Taylor Hart Picks Up Third World Series Of Poker Circuit Gold Ring At Turning Stone

Taylor Hart emerged victorious in the latest World Series of Poker Circuit main event, which was hosted at Turning Stone Casino and Resort in New York on March 24. The Oregon resident took home the top prize worth $280,770 along with his third gold ring. His career earnings are now above $950,000 with the recent victory.

“I flew in from Portland last Wednesday to come here on my way to Florida for a few weeks and figured I play the main event here at Turning Stone because I’ve seen it growing a lot. I will probably be back. I really like the area and playing with the people around here. The floor, the staff, and everything else were top-notch,” Hart told WSOP reporters on the scene after the win.

“It was an interesting dynamic for sure. I kind of was not trying to play too many big pots (with eventual runner-up Michael Aman), I was trying to target the three-four-five stack range and focus on them to put the pressure on,” said Hart when asked about his approach during the final stages of play.

He continued about the unprecedented 20-minute tank during a hand in heads-up play that peaked the poker world’s interest via a video posted on social media by Poker.org reporters on the scene. “It was pretty smooth sailing, but there were a few tough spots and then that one long tank – I have good advice: if someone is tanking for a long time, have a very good hand. It makes the tanking experience a lot easier if you have it. I’d love to go into a different universe and not have a good hand and experience that 20-minute tank. I think that would be very hard.”

“Making a run like this is very, very difficult, and you have to get extremely lucky. You can play a tournament and play your absolute best and play very well, but the result might not be great. You can also play sub-par, and the results are very good, and that’s the tricky part about this game. I think over the years, I have really tried my best to do what I need to do to feel comfortable almost always at the table. We are playing for a lot of money. Anxiety and regulating your emotions is a tough part of the game. I’m an emotional guy. Even if my actions don’t express how I’m feeling necessarily because of the context of the moment, I’m always feeling what I really feel, and that’s pretty important to me,” said Hart to finish the well-said interview after the final table.

The $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a field of 1,183 runners, creating a total prize pool of $1,792,770 to easily top the hefty guarantee of $1 million. There were 141 players that returned on Day 2 for a long march down to the final table.

The last day began with Hart holding a large chip lead to start the day among that final nine. Aaron Gao (ninth) and Joseph Molitor (eight) were the first two players to fall with a fair amount of double ups taking place in between.

Yuriy Kuorynskyy fell next in seventh place, and Allen Krouth was out in sixth after that with yet more double-ups peppered in between the bustouts. Hart easily still held the chip lead despite taking out no opponents, and that trend continued as Anthony Runza exited to the rail in fifth place.

Hart scored his first knockout when he busted Thomas Couture in fourth place. Michael Aman scored one of his many eliminations at the final table when he took out Charles Goelz in third place, and that gave him a fighter’s chance when the heads-up final began with the chips at a 26:20 ratio toward Hart’s advantage.

Heads up with a $100k pay jump on the line… a MASSIVE decision (a 20 MINUTE long decision to be precise), and a growing crowd watching every move! With your opponent froze like a statue, would you crack under the pressure or make the call of your life? …. (and yes… pic.twitter.com/huZ0JLxHcK

— Poker Org (@pokerorg) March 24, 2025

Michael Aman went into the tank for almost 20 minutes during the first major hand between the final two players, and somehow the clock was not called by any parties involved. Aman folded on the river facing a shove on the end with a board of 8529Q, sending the hefty pot to Hart. Despite that setback, Aman actually took control of the final skirmish for a short time not long after his epic tank, but Hart pulled back out front again before the final hand.

That hand saw both players contribute 1.3 million to the pot preflop before the first three cards fell KQ6. Another 2.2 million went in from both players after the J hit on the turn with Aman pushing the action once again, and then the river delivered the 4. Aman then moved all in holding pocket jacks, but he was behind the A10 of Hart that connected for a Broadway straight for the ultimate win. Aman took home a score worth $187,172 to take his career earnings above $215,000 thanks to his largest cash ever.

Final Table Results

The next WSOP Circuit tournament series is already running at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada with the main event taking place from Mar. 28 to Apr. 1.

Photo credit: WSOP.

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