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Nicholas Elder is First-Ever NorCal Poker Championship Main Event Winner
The inaugural $1,100 NorCal Poker Championship Main Event wrapped up with a seven-way chop as Nicholas Elder was declared the first-ever champion at Graton Casino Resort. Elder took home a first-place prize of $47,205. The main event hosted a total of 582 entries, which created a prize pool of $567,450.
Elder spoke to PokerNews to give his reaction to becoming the first-ever NorCal Poker Championship Main Event winner. In a continued theme of firsts, Elder shared that this was his first time at Graton after a long hiatus from poker entirely. Originally from Minnesota, Elder moved to the Sacramento area in California two years ago and got married and started a family. This prompted Elder to take a break from poker.
“I was just focused on my family and home. Building a solid foundation gave me the ability to just come out and play the game,” said Elder. “It feels like I did some things right to earn it.”
Elder’s run can be traced back to a critical moment when he went all in and was at risk against Victor Paredes. Elder was well behind as Paredes had his hand dominated, but a fortunate turn hit Elder’s kicker to take the lead. Elder recognized that he was fortunate in spots when his back was against the wall to accomplish the feat of taking home the title.
“I got lucky when I was down to about six big blinds,” said Elder. “I just tried to be as monotone as possible, and I was like, no matter what happens, it’s just a game.”
Elder doesn’t plan to change his recent, more distant relationship with poker despite winning the title.
“I’ve got a busy fall coming up, but maybe this winter I’ll go travel and play some tournaments,” said Elder.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicholas Elder | United States | $47,205* |
| 2 | Michael Hubbard | United States | $46,730* |
| 3 | Ramin Malekian | United States | $45,690* |
| 4 | Ryan Tuttle | United States | $41,980* |
| 5 | Antonio Ma | United States | $41,715* |
| 6 | Vy Nguyen | United States | $39,845* |
| 7 | Jason Beahm | United States | $36,825* |
| 8 | Peter Yang | United States | $12,000 |
| 9 | Richard Lockmanese | United States | $9,400 |
*denotes seven-way ICM chop
Day 2 Action
A total of 74 players returned on Day 2 of the main event. Notables Charles Himes, Bradley Anderson, and Phillip Hellmuth were among the first to fall in the opening rounds of the final day. The action was swift as 45 players remained by the first break of the day.
By the time the tournament reached the dinner break after eight levels of play, only 14 players were still vying for the title.
The players came back from the extended break with a bang as Walid Fahmy and Michael Persky fell after the first hand back to bow out of the tournament in 13th and 14th place, respectively.
Just a half hour later, Rifki Yazid, Jeff Hoffman, and Don Ro fell in that order as the final table was set in a flash.
Tuttle entered the final table as the chip leader, with Elder over a million in chips behind in second, but it was Jason Beahm who scored the first knockout of the final table when he dispatched Richard Lockmanese in ninth place.
Peter Yang was the final to go when he fell to Ryan Tuttle after his fives were outrun when Tuttle paired his jack and sent Yang to the rail.
The final table would play for another 40 minutes before rumbles of an ICM chop began to surface. The players asked to stop the clock, and a deal was struck as the remaining seven players took home their respective chunks of the pie to wrap up the first $1,100 NorCal Poker Championship Main Event.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage here at Graton Casino Resort. Check back here for all your poker coverage needs.