Mickey Pickett Wins WSOP Circuit Rincon

Mickey Pickett, a 23-year-old player from Little Canada, Minnesota, won the $5,000 World Series of Poker Circuit event at Harrah’s Rincon yesterday. For outlasting the 147 other players, he won $229,002. It's his first majoy victory, although Pickett came close last summer when he finished in ninth in the $5,000 WSOP head-up event.

With 121,000 in chips, Pickett started the final table in seventh (the leader had 854,000 in chips to start the day), and he had to face a final table with both Gavin Smith and Lee Watkinson still in contention.

Pickett has been playing poker at Minnesota card roomssince he turned 18.

“From the start, I took this very seriously. I am really fortunate because I have a lot of close friends who help me to stay in line and be accountable,” Pickett said. “We talk a lot about poker hands and situations. The support network really helps me because instead of going on tilt, I think about what I have done and try to improve. If you take a beat, you have to forget about it and move on. I have learned that is the toughest thing for many players to do.”

The final nine, their payouts, and their home cities follow:

• Mickey Pickett (Little Canada, Minnesota) — $229,002
• David Peters (Rancho Santa Fe, California) — $120,156
• Edward Sabat (Lancaster, California) — $70,680
• Kenny Bedoya (San Diego, California) — $56,544
• Cristian Avendano (Quito, Ecuador) — $42,408
• Gavin Smith (Las Vegas, Nevada) — $35,340
• Lee Watkinson (Las Vegas) — $28,272
• Damien “Damo” Oborne (Melbourne, Australia) — $21,204
• Jon Eaton (Las Vegas, Nevada) — $14,136

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