WSOP-C Pompano Beach

Matt Higgins

Katerina Lukina

The final event in play of the WSOPC Pompano Beach was Event #11: $400 No-Limit Hold'em, a multi-flight No-Limit Hold'em that ran concurrently to the Main Event. 253 entrants came out over the course of the four starting flights, with 27 of them securing a piece of that $100,000 prize pool. As the clock ticked into the late hours of the night, only one player stood alone at the end of it all.

Long-time circuit grinder Matthew Higgins stood at the end of it all claiming his sixth WSOPC ring, just after coming in from the Tunica WSOPC.

"We weren't really going to come, but eventually Dale (Roesel) talked me into it," he said as far as his decision to come out and play this stop. "Didn't really do well in the Main Event at all. Busted in kinda stupid fashion. So I hopped into this flight, max-late registered, bagged 26 bigs and here we are."

For as long as the event went on, the players within the tournament were at a relatively short stack depth. 

"Average stack for most of the tournament was twenty to twenty-five bigs. When we got down to four or five-handed, the average was more like 15 big blinds. I had the chip lead like six or seven times."

With the tournament getting shallower, the players continued to find themselves all in during a lot of spots. Higgins discussed what kind of an effect it had upon the field. 

"If ICM is important to you, just tighten on up," Higgins explained "there was a four-handed big spot when a player opened under the gun, and I jammed in a spot with ace-two thinking that he would only call off aces or kings because the short stack was going to be all in the next hand. He calls with ace-king, I flop a two and hold and the shorter stack ended up laddering up."

When asked if Higgins would give any advice to the younger man who won his first ring many years ago, he had this to say. 

"Don't ever give up, don't ever feel like you're in a spot where you have to get the chips in. You're never dead until you're dead. Back when I first started playing tournaments, whenever I would get sub 15 big blinds I would just like freak out and just find a spot to get it in. Usually it wasn't a great spot. I became way more patient than I used to be."

With this, Higgins also secures a spot to the 2025 WSOPC tournament of champions, a spot he had almost secured a week ago. 

"I was poised to take one down in Tunica, with the chip lead three-handed in the $1,100 PLO. I played a gross one with Cody (Stanford) when we were first and second in chips. He ended up winning it so good for him, he deserves it." 

After this stop, Higgins' plans are to go to Cherokee for a little bit. 

"I'm going to Cherokee for the main, but I will be missing most of it to spend time with my son" he said as far as his plans to the follow the circuit "Cherokee is my home casino, it's two and a half hours from my house. It's got the best prize pools in the country." As for the future beyond that, Higgins had some plans of going to Vegas for his birthday weekend, but other than that nothing set in stone. 

With that the newly minted 6-time WSOPC champion took home his ring and collected his prize money. 

Final Table Results

1. Matt Higgins - $23,980
2. Kimberly Jones - $15,590
3. Samuel O'Bryant - $10,463
4. Sebastian Crema - $7,255
5. TJ Shulman - $5,203
6. Mark Pukhov - $3,865
7. Willie Wiggins - $2,977
8. Nicholas Velentzas - $2,380
9. Ryan Zangeneh - $1,979
10. Kevin Vail - $1,714

That will complete our coverage of the WSOPC down here in Pompano Beach. Thank you for reading along here at Poker.Org and be sure to check back in when the circuit makes its next stops in Cherokee and Graton Casino. 

Until next time, Pompano Beach. 

WSOP Pompano 2025

Katerina Lukina

The final event of the WSOPC in Pompano Beach was Event #18: $400 No-Limit Hold'em double stack, an event designed to be identical to the opener event. This one drew out a total of 231 entrants to secure a prize pool worth $76,230 to be payed out to the final 35 players. Playing for nearly 12 hours, it became the second to last tournament running, with a new ring winner claiming her first one. 

This may be Jacquelyn Scott's first ring, but she is far from a tournament newcomer given her possession of another piece of WSOP jewelry. In 2015, Scott won the $1,000 Ladies event for $153,876 after beating out a field of 713 other ladies to claim her first WSOP bracelet. Since then she has now crossed the in $400,000 lifetime earnings mark and now she pushes even further beyond that and now has a new piece to call her own. 

"It would be great if it would match my bracelet," she joked as the ring now sat in front of her. "It's not quite the right size, but that's ok."

"I played with a lot of patience," she said as far as her strategy for today went "I was aggressive when I got good cards. I just really love one day tournaments, just grinding for a day."

"As we got deeper and deeper," she continued "I just kept chipping up. I would think 'I have a chance at this'. Now, here we are."

The Floridian poker regular has had cashes dating back almost 15 years and says she has been playing poker for nearly 20 years. 

"I don't do any of the solver stuff," she says as far as her game strategy goes "I just play my cards. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."

"Winning a tournament always feels great," she said in the comparison of the two tournaments "It doesn't matter what the level is. I've won a decent amount of tournaments. But I've always wanted a ring, so this one worked out perfectly." 

With this ring, she also gets a seat to the 2025 WSOPC tournament of champions. 

"I would prefer it to be in Las Vegas, but I've never been to the Commerce," the new champion mentioned, "I mean we're all going down there to the WSOP in the summer anyway, so that would work out well for all of us."

After that, the newly crowned WSOPC ring winner took her ring and headed to the cage to collect her winnings. 

Final Table Results

1. Jacquelyn Scott - $17,492
2. Hagai Stein - $11,390
3. Daniel Lei - $7,632
4. John Friedkes - $5,269
5. Demoy Thomas - $3,752
6. Antanel Thomas - $2,757
7. Santoo Biddix - $2,094
8. Dejan Petrovic - $1,645
9. Amir Baron - $1,338
10. Russel Brooks - $1,129

Be sure to check with Poker.Org back in later tonight to see the final winner of the series' recap posted!

Dorian Rios

Katerina Lukina

The highest buy-in of the WSOPC in Pompano Beach came to fruition in the form of Event #16: $2,200 High Roller event. The highest rollers all around the circuit came in to play from all over, generating one of the biggest prize pools of the week when $114,000 would be divided up between the nine survivors on Day 2. After around six hours of play, the tournament has ended with a new champion taking the title. 

It was nearly nine years ago that Dorian Rios would have his career best score at the WSOP, finishing second place in the $1,500 Monster Stack. Since then the Venezuelan has made his presence known on the poker felt, playing everything from the smallest live buy ins to $10k buy ins in Las Vegas. Despite his many tournament titles, a ring had eluded him this far. 

Today he can cross that item off his bucket list as the 36-year old claimed his first WSOPC ring for $36,016, besting Kevin MacDonald in a lengthy heads up match. 

"It really is amazing," Rios said holding his new trophy with a smile on his face "I'm here from my home country of Venezuela. Both countries are amazing, but I'm living here right now. The United States is the country of freedom. 

Sitting on third place in his home country's all time money list, his tournament cashes date back nearly 15 years. He plays the game all over wherever and whenever he can. 

"I play well, I get lucky, I try my best," Rios remarks as to his commitment to the game "I can do it all year!"

Rios talks quite highly of his fellow countrymen with whom he enjoys playing with and discussing poker. He also says that he and the Venezuelans are looking to make a bigger splash in poker in the upcoming future. 

"I've played with Luiz Yepez many times," he said of his fellow Venezuelan table mate, "he ended up finishing in third place. I got very lucky on the river, but that's poker. I played my best and now look. First ring!"

This being his first ring, Rios talked further about how it being a ring feels differently than winning any other tournament. 

"This one does feel different, because of just how big and awesome the WSOP brand is. This ring, it feels like the first step towards the bracelet," he described it. "I lost heads up in a tournament for a bracelet for the monster stack. It was an amazing tournament. Sometimes a new opportunity comes around and you have the chance to continue to play your best. I am going to play the WSOP again. Hopefully this time I'll win my first bracelet." 

Rios was not aware of his seat that he also won to the WSOPC tournament of champions as his eyes lit up at the mention of a one million dollar freeroll. 

"Wow that sounds amazing. I just finished in third place at a tournament in LA, now I have another big one I can look forward too." 

With that the new champion took home his new ring and collected his new cash, looking forward to the future prospects of more poker tournaments. 

Final Table Results

1. Dorian Rios - $36,016
2. Kevin MacDonald - $22,865
3. Luis Yepez - $15,267
4. Caio Sobral - $10,750
5. Jonathan Wang - $8,006
6. Gustavo Jiminez - $6,328
7. Vaughn Steeves - $5,327
8. Gary Gelman - $4,797
9. Steven Blackmon

Stay tuned to Poker.Org to see all recaps on today's winners!

Maurice Hawkins

Katerina Lukina

The WSOPC in Pompano ran a new format for a tournament as a slight spin on how Seniors events are typically done. Event #15: $400 40/40/40 Grand Master tournament was entered in by 208 players that all met the qualifications of being at least 40 years old. The tournament would begin with 40,000 in chips, and every single level would last 40 minutes in keeping with the theme of 40+. After two days of play, it would be a very familiar face taking down the title. 

"I am the Grand Master," said 45-year old Maurice Hawkins after winning his 17th WSOPC ring with a straight flush.

"It's nice to get there when you get out of line, it's nice to get there when you stay in line. It's just nice to get there," Hawkins said moments after his win. "It's nice to get a finish. To get the momentum going throughout this year, because I have a feeling that this year is going to be pretty big for me." 

Finishing in third place in the first event of the series down here in Pompano Beach, Hawkins now has broke the tie shared with Daniel Lowery to sit second place on the all-time rings list with 17, just one ring behind Ari Engel. Hawkins talks a little bit more about the race that he Lowery, Engel, and Reichard all have had for the top spot over the past few years.

"It's good fun and it excites me. I look forward to many, many, more spots where I can let people know who the real grand master is. As in, I just won the grand master tournament, so therefore I am the true grand master. I'm actually the only grand master, there's no other tournaments," Hawkins laughed. 

When the tournament progressed to the four-handed portion of the tournament, Hawkins was extremely short against any one of his opponents. 

"I was down to three or four big blinds for about six orbits. Somehow I made it through that, won a few flips, got a couple of good spots. Made some things happen." 

Being one of the most decorated WSOPC players of all time, Hawkins' strategy has changed over the years to reflect the changing poker landscape. 

Maurice Hawkins

Katerina Lukina

"I'm a mixture of everything," he said as far as how he approaches things tournament-wise "I pretty much study every type of style there is. From solvers and GTO, to exploitative, and a mixture just being a feel player. But at the end of the day, it is about understanding your opponent, dominating your opponent, and taking the right style against the opponent you're up against. One style won't work for every opponent. There was a mixture of all of those things in late game. Knowing how to switch the gears of them all." 

"You have to be a grand master of sorts," he joked once more making reference to the tournament's name. "It's not broke, so I don't fix it. But each one of my years I am improving and getting better and better. I've given up some leaks in life to just focus on my game because it's time to take this to the moon." 

"I mean I am the GOAT, and not just the circuit GOAT. People don't want to see me at the table, they don't want to see me at all and it doesn't matter what level they are on. I'm just happy to be able to wake up every day, feed my family, and play poker." 

"We're going to Cherokee next," Hawkins talked about the plans for the next trip "usually I only go there for the later events. But since I win an event every time I go to Cherokee, I decided that I would go the entire week, so I'll be there on Wednesday. They got me for the whole 10-11 days." 

With this, Hawkins gets a seat to the 2025 WSOPC tournament of champions. A trip he is happy to make and will make no matter where the tournament is hosted. 

"I liked it better when there was a points league," he said as far as the tournament of champions awards seats "and more people would chase points traveling around the world. I think they need to bring that back. It was really good for poker." 

With that the 17-time WSOPC ring winner collected his ring and walked over to the cage to collect his winnings. 

Final Table Results

1. Maurice Hawkins - $16,137
   
2. Brian Stine - $10,448
3. Robert Aleksivich - $6,973
4. Theophilius Lawson - $4,803
5. Renato Paiva - $3,418
6. Jaroslaw Osinski - $2,516
7. Richard Head - $1,917
8. David Moses - $1,515
9. Patrick Biancone - $1,243

Stay tuned to Poker.Org to see all recaps on the winners of today!