There are always stories that present themselves at every WSOP Circuit series and this stop here at Harrah's Cherokee nestled in the Smoky Mountains was no different as Jacob Hamed has etched his name into the Cherokee history books in a big way.
The first time we saw Hamed was earlier this series as he showed up at the final table of Event #7: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha. He got close to his first ring in that event, falling one spot shy after a runner-up finish that netted him over $25,000.
He left that final table dissatisfied, though, having fallen short of his ultimate goal. That all changed when Event #11: $800 Pot-Limit Omaha rolled around just a day or two later when he found himself at another final table, this time pushing through to best his previous finish by one and taking down his first ring along with over $42,000.
Those two results alone would have been enough to make anyone ecstatic about their results for the series, regardless of what the rest of the stop looked like for them. That's not necessarily true for Hamed, though, as he still wasn't done.
The next target on his list? None other than the $1,700 Main Event. When Jacob came into the second day of the Main Event, he had an unassuming stack, buried in the top half of his Day 1 counts and essentially just another name on the list at that point, but by the time the Day 2 session ticked to zero, Hamed was one of seven players remaining and would be coming back to the Day 3 finale with far and away the second biggest stack.
From there, fireworks would be the theme, but Hamed never gazed too hard at the pretty flashes as he strategically and methodically worked his way down to heads up, oftentimes looking like a statue in massive spots, jamming rivers and sitting stoically, seemingly with ice water in his veins.
His eventual heads up opponent, Vaughn Steeves, had been a force to be reckoned with up to that point. Making big bets, forcing players to the rail and correctly making the two biggest bluff catches we saw all series, but when it came to the heads up match, it was the Jacob Hamed show from there.
Within the first few hands of heads up, Hamed was bluff jamming the river (as he told his rail afterwards) in what was already one of the biggest pots of the tournament, even before his jam. When that one got through, the chip gap had been widened to a point that Steeves would not recover from.
On the final hand, Hamed jammed over a limp and got called only to turn up the worst of it, but a ten on the turn paired his hand and sealed Steeves's fate, catapulting Hamed to the title, $299,010 in prize money and his second ring in one week's time.
Its not often someone comes to a stop and wins two of the 20 rings that were for grabs, let alone with one being the Main Event, but that's exactly what he did here today, locking down a series performance that could end up being a defining moment in the young pro's blossoming career.
Special mentions are in order for both his rail (the rowdiest we had all series) and for borscht, a soup dish that he credited with both his victories here this series. Wanna win rings? Eat borscht and thank Jacob Hamed the next time you see him.
Congratulations to Jacob Hamed on an incredible two weeks here at Harrah's Cherokee! It was a really fun run to watch take place.
Final Table Payouts:
- 1st: Jacob Hamed - $299,010
- 2st: Vaughn Steeves - $199,338
- 3rd: Johnny Price - $140,839
- 4th: Kyle Cartwright - $100,977
- 5th: Gunner Stever - $73,483
- 6th: Eric Snyder - $54,289
- 7th: Dale Roesel - $40,729
- 8th: Nathan Powell - $31,035
- 9th: Eric Schneider - $24,026
- 10th: Haifeng Shen - $18,901
, a safe one for Steeves. That all changed, though, as the 
hit the turn like a ton of bricks, catapulting Hamed into the lead with just one card to come.
, prompting an explosion from Hamed's rail as Steeves closes out his Main Event run with a second place finish good for $199,338.
