Lukson Matthew Tames Monster Stack For First Circuit Ring
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 #6: $400 NLH Monster Stack, 540 runners created a $178,200 prize pool that was paid out to the top 81 players. Among those to cash but fall short of the official final table were Daniel Sepiol (11th- $2,619), Yoon Kim (13th - $2,135), Jim Kilarjian (19th - $1,477), Oleh Ferkalyuk (23rd - $1,082), Robert Dunn (25th - $1,080) and John Sun (34th- $753).
In the end, it was Illinois native Lukson Matthew who won his first gold ring, along with a $34,748 payday.
“I woke up Monday morning and out of the blue decided to come play this tournament and no one is going to believe me, this is so unbelievable!” Matthew said after his win.
Matthew, a primary house/cash game player, had an uphill battle to make the run he did as he came in ranked 37th out of the 45 players returning to for Day 2 action.
“Man, I tell you what, it was a grind to get here and some luck definitely helped,” stated Matthew.
From coming into the final day near the bottom of the list, Matthew turned things around as he went into the unofficial final table as the chip leader thanks to a lucky river.
Things continued to favor Matthew’s good run as he collected every chip in play to win his first WSOPC ring, and his voyage to Horseshoe Hammond has proven profitable for Matthew so far. Not only does this mark his first/largest career cash, he added 50 casino points for the 2020 Global Casino Championship.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lukson Matthew | Hinsdale IL | $34,748 |
| 2 | Frank Swierczynski | Plainfield, IL | $21,485 |
| 3 | Timothy Heng | Skokie, IL | $15,806 |
| 4 | Giedrius Bagdonas | Bristol, CT | $11,771 |
| 5 | Kenni Nguyen | Chicago, IL | $8,876 |
| 6 | Jason Trezak | Portage, IN | $6,777 |
| 7 | Thomas Mullen | Indianapolis, IN | $5,240 |
| 8 | Vince Bon | Burbank, IL | $4,105 |
| 9 | Glen Joseph | Oak Lawn, IL | $3,257 |
flop, Kozonis bet 8,500, and the button and early-position player called, while the big blind folded.
turn, Kozonis bet 18,000, the button shoved for 38,600, the early-position player folded, and Kozonis called.
, clinching the hand for Kozonis, chipping him up to nearly 200k, and sending the button player out.
board from the big blind, and Brad Sailor bet 15,000 into a pot of 20,000 from middle position. Dokter tanked for a minute before check-raising all in for 29,000, and Sailor snap-called.
river wasn't one of them, and Sailor shipped the pot and the knockout.
for a smaller straight into the muck and left the tournament area.
river, and Stroud showed 
, which was bested by Wicinski's 
