Guillermo Vargas Wins First Circuit Ring After Grueling Heads-Up Match
While PokerNews is here offering live updates from the High Roller and Main Event we’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the full schedule of side events that have been playing out over the past week at the World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond.
In Event #11: $1,125 NLH, 179 runners created a $179,000 prize pool that was paid out to the top 27 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the official final table were Cody Brinn (12th - $3,029), Josh Reichard (15th- $2,558), Michael Moncek (16th - $2,217), Todd Sladek (18th - $2,217), Nicola DiTrapani (19th - $1,974) and David Watters (23rd - $1,807).
In the end, it was Texas native Guillermo Vargas who roped in his first gold ring along with a $45,408 payday.
"I feel pretty good,” Vargas said after his win, “This was my first Circuit series I decided to grind, and it was really a good learning experience.”
Day 2 action saw 27 players return with Vargas mid-way through the pack sitting in 14th, but he took the chip lead into the final table.
“I had a game plan going into the final table,” Vargas stated, “I learned about the Venue leaderboard and set goals with the first being to win, while the second was to eliminate players in a particular order that had more points than me.”
There were two players who Vargas was talking about and they were three-time ring winner David Hengen, who took his exit in ninth place, and the other was Tyler Phillips who was eliminated in fourth place.
Three-way action wouldn’t last long as Ken Brunette took his quick exit leaving Vargas heads-up against Sami Shurbaji.
Vargas held almost a 3:1 chip advantage at the start of the heads-up battle but Shurbaji put up quite the fight, turning the tides about two-hours into the battle.
“Before the heads-up match I was winning every flip, but Sami made it really tough for me heads-up,” stated Vargas about his opponent.
The match would continue for another hour level and Vargas saw his stack dwindle down to 400,000 at one point, but he won a flip after catching a flush on the river to turn the tide back in his direction.
“He told me he picked up on a tell when I was bluffing,” Stated Vargas, “I’m pretty sure I picked up on what he was talking about and switched it up to try and induce bluffs.”
The heads-up battled continued for another hour-level before the stacks were completely even and just when it looked like the match would continue on, it was over a few hands after the chip stacks were even.
“I felt like I was ahead the whole time that final hand and I was correct,” Vargas said after his grueling heads-up battle.
The victory marked Vargas’s first career Circuit ring and the 50 casino points puts him in front of the Casino Championship race and he hopes his 82.5 points will hold as he won’t be able to finish out the rest of the Circuit series at Hammond.
“I’m moving cities and my girlfriend is coming tomorrow so we are going to Chicago to look at places. I won’t be coming back so hopefully I’ll hold,” stated Vargas who continued to say, “I just want to thank all of my poker buddies, they know who they are, for helping me learn and helping me to get here.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guillermo Vargas | Austin, TX | $45,408 |
| 2 | Sami Shurbaji | Dyer, IN | $28,065 |
| 3 | Kenneth Brunette | Marinette, WI | $19,623 |
| 4 | Tyler Phillips | Charlotte, NC | $14,021 |
| 5 | Artem Zverkhovskyy | Las Vegas, NV | $10,423 |
| 6 | Terry Quirke | Flossmoor, IL | $7,655 |
| 7 | Brian Pemberton | Homer Glen, IL | $5,856 |
| 8 | Hamid Izadi | Marietta, GA | $4,587 |
| 9 | David Hengen | Omaha, NE | $3,681 |