Forrest Raleigh was down to just 16 big blinds and he shoved all in for 6,600,000 on the button. Billy Cashwell looked down at his cards in the big blind and quickly made the call.
Billy Cashwell:
Forrest Raleigh:
The flop came and Cashwell stayed in front although Raleigh picked up an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the to pair Raleigh but Cashwell made a straight. The river was the and Cashwell held on to eliminate Raleigh.
The second stop of the 2019/20 World Series of Poker Circuit season has drawn its curtains and Billy Cashwell reigned victorious in the 1,057-strong $1,700 Main Event at Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort. Cashwell came from behind to defeat Forrest Raleigh and capture his first WSOP Circuit ring along with $271,234.
When asked how it felt to win the title, Cashwell was at a loss for words: "Great. I've been out here for a while."
The North Carolina native has been playing for quite some time with his recorded cashes dating back to 2006. Cashwell came close to winning the same event back in 2017 when he finished in seventh place for his largest score of over $50,000, but now he has a new story to talk about.
In the final hand of the night, Raleigh pushed all in for his remaining 14 big blinds on the button and was called by the pocket fives of Cashwell. Despite Raleigh pairing up on the turn, Cashwell made a straight and the river was just a formality before Cashwell's arms went in the air.
With his first six-figure score under his belt, Cashwell says he plans on traveling outside of Cherokee in the future.
"Maybe a few more stops on the circuit," he said. That will include his return back to the Harrah's Cherokee in 2020 for the Global Casino Championship for the invite-only tournament as he's now got a seat as the result of his victory.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Hometown
Prize (USD)
1
Billy Cashwell
Stedman, North Carolina
$271,234
2
Forrest Raleigh
Lawrenceville, Georgia
$167,637
3
Thomas Alcorn
United States
$126,188
4
Dann Turner
Cleveland, Ohio
$95,847
5
Brad Albrinck
Cincinnati, Ohio
$73,467
6
Martin Kozlov
Lysterfield, Australia
$56,832
7
Rodney Seymour
Atlanta, Georgia
$44,373
8
Shawn McClanahan
Abingdon, Virginia
$34,971
9
Robert Georato
Naples, Florida
$27,822
Day 3 Action
The final day of the tournament began with 20 players returning to their seats and the action was slow-moving to begin the day. Only one player was eliminated in the opening level and 16 players still remained at the first break. Coming back from the break, Maurice Hawkins was one of the short stacks and got his chips in the middle with a small pair. Dann Turner called with ace-queen and spiked a queen on the river to deny Hawkins a shot at his 14th circuit ring.
It took until the level before the dinner break to reach the final table and Dinh Ba was the first to hit the rail to set up the official final nine. Thomas Alcorn appeared to be a runaway train with all of the chips and his momentum continued to eliminate Robert Georato in ninth place. Georato's shove for eight big blinds with pocket queens was called by Alcorn's queen-jack. Alcorn hit a runner-runner straight to climb to 10 million chips.
Shawn McClanahan was also sitting around eight big blinds and finally decided to stick the last of his chips in the middle with queen-three suited in the big blind. He was up against the king-jack from Turner and was unable to find any help on the board. That was when the tides turned for Alcorn as he lost consecutive monster pots to Raleigh, who took over a massive chip lead heading into the dinner break.
Once the players returned, Rodney Seymour sent a double up to Martin Kozlov which left him just one big blind. He was unable to spin it up from there and bowed out in seventh place. The double up didn't help Kozlov out for long as the blinds caught up with him as well. Despite flopping top pair, Kozlov was unable to hold on versus Raleigh's flush draw, leaving only five players left in the tournament.
Brad Albrinck maneuvered his short to the best of his ability and laddered his way up a few pay positions. Finally picking up a pair of fives to go all-in with, Albrinck ran smack-dab into Alcorn's pocket jacks. Albrinck couldn't find the two-outer he was looking for and headed to the payout desk in fifth place. That left Turner on the short stack at the table and he was eventually all in for around six big blinds. He had the opportunity to triple up with calls from Alcorn and Raleigh. However, Alcorn flopped a set of sevens and Turner couldn't hit a heart on the river to make a flush.
The final three players decided to play some big pots with each other which led to a failed bluff attempt from Alcorn. Raleigh picked him off with trip aces and the next hand all of the chips got in the middle. Alcorn had a small pocket pair against two Broadway cards from Raleigh. When Raleigh made a full house on the turn, Alcorn was drawing dead which left Raleigh as a comfortable chip leader going into heads-up action.
Raleigh held on to the lead throughout much of the heads-up battle as he slowly picked away at Cashwell's blinds. Cashwell twice got all of his chips in the middle behind but managed to run out a win in one hand and chopped the other after being dominated. That turned the tables to set up a big comeback victory. Cashwell flopped top two pair and Raleigh turned a smaller two pair which sent Cashwell soaring into the chip lead for the first time. Just moments later, Cashwell's rail was celebrating his victory as things wrapped up after 11 hours of play.
Here's a look at all those who captured bracelets at Harrah's Cherokee:
Event
Entries
Prize Pool
Winner
Prize
Event #1: $400 Double Stack NLH
813
$268,290
Eric Salazar
$48,618
Event #2: $400 NLH
2,766
$912,780
Tyler Phillips
$123,216
Event #3: $400 NLH One-Day
701
$231,330
Alex Duvall
$43,480
Event #4: $600 NLH
442
$227,630
Zachary Caldwell
$46,669
Event #5: $400 NLH 6-Handed
476
$157,080
Shadrach Tercy
$31,594
Event #6: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha
229
$117,935
Nicholas Mandikos
$27,907
Event #7: $400 NLH
1,667
$550,110
Joshua Martin
$83,373
Event #8: $250 NLH
523
$104,600
Emil Bise
$21,061
Event #9: $1,125 NLH
328
$328,000
Andrew Kelsall
$72,618
$1,700 Main Event
1,057
$1,601,355
Billy Cashwell
$271,234
Event #11: $400 NLH One-Day
408
$134,640
Bradley Batt
$28,177
Event #12: $400 NLH One-Day
545
$179,850
Jesse Jones
$34,986
Event #13: $400 NLH Double Stack
443
$146,190
Irene Carey
$29,968
Thanks to his win in Event #12: $400 NLH One-Day for $34,986, a runner-up finish in Event #9: $1,125 No-Limit Hold'em, and another small cash, Jesse Jones won the title of Casino Champion at Harrah's Cherokee. That means he also secured a seat into the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
That concludes PokerNews' coverage from the WSOPc Harrah's Cherokee but there are still plenty of tournaments taking place all around the world. The next WSOP Circuit stop will take place at Foxwoods Casino and we'll be back to capture the action from both the High Roller and Main Event.