Kyle Cartwright raised to 160,000 from under the gun and Matthew Higgins called from the big blind. The flop came and Higgins check-called a bet of 110,000 from Cartwright.
The turn brought the and both players checked to the on the river. Higgins checked again and Cartwright tossed in another bet of 180,000. Higgins looked him up and Cartwright showed to earn the pot.
In the next hand, Lytle Allen raised to 200,000 and Bryan Piccioli called on the button. The flop fell and both players checked to the on the turn. Allen made a bet of 300,000 and Piccioli stuck around to see the on the river. Allen checked this time and folded when Piccioli pushed out a bet of 560,000.
Matthew Higgins raised to 175,000 on the button and Lytle Allen defended from the big blind. The flop came and Allen check-called a bet of 150,000 from Higgins.
The turn was the and Allen checked it again. Higgins fired out another bet of 225,000 and Allen still called. The river was the and Allen led out for 425,000 this time. Higgins mulled it over for a minute and eventually decided to lay his hand down.
Matthew Higgins was down to around 16 big blind and he shipped all in on the button. Lytle Allen looked down at his cards in the big blind and made a quick call to put Higgins at risk.
Lytle Allen:
Matthew Higgins:
Higgins found himself dominated but the flop of gave him a flush draw. The was no help on the turn and the paired the board on the river. Allen's ace-queen high was good to enough to win the hand and Higgins was eliminated.
Lytle Allen opened to 250,000 on the button and was called by Bryan Piccioli in the small blind. Kyle Cartwright jammed all in for 1,845,000 in the big blind and Allen confirmed the count before making the call. Piccioli got out of the way and the two remaining hands were tabled.
Lytle Allen:
Kyle Cartwright:
Allen once again found himself in a dominating position and the flop of left him in the lead. The on the turn gave Allen a straight and the on the river sent Cartwright home in third place.
In the first hand of heads-up play, Bryan Piccioli and Lytle Allen got all of their chips in the middle preflop. Piccioli came into heads-up action as a massive underdog, having only 17 big blinds to work with.
Lytle Allen:
Bryan Piccioli:
The flop came to give Piccioli a pair of eights but Allen was still out front with his pocket kings. The on the turn left Piccioli drawing to just five outs and the on the river was not one of them. Piccioli was eliminated and Allen claimed his first WSOP Circuit ring along with booking a ticket to the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
It only took less than four hours on the final day of the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Tunica $1,700 Main Event before a champion was crowned. Coming through one of the toughest final tables of the circuit, Lytle Allen captured his first-ever WSOP Circuit ring along with a payday of $144,313.
Allen came into the day as one of the shorter stacks but after a double up on the first hand of the day, Allen never relinquished the chip lead as he soared to a comfortable victory, topping some of the best players on the circuit. It only took one hand for Allen to defeat Bryan Piccioli heads-up who earned over $89,000 for his efforts. Coming into heads-up play with only 17 big blinds, Piccioli jammed all-in with ace-eight suited only to run into the pocket kings of Allen.
Allen was asked what it meant to finally get his first WSOP Circuit ring and he was a little bit shocked, to be honest. "It means a lot to me! I've been working hard to get to this point and to beat the field that I was playing with, they were tough. I feel really good about it."
Allen had to battle his way through the likes of Scott Stewart, defending champion Kyle Cartwright, and a formidable heads-up opponent in Piccioli who all have a long list of accomplishments at the poker table. "My strategy was to come in and just play my game. I figured I was the underdog so I just wanted to get it in with some good cards and they held up. Everything just worked out for me. Everything just went my way."
This will go down as Allen's second-largest score of his poker career after a third-place finish in the WSOP Circuit Hammond Main Event back in 2015 netted him over $161,000. Going forward, Allen said that he will continue playing professional poker but plans on staying in the mid-west area for the most part. "Definitely going to be in Vegas for the summer but I'll try to stay in this area where I can drive to events."
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1st
Lytle Allen
United States
$144,313
2nd
Bryan Piccioli
United States
$89,191
3rd
Kyle Cartwright
United States
$65,574
4th
Matthew Higgins
United States
$48,840
5th
James Todd Osborne
United States
$36,857
6th
Scott Stewart
United States
$28,187
7th
Blake Barousse
United States
$21,849
8th
Greg Jennings
United States
$17,170
9th
Hyun Lee
United States
$13,681
Day 3 Action
The action kicked off at 12 p.m. local time with the final six players returning to their seats and as mentioned above, the chips got in the middle in a hurry. Allen picked up pocket aces in the very first hand and James Todd Osborne was the unfortunate player to hold ace-king. Allen scored a double up into the chip lead which left Osborne on the short stack.
Osborne managed to battle back, including a couple of double-ups, one against Stewart. It turned out to be a tough day at the table for Stewart who struggled to win pots and eventually found himself below ten big blinds. He finally shoved all-in with ace-nine suited but Cartwright woke up with ace-king. A full house for Cartwright sent Stewart to the payout desk in sixth place.
Five-handed play continued for an hour before Osborne eventually saw his stack dissipate as well. With less than big blinds as well, Osborne moved the last of his chips in the middle with king-eight and found a call from Matthew Higgins with a weaker king. However, Higgins paired his kicker and Osborne was forced to settle for fifth place. It was a good comeback for Osborne who was sitting on just two big blinds during hand-for-hand on the money bubble yesterday.
With four players remaining, Allen continued to pad his lead while the other three jockeyed for position. As the other three players fell to around 20 big blinds, Allen started picking up premium holdings and went on a tear. His first victim was Higgins who jammed ace-seven suited only to be called by Allen's ace-queen. A clean board for Allen boosted his stack to over 10 million chips with just three players left.
Cartwright was looking to go back-to-back in the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica Main Event and his odds were looking good as the chip leader when the day began. One bad beat that saw Allen flop a set of deuces against Cartwright's pocket kings meant Cartwright had to battle from the short stack. He picked up a suited ace in the big blind but it was no match for Allen's ace-queen once again. Allen turned a straight and Cartwright bowed out in third place.
That left Allen to battle with Piccioli heads-up, a matchup that wouldn't last very long. Piccioli entered the final day as the shortest stack but managed to stay out of the way of Allen who was steamrolling the final table. Piccioli scored some key pay jumps but was ultimately a huge underdog entering heads-up play. Allen's hot streak continued when he picked up pocket kings in the first hand and eliminated Piccioli in second place.
Aaron Gamino Casino Champ
Aaron Gamino, a 31-year-old economics professor, claimed the WSOPC Horseshoe Tunica Casino Champion title with four cashes including three final tables and one victory, worth 107.5 points. That means he too will receive a seat into the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
“It's nice. I think I’ve cashed like half of the tournaments I’ve played recently and I’ve final tabled the fourth of them,’’ Gamino said after his win in Event #4: $400 NLH One-Day, which was good for $16,194 and his second gold ring.
Tournament
Entries
Prize Pool
Winner
Prize
Event #1: $400 NLH Double Stack
339
$111,870
Chris Nunnally
$23,984
Event #2: $400 NLH (One-Day)
271
$89,430
Blake Whittington
$19,786
Event #3: $400 NLH Multi-Flight
1,005
$331,650
Michael Lech
$53,320
Event #4: $400 NLH One-Day
207
$68,310
Aaron Gamino
$16,194
Event #5: $400 NLH 6-Handed
238
$78,540
Bryan Salerno
$18,438
Event #6: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha
124
$40,920
Grant Hart
$11,209
Event #7: $400 Monster Stack
738
$243,540
Walker Miskelly
$43,209
Event #8: $600 NLH
238
$122,570
Sam Washburn
$28,101
Event #9: $250 NLH One-Day
303
$60,600
Neil Patel
$13,354
Event #10: $1,700 Main Event
491
$743,865
Lytle Allen
$144,313
Event #11: $400 NLH One-Day
219
$72,270
Brandon Smith
$16,971
Event #12: $400 NLH One-Day
184
$60,720
Jenneth Norman
$14,925
Event #13: $400 Double Stack
256
$84,480
Brian Green
$18,945
While things have wrapped up here in Tunica, Mississippi, the WSOP Circuit will head off to their next stop in Potawatomi followed by another stop in Tampa Bay. That brings an end to the coverage here for PokerNews but stay tuned for updates from the next live events happening in the poker world.