Iowa Boxing Hall of Famer Darin Utley Captures Second Gold Ring
PokerNews is in town to report the $1,700 Main Event here at the World Series of Poker Circuit at Milwaukee’s Potawatomi Hotel and Casino, but that is just one of the gold ring events that will have played out by the end of the series.
The stop kicked off with Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament that attracted 313 runners and offered up a $103,290 prize pool. That was paid out to the top 47 players including Cody Brinn (4th - $7,299), Bryan Skreens (7th - $3,133), Andy Rogowski (12th - $1,586), PokerNews’ Chad Holloway (24th - $840), Ken Baime (29th - $693), and David “The Maven” Gutfreund (35th - $623).
In the end, Darin Utley of Cedar Rapids, Iowa bested Canada’s Li Ding in heads-up play to win the title for $22,642 and his second ring. His first came a year before in January 2019 when he won the WSOPC Choctaw Durant Event #3: $400 NLH Multi-Flight for $50,557.
Utley, 49, is a former amateur boxer with eight golden glove titles on his résumé.
"I started [boxing] when I was eight years old and I did it for like 20 years or so; but I just got inducted into the Iowa Boxing Hall of Fame this summer,” Utley revealed. “I think you see a lot of ex-athletes that play poker because you’re used to being competitive your whole life.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darin Utley | Cedar Rapids, Iowa | $22,642 |
| 2 | Li Ding | Montreal, Canada | $13,995 |
| 3 | Daniel Bouton | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | $10,021 |
| 4 | Cody Brinn | Algonquin, Illinois | $7,299 |
| 5 | Kenneth Donarski | Willow Brook, Illinois | $5,409 |
| 6 | Clinton Compton | Beaver Dam, Wisconsin | $4,080 |
| 7 | Bryan Skreens | Winfield, Illinois | $3,133 |
| 8 | David Watters | Neenah, Wisconsin | $2,451 |
| 9 | Sergei Gurtov | Hawthorn Woods, Illinois | $1,953 |