Popular tourney grinder and PokerOrg Player Advisory board member Ari Engel has won the 18th WSOP Circuit ring of his career, capturing a title in the ongoing September Online Super Circuit series being held on WSOP.com's standalone platform for Pennsylvania.
Engel's win on Friday in Event #9 of the Online Super Circuit festival, $888 NLH Crazy 8's, extended his own career mark. Engel had won his 17th Circuit ring in late March while playing in a high-roller event on WSOP.com's Michigan platform. Friday night's win pushes him two ahead of the current runner-up on the WSOP's all-time Circuit ring winners list, Maurice Hawkins. Hawkins, with 16 Circuit wins, is just ahead of Josh Reichard and Daniel Lowery, who have 15 wins each.
The win was also worth $16,732.30 for Engel, who plays on the WSOP.com PA platform as 'Ngindn'. Engel, who has also won three WSOP bracelets, is less than $60,000 short of the $3 million mark in career WSOP winnings.
Finishing as the runner-up in the Crazy 8's tourney was Pittsburgh's Frank 'D.Lafferty' Bonacci, who fell just short of his own fifth Circuit ring. Bonacci, who also owns one WSOP bracelet win, collected a $10,811.64 payout. 'Mr.Pink1992' finished third for $7,722.60.
Small but elite field in event
Engel's 18th Circuit triumph came in one of the smallest Circuit ring events in recent memory in terms of player participation. The Pennsylvania-only event drew 33 unique players, who also contributed a combined 28 re-buys. The 61 total entries then produced a $51,484 prize pool. Engel himself busted once before registration closed, but then re-entered and rode that seccond bullet to the win, as noted in a post on Twitter/X:
Engel also disclosed that with September's Online Super Circuit series coming to an end, he'd be switching immediately to live WSOP Circuit action, flying to greater Chicago to play in the Circuit series at Hammond Horseshoe (Indiana).
