William Kopp Wins Third Circuit Ring in WSOP Cherokee Main Event ($376,154)

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Cherokee stop in North Carolina wrapped up this week and saw William Kopp taking down the $1,700 buy-in Main Event for a career-best $376,154 and his fourth piece of WSOP hardware.

Kopp, who defeated heads-up opponent Brian Jones to deny the Kentucky resident his first Circuit ring, had two Circuit rings heading into the Main Event that drew 1,623 runners for a prize pool of $2,458,845. Not only that, Kopp won his first bracelet earlier in the summer at the 2023 WSOP when he took down Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better for $259,549.

Kopp, the brother of 2022 WSOP Casino Employees event champion Katie Kopp, proved his no-limit Hold’em chops by navigating a final table that included Texans Lam Nguyen (4th – $133,953) and Jorge Arriola (5th – $103,007) and Circuit crusher Preston McEwen, who finished third for $175,713 to be denied his sixth Circuit ring.

McEwen had a fantastic series that saw him making three final tables, first finishing seventh in Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold’em for $19,128 before besting that with a sixth-place finish in Event #8: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack for $23,102.

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Read About the WSOPC Choctaw Main Event!

WSOPC Cherokee Main Event Final Table Results

Kopp, who now has $764,447 in Hendon Mob earnings, won his first Circuit ring in 2014 at WSOPC Foxwoods resort when he took down a $580 buy-in event for $40,836 and his second Circuit ring in 2018 at Harrah’s Cherokee when he won Event #6: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha for $26,261.

According to live updates, Kopp entered heads-up play with the chip lead and maintained it up to the final hand where Jones moved all in with jack-five and Kopp called with pocket nines. A runout without a jack secured the victory for Kopp as Jones earned a career-best $232,481.

Mercer Wins Fourth Ring; Porbandarwala Wins Eighth Ring

Several players picked up their maiden Circuit rings during the WSOPC Cherokee stop, which consisted of over a dozen ring events across two weeks. Kelly Andrews kicked things off by winning Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – Big 30K Stack for $35,429 before Christopher Catone took down Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold’em for $118,932.

Other first-time ring winners include Artur Winstone (Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $44,167), Alvin Wilson (Event #4: $400 Seniors Event – $50,979), Roy Parkhurst (Event #6: $400 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed – $44,510) and Larry Slater (Event #7: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $28,347).

One player who wasn’t after their first ring was Bradley Mercer, who had three rings before getting through a field of 371 runners in Event #5: $600 No-Limit Hold’em to win a fourth ring and $39,947. The North Carolinian went on to finish runner-up in Event #8: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack for $69,910 and also finished 23rd in the Main Event for $14,492.

Mercer wasn’t the only player to add to his ring collection. Soheb Porbandarwala closed out the Cherokee stop by taking down Event #19: $400 No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack Closer for $27,593 and his eighth Circuit ring.

Other ring winners at WSOPC Choctaw include James Naifeh (Event #14: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $32,822), Richard Scott (Event #15: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $35,048) and Robert Gregory (Event #16: $250 Seniors Event – $34,047).

The WSOP Circuit team is also at Graton Resort & Casino in northern California this month and will head to Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa Aug. 16-27 for a stop that will include a $1,700 buy-in Main Event.

A full list of ring winners at WSOPC Cherokee is available in the table below.

WSOPC Cherokee Ring Winners

_{*Photos courtesy of WSOPC}

• Tags

  Artur Winstone Bradley Mercer Brian Jones Christopher Catone Houston Ivan Starostin James Naifeh John Wilder Jorge Arriola Robert Gregory Robert Browning Richard Scott Preston McEwen Omar Hafeez Lam Nguyen Kelly Andrews Katie Kopp Roy Parkhurst

• Related Players

  Jorge ArriolaBrian JonesIvan StarostinRichard ScottKatie KoppKelly Andrews