Joe Gotlieb Beats Tough Pros at WSOPC Seminole Hard Rock

October 03, 2017

Winning any World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event is sweet, but it has to be particularly satisfying when overcoming the likes of World Poker Tour champion Asher Conniff and nosebleed cash legend Brian Hastings at the final table.

That's exactly what Joe Gotlieb did on Monday night, taking down $257,638 in a field of 904 entries at WSOP Circuit Seminole Hard Rock Main Event. Gotlieb, a Florida native, previously had about $75,000 in cashes yet bested a tough final table that included multiple tough pros for his first win on the Circuit. It's the start of what he hopes is a fruitful career as a professional.

"I wanted to give it a shot at going pro," he said. "This was my shot at that."

Official Final Table Results

There would be 99 players paid in the WSOP Circuit's inaugural running at Seminole. Chris Conrad, Val Vornicu, Loni Harwood, James Calderaro, Barry Hutter, Darryll Fish and Jonathan Jaffe were some of those who made the money but fell short of the final table.

Fourteen players came back for the final day, according to the live updates, and Gotlieb picked up two doubles en route to the final table. Both times, he got his stack in on the flop with combo draws against one pair held by Michael Amato. Both times, Gotlieb filled his flush draw to double.

Final Table Action

That left Amato as one of the shortest stacks at the official final table, and Gotlieb finished him off as the first player to go there. Gotlieb limped in with K♠K♣ from middle position and Amato flopped top pair with K♥9♦ on 9♣5♥4♠. He check-shoved the flop over Gotlieb's bet and found no miracle nine on the turn or river.

Flush draws proved the lucky ticket for Gotlieb again when he called a three-bet holding 6♥4♥ and got it in on a K♥5♦5♥ flop against the A♠K♦ of Daniel Genachte. Gotlieb hit a flush on the 3♥ river to pump up to 4.6 million at 25,000/50,000/5,000.

Start-of-day leader Conniff followed that up by knocking out Jack Shea in a flip.

Another notable pro at the final table was Chad Eveslage, who has a number of Circuit final tables to his credit. He doubled through Gotlieb in a race with ace-queen against nines, but the same hand would prove his demise when he flopped top pair of queens in a three-bet pot against Mauricio Ameller. The latter held kings and didn't let Eveslage off the hook, shoving all in and holding on the turn and river.

Gotlieb then lost two consecutive flips to Hastings to drop down to eight big blinds. Gotlieb picked up queens to double right back through Hastings' A♦2♦ and get back in contention.

Conniff continued to look like the man to beat and strengthened his position with eliminations of Brett Bader and then Hastings, the latter coming in a big flip that saw Hastings three-bet all in with eights for a little over 20 big blinds and Conniff call with A♦J♠ and turn a Broadway straight.

Gotlieb then held up with 5♠5♦ against the A♥5♣ of Ameller, and he and Conniff went heads up with the WPT champ holding a little under a 2-1 edge in chips.

After Gotlieb chipped up a bit, it came down to a flip for all of the chips. Conniff held A♦K♠ and needed to improve against the 7♦7♠ of Gotlieb. The drama was fairly short-lived as Gotlieb flopped a set, though Conniff turned some equity on the Q♦7♥6♠J♦ board. The Q♣ river filled Gotlieb up and gave him the win.

Ring Winners

Here's a look at all of the ring winners from the Seminole Hard Rock stop:

_{Photo courtesy of WSOP}

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