become the first two players knocked out at the final table. Mike Hunsucker (7th) then ran A-J suited into the A-K of Danny Clarkson to narrow the field to six contenders.

Despite scoring that elimination, Hunsucker went on to finish sixth. His A-Q was unable to hold up against the A-4 of Taylor Hart, who turned a wheel. Hart won the next big showdown with the same hand, this time having the best of it preflop against J-10 for Jason Brauda (5th).

Pesce called down a multi-street bluff from Hart that climaxed in a river shove. Pesce had been hanging around with a gutshot straight draw and two overs, and made top pair of jacks on the river. He found the call to eliminate Hart, giving him the lead heading into three-handed play. Hart earned $126,837 as the fourth-place finisher. This deep run came less than a month after he earned his first career gold ring at the WSOPC Harrah’s Pompano Beach stop in Florida.

Patrick Plott’s run came to an end when his kings and fours with a queen kicker were bested by the sixes full of fours of Pesce. Plott walked away with $175,337 for his third-place showing, while Pesce took more than a 5:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Jarrett Mullins.

The final hand saw Pesce shove from the button with Q10 while Mullins called off with A8. The flop and turn came down 5-4-2-9 to keep Mullins ahead, but a queen on the river gave Pesce a pair and the title.

Mullins walked away with $245,597 as the runner-up. The three-time ring winner from Yadkinville, North Carolina now has over $800,000 in career earnings.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: WSOP.

Related Articles

Simon Wilson Wins Record-Smashing Irish Open

Shannon Shorr Nabs Photo Finish Victory At USPO

Charity Series Of Poker Event To Benefit UNLV Hockey

Most Viewed Articles