Bybee Wins $580 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry Tournament
For the past week, the 2012/2013 World Series of Poker Circuit presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof has been taking place at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma. The stop, which is in its third year, features 12 ring events, many of which are in the books, and will culminate this weekend with the $1,675 Main Event. There are sure to be some interesting storylines that emerge out of that tournament, and we thought we’d set the stage by taking a look at some of the Choctaw Durant winners thus far.
The stop kicked off with a $580 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry tournament that featured four startign days. That meant players had the option of re-entering up to four times! The tournament had a $500,000 guaranteed prizepool, which was smashed as 2,209 players turned out and created a $1,104,500 prize pool—the fourth largest turnout in WSOP Circuit history.
Flight 1A drew an impressive 576 entrants, and later that night another 354 players took to the felt for Flight 1B, which began at 5 p.m. On Saturday, Flight 1C attracted a massive 745 players, while Flight 1D later that night drew 534 players. That brought the total to the aforementioned 2,209, 225 of which would earn a payday and position themselves for a run at the $168,433.
The field was so large that an extra day had to be added to the schedule, but after more than 30 hours of tournament play, 37-year-old poker pro Ross Bybee of McKinney, Texas emerged victorious after defeating Michael Downing in heads-up play.
“[It feels] amazing; spectacular; wonderful. Everything you can think of and then some,” Bybee told WSOP officials after the win. “I have no trophies. I’ve won a lot of events and I’ve gotten little tokens, but this is my first real trophy. For it to be a ring means a lot.”
“Poker is what I’ve wanted to do for a long time and anything to get my name out there makes it all the better,” Bybee concluded.
WSOP Circuit Choctaw Durant Ring Event #2 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $500+$80 | 2,209 | $1,104,500 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ross Bybee | Mckinney, TX | $168,433 |
| 2 | Michael Downing | Houston, TX | $104,419 |
| 3 | Matthew Bray | Magnolia, TX | $78,685 |
| 4 | Predeep Buddharaju | Houston, TX | $60,085 |
| 5 | Jonathan Hilton | Chattanooga, TN | $46,345 |
| 6 | Nicolas Vaca-Rondon | Bogota, Colombia | $36,095 |
| 7 | Christopher Rauscher | Dickinson, TX | $28,386 |
| 8 | Abraham Montenegro | Chicago, IL | $22,543 |
| 9 | Jay Diaz | Brownfield, TX | $18,081 |