Donovan Dean Is the New WSOPC Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event Champion

North Carolina’s Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort hosted the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) from November 24 to December 5 in this season’s second stop. The $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event was the series’ highlight, and it occurred between December 2 and 5.

The tournament attracted 1,502 players, who created a $2,275,530 prize pool. Yet, Donavan Dean won his second WSOPC gold ring and the $356,963 first-place prize. Reports show that he has almost $1.1 million in poker tournament earnings.

The champion informed World Series of Poker (WSOP) reporters that he was on a heater in the recent past, making many deep runs. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to win a Circuit event. So, his latest win thrilled him a lot.

Dean had a busy live tournament circuit since January as he advanced to eight final tables and won four titles. His recent victory earned him 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points. He has $608,762 to date POY earnings and 2,762 total points that have improved his position in the 2022 POY race to 66th place.

The poker pro won three tournaments this year in Mississippi’s Pearl River Resort, and their buy-in varied from $600 to $1,500. He won his last WSOP Circuit in 2016, bagging his first WSOPC hardware and $54,777 after beating 961 players in Harrah’s Cherokee’s $365 buy-in tournament.

The Final Table’s Payouts and POY Points

  • Donovan Dean – $356,963 and 1,080 points
  • Tyler Phillips – $220,613 and 900 points
  • Howard Mash – $165,568 and 720 points
  • Shea Quintin – $125,423 and 540 points
  • Juan Mora – $95,912 and 450 points
  • Brad Albrinck – $74,046 and 360 points
  • Brad Wilson – $57,717 and 270 points
  • Gregory Dalton – $45,428 and 180 points
  • David Moses – $36,107 and 90 points

Action at the Final Table

Dean was eighth when the action began on the tournament’s final day. But, the field drastically reduced from 13 finalists to 10 players. Dean used pocket jacks to win a stunning preflop race against Deividas Daubaris’ K-Q and set the final table.

David Moses, a bracelet champion, used K-Q to go all-in before running into Brad Albrinck’s A-6 suited and failing to recover. The former finished ninth and won $36,107.

Tyler Wilson busted Greg Dalton in eighth place and Brad Wilson in seventh place in two fast knockouts, thus creating a six-handed play. Dean’s pocket aces held Albrinck’s pocket kings and doubled to get the chip lead. The latter had the smallest stack after that hand as his pocket threes faced Shea Quintin’s A-K.

A king-high flop didn’t help Albrinck, and he left the table in sixth place with $74,406. Quintin’s pocket sevens had to fade Juan Mora’s A-Q’s two overs, but he got nine full of sevens that helped him win the pot and bust Mora in the fifth position with $95,912.

Even so, Quintin was the next player to leave the table after his K-10 ran into Howard Mash’s A-10. None of them improved by the river, and Quintin’s run ended in fourth place, earning him $125,423.

Mash used a straight draw and flush to move all-in against Dean’s straight draw and top pair. A blank appeared on the river and sent Mash packing in third place.

His exit set up a heads-up match between Tyler Phillips and Dean, who had a 28,560,000:16,500,000 chip advantage.

Dean prolonged the lead, and Phillips opted to use ASpade Suit2Diamond Suit to move all-in against his opponent’s AClub SuitQHeart Suit. The board ran out KHeart Suit8Heart Suit3Spade SuitJDiamond SuitKSpade Suit before Dean secured the title and pot. Phillips won $220,613 for being a runner-up.

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