WSOP Circuit Turning Stone

The Main Event here at Turning Stone Resort and Casino was easily five of the most exciting days of poker ever played here in Verona, NY and after a heated heads up battle, the sun has officially set on the flagship event with Ethan Bennett emerging victorious for his first WSOP Circuit ring!

When the day began, 12 players returned with the goal of being the last man or women standing when all the smoke cleared and for Bennett, that's a goal he can check off the list.

Along with Bennett was a pair of women making an appearance at the final table; a fact that eventually led to a three-handed battle that was 66% female. One of those women, Kathrine Brandt, ended up going on to finish in 2nd and the other, Cindy Spier, finished in 3rd place for the second consecutive year which is likely an equally painful and prideful experience.

When the final table assembled, Bennett was third in chips but still a good ways behind first and second, both of whom brought piles to the finale, but of all the 10 players who made it to the penultimate table of the event, Bennett used his position and well-timed aggression to perfection to put himself in position to be crowned champion.

There were multiple occasions at this finale where Bennett showed a propensity for making big bets on the river then showing massive bluffs when his opponents let their hands go. Not once today did Bennett get called down in a huge spot and have to show air, but he turned up complete vapor a handful of times and found a way to have the nuts the few times he did get called.

In one such hand during heads up play, he had flopped a straight and got a runout to the river that gave his heads up opponent, Kathrine Brandt, the best possible runout she could hope for in a spot where she was still seconds best. It ended up being the turning point in what was up until that point a very back and forth, evenly stacked match.

It ended up taking a cooler to get all the chips in the middle with Bennett holding the nut full house to Brandt's trips and that was all she wrote as Bennett secured the title and sent Brandt home with a runner-up finish worth $184,521.

For Bennett, this marks his first WSOP Circuit ring and this score alone eclipses his previous lifetime earnings of $166,000. He'll also be headed to the Tournament of Champions and Las Vegas for the summer to put in a full schedule, so this is very likely to not be the last time you hear the name Ethan Bennett.

Final Table Payouts:

1st: Ethan Bennett - $298,546
2nd: Kathrine Brandt - $184,521
3rd: Cindy Spier - $137,178
4th: Soukha Kachittavong - $103,047
5th: Rodney Pinkham Jr - $78,225
6th: Tom Harter - $60,015
7th: Srikanth Gundela - $46,541
8th: Jason Tracey - $36,485
9th: Alan Shaw - $28,917
10th: Patrick White - $23,174

After not building a huge pot prior to the river and on a completed board of Q♥3♣4♦J♣Q♠, Bennett best enough to put Brandt all in and Brandt made the snap call with the Q♦5♦ only to see that she was on the wrong end of an absolute cooler as Bennett turned over the Q♣J♠, good enough to take down the pot, secure the title and send Brandt home with a runner-up finish good for $184,521.

After a few small pots went Ethan Bennett's way, Kathrine Brandt got it all in preflop for 3,200,000 with a call coming from Bennett to set up a runout with the tournament on the line.

Kathrine Brandt: K♣2♦

Ethan Bennett: 10♦10♣

The 2♠Q♦7♥ flop was good for Bennett but the K♥ turn shot him down to second best with one card to come. The 4♥ river card locked up the double for Brandt as the heads up match continues.

Kathrine Brandt - 7,000,000
Ethan Bennett - 40,500,000

The heads-up match between Ethan Bennett and Kathrine Brandt continues with the blinds increasing to 300,000/600,000/600,000.