Andrew Heckman Wins Event #1: $400 NLH for His Second Gold Ring
While PokerNews is only live reporting the High Roller and Main Event tournaments at the World Series of Poker Circuit Foxwoods stop, there have been plenty of other side events playing out all week long.
One of them was Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament that attracted 207 runners and created a $68,310 prize pool. One player that made a deep run was famed poker lawyer and frequent PokerNews contributor Maurice “Mac” VerStandig of the VerStandig Law Firm. He wound up taking fifth place for $3,812.
In the end, it was 24-year-old Andrew Heckman who emerged victorious to win the tournament for $16,566 and his second gold ring.
“It feels really good because I told this kid I wasn’t gonna duplicate my other ring, just to give me more motivation to win that one – and that was two years ago,” said an elated Heckman, after explaining that his first ring was stolen.
“I’m definitely a better tournament player than cash, but I play cash a lot. It feels good to win tournaments,” said Heckman, who learned to play from his dad. “He was really good. He won tournaments all the time. I used to stay up long nights and watch him when I was a kid before school and stuff. He’d tell me ‘go to bed’ and this and that.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Heckman | W. Bridgewater, Massachusetts | $16,566 |
| 2 | Joseph Taylor | Redford, Michigan | $10,239 |
| 3 | David Erban | N/A | $7,221 |
| 4 | Michael Bohmerwald | Stamford, Connecticut | $5,198 |
| 5 | Maurice "Mac" Verstandig | Gaithersburg, Maryland | $3,812 |
| 6 | Bruno Kreuschdesouza | Revere, Massachusetts | $2,855 |
| 7 | Matthew Zola | Riverside, Connecticut | $2,186 |
| 8 | David Valone | New Haven, Connecticut | $1,708 |
| 9 | Aleksey Filatov | Norwood, Massachusetts | $1,374 |