$1,700 Main Event Day 1a | 2020 World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant

01-10-2020 23:57 UTC-5

Daniel Butler Wins First Ring In Event #7: $400 NLH Double Stack

Anthony Thompson

Level 14 : 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the Main Event, we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the full schedule of side events that have been playing out over the past week at the World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant.

In Event #7: $400 NLH Double Stack, 341 runners created a $112,530 prize pool that was paid out to the top 53 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were Jeffrey Mckenzie (10th- $1,715), Bart Bogard (12th - $1,715), Melissa Bryne (15th - $1,416), Simon Webster (17th - $1,190), Will Berry (19th - 1,020), and Jerod Smith (20th - $1,020).

In the end, it was Texas native Daniel Butler who collected every chip in play to win his first gold ring along with a $23,997 payday.

The tournament took two days to complete and when the final card hit Butler was ecstatic.

“A lot,” Butler answered when asked what the ring meant to him. “I’ve been chasing this dude for a long time. It’s been crazy, you know… It’s been a long time coming.”

Butler deals for a living in his hometown of Waco. He tries to make at least one event per series at the southern Oklahoma casino, and this time around, he made his entry count.

“I made a big lady down on Day 1 that if I would have called I would have been out of the tournament, so that kind of shifted the momentum going into Day 2,” said Butler.

A saving fold kept Butler in the hunt, leading to his berth to Day 2 with just 14 others.

The final table was a bit of a roller coaster for everyone, following its formation. Butler, coming in with 16 big blinds, caught some heat in the middle of final-table action, scoring multiple knockouts, and amassed nice cushion for himself.

Later, during three-handed play, chips began changing hands repeatedly. Ramin Kaikhah was the first to double up, chunking away Butler’s chip lead.

“Yeah, man, it was crazy. The up and down. Lost a big hand early and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to come back from it,” Butler recounted.

However, Butler soon retaliated with a double-up back through Kaikhah. Then, lying in the wait for so long, Juli Black finally scored her own double up through Kaikhah as well

After the two hits, Kaikhah could not recover, dropping in 3rd place for $10,688. This set up a fairly even start to heads-up action between Butler and Black. Butler gained the momentum early on and ultimately took the crown with pocket tens.

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Daniel Butler	Waco, TX	$23,997
2	Juli Black	Dallas, TX	$14,829
3	Ramin Kaikhah	San Marcos, TX	$10,688
4	Jeff Heiberg	Buffalo, WY	$7,828
5	Seneca Easley	Fort Worth, TX	$5,827
6	Susan Oleson	Sweetwater, TX	$4,410
7	David Prociak	Winter Park, FL	$3,393
8	Nelda Escamilla	Anna, TX	$2,656
9	Jonathan Bloyen	Denton, TX	$2,116

Tags: Bart Bogard Daniel Butler Jerod Smith Melissa Bryne Ramin Kaikhah Simon Webster Will Berry

Level: 14

Blinds: 1,000/2,500

Ante: 2,500

01-10-2020 23:46 UTC-5

Another Wave of Assorted Chip Counts

Anthony Thompson

Level 13 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Maury Solano	300,000 170,000	170,000
Michael Linster	260,000 90,000	90,000

Jim Ramm	250,000 110,000	110,000
Sung Kim	230,000 30,000	30,000
Arthur Morris	225,000 -55,000	-55,000
Eluterio Rodriguez	200,000 95,000	95,000
Trey Brabham	160,000 5,000	5,000
Alfred Wyckoff	130,000 39,400	39,400
Michael Lech	100,000 30,000	30,000

Pablo Pallan	65,800 -64,200	-64,200
Terakun Karchanakphan	55,000 -45,000	-45,000
Wayne Keller	50,000 10,000	10,000
AJ Allee	50,000 20,000	20,000
Kevin Eyster	47,800 -87,200	-87,200

01-10-2020 23:34 UTC-5

More Updated Chip Counts

Anthony Thompson

Level 13 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Matt Stroud	235,000 -5,000	-5,000
Reid Walker	235,000
Matt Bond	150,000 10,000	10,000
Jake Bazeley	140,000 20,000	20,000
Bryan Rowland	136,000 6,000	6,000
Maurice Hawkins	130,000 10,000	10,000
Jeremy Joseph	130,000 -10,000	-10,000
Jimmy Crouch	125,000 -10,000	-10,000
Jeff Banghart	120,000 -15,000	-15,000
Arshin Gamini	110,000 30,000	30,000
Clyde Hinton	105,000 5,000	5,000
Aaron Mcevoy	80,000 9,800	9,800
Cynthia Keller	70,000
Amir Kaikhan	54,300

01-10-2020 23:25 UTC-5

Updated Chip Counts After Break

Anthony Thompson

Level 13 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Cory Bogert	200,000 150,000	150,000
Jim Carroll	165,000 15,000	15,000
Quoc Tran	150,000 90,000	90,000
Marshall White	129,600 -400	-400
Will Berry	90,000 -40,000	-40,000
Damarjai Davenport	80,000 15,000	15,000
Jared Hemingway	70,000 -55,000	-55,000
Ralph Massey	57,000 37,000	37,000
Wesley Cutshall	50,000 10,000	10,000
Austin Lewis	35,000 -85,000	-85,000
Ryan Hamman	20,000 -130,000	-130,000

Level: 13

Blinds: 1,000/2,000

Ante: 2,000

01-10-2020 23:01 UTC-5

Break Time

Anthony Thompson

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Main Event players are on a 15-minute break.

01-10-2020 22:56 UTC-5

Alan Percal Wins First Ring In Event #6: $400 NLH 6-Handed

Anthony Thompson

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the Main Event, we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the full schedule of side events that have been playing out over the past week at the World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant.

In Event #6: $400 NLH Six-Handed, 193 runners created a $63,690 prize pool that was paid out to the top 30 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were Venanzio Pasubio (10th- $1,397), Boris Kasabov (12th - $1,112), Hugo Perez (15th - $913), Quinterol Mallette (18th - $773), and Cory Bogert (25th - $609).

In the end, it was Florida native Alan Percal who collected every chip in play to win his first gold ring along with a $15,857 payday.

“The bracelet trumps it slightly,” Percal said half-jokingly after his victory. “But I’ve been close to this a few times, recently, so it’s nice to close it out.”

Percal’s bracelet run occurred in 2016 at the 47th annual WSOP where he conquered the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Championship for $320,574. Though his recent win, good for a cash prize of $15,857, was much more scaled down, Percal was pleased to hit the Circuit milestone.

Before his accomplishment at Choctaw Durant, Percal had recorded three final-table appearances this season (2019/20). The Florida native, now living in Louisville, Kentucky intermittently travels to certain series around the nation.

“Depends on the stop really and when I have time… We have a friend that works here that helped out,” stated Percal on his presence in Oklahoma.

Coming into Day 2 of the Six Max, Percal controlled the second-largest stack in play. He maintained his chip advantage even through a stalwart, eight-handed period.

“We played eight-handed for like an hour and a half,” mentioned Percal. “And we were pretty deep to come into the day. Then we played eight-handed and the average stack was like probably 15 big blinds, which kind of mixed things up.”

Eventually, 8th place hit the rail and Percal redrew to the final table as chip leader. Another slight slowdown occurred during three-handed action. Two-time gold ring winner Matt Koch was the one to break off in 3rd place.

Percal went on to tackle a tough opponent, Frank Bengs, in heads-up duel. The match lasted for a while but was all over when Percal’s pocket sevens took down Bengs’ queen-jack.

Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Alan Percal	Weston, FL	$15,857
2	Frank Bengs	Crescent, OK	$19,800
3	Matthew Koch	Byrnes Mill, MO	$6,632
4	Steven McCartney	Columbia, SC	$4,604
5	Melissa Singh	New York, NY	$3,280
6	Cody Coffman	Tulsa, OK	$2,400
7	Michael Cockrell	Richardson, TX	$1,805
8	Jeffrey Prince	Austin, TX	$1,805
9	Kelly Cortum	Norwalk, IA	$1,397

Tags: Alan Percal Boris Kasabov Cory Bogert Frank Bengs Hugo Perez Quinterol Mallette

01-10-2020 22:45 UTC-5

Stroud Pushes Gamini Off Winning Hand

Anthony Thompson

Level 12 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Maurice Hawkins opened for 4,200 from middle position, he was called by Jeremy Joseph on the button, Arshin Gamini from the small blind and Matt Stroud defended his big blind.

The flop was checked to the turn where Gamini lead out for 8,000. Stroud called while Hawkins and Joseph folded.

The board completed with the on the river and Gamini lead out once more, this time for 10,000. Stroud raised all in and Gamini quickly mucked face-up while Stroud tabled nas he raked in the chips.