Kevin McCarthy Wins Ring in First-Ever WSOP Tournament on His Honeymoon
PokerNews is in town to live report both the $1,700 Main Event and $2,200 High Roller here at the World Series of Poker Circuit Rio Las Vegas, but those are just three of the gold ring events that will have played out by the end of the series.
The series kicked off with Event #1: $250 No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament that attracted 470 runners and created a $94,000 prize pool. That was paid out to the top 72 players including Matt Petrikas (8th - $2,109), Patrick Ronan (16th - $927), Craig Rank (28th - $620), Ryan Leng (34th - $557), and Jason Tang (50th - $426).
In the end, Kevin McCarthy of Tucson, Arizona bested Mike Christiansen in heads-up play to win the tournament for $17,508 and his first gold ring. Not only that, it came in his first-ever WSOP event.
“My wife and I walked by the tables and I said: that’s the World Series of Poker, I’ve always wanted to play in one of those events, and she said: Go do it,” said the 58-year-old McCarthy, who was in town with his wife for their honeymoon.
He added: “They were good players all of them. They all played really strong, but I knew I was going to win right when I got here. I told my wife that I was going to win it, and she said: I know you will.”
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin McCarthy | $17,508 |
| 2 | Mike Christiansen | $11,060 |
| 3 | Howard Cornbleth | $8,111 |
| 4 | Matthew Lowry | $6,028 |
| 5 | Robert Campbell | $4,541 |
| 6 | Raymond Hang | $3,468 |
| 7 | David Rozema | $2,685 |
| 8 | Matthew Petrikas | $2,109 |
| 9 | Jeffrey Altenhof | $1,680 |