Kyle Birdwell Wins Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Multi-Flight Re-Entry

The World Series of Poker Circuit Choctaw Durant $1,700 Main Event is just one of a dozen gold ring events at the stop.

For more than a week, a slew of side events has been playing out including Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament that attracted 2,206 entries over six flights and generated a $727,980 prize pool.

Kyle Birdwell, 36, navigated the massive field to claim the title, $102,195 top prize, and his first WSOP gold ring.

“It was great, a complete rollercoaster of emotion,” Birdwell said. “It was fun from day one and a had a blast.”

Birdwell finished Day 1c with a monster stack and added to it throughout the tournament. He eventually entered the final table with an overwhelming chip lead.

“In the first hour I had pocket aces and had two guys shove behind me and they had queens and jacks, the board ran out and I was able to triple-up,” he told WSOP officials. “Later in the day I had a guy pushing stacks around and I had a big stack and so did he. He shoved in front of me with kings and I had aces again. At the end of the day (Day 1) there was a top-10 stack at my table. There was a hand where it flopped two clubs and I had a big draw and shoved all-in and he called with bottom pair and the rest was history.”

As for the six-figure score, Birdwell plans to use some of the money to help put his wife through nursing school.

Event #2 Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Kyle Birdwell	Fort Worth, Texas	$102,195
2	Michael Hibler	Springfield, Missouri	$63,190
3	Carlos Loving	Tampa, Florida	$49,007
4	Chase Bricker	Arlington, Texas	$38,235
5	Kendall Copp	Ponder, Texas	$30,011
6	Dave Alfa	Austin, Texas	$23,698
7	William Scarsdale	Harrison, Arkansas	$18,827
8	Donald Thurman	Plano, Texas	$15,049
9	Jeffrey Crawford	North Richland Hills, Texas	$12,104