Michael Estes came to the final table of the $1,700 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event at Horseshoe Hammond as the only player with a Circuit ring — and he kept it that way as he walked out with $198,576 and his second piece of jewelry carrying the WSOP name.
“I don’t know how it feels yet – I’m still trying to process this,” Estes told WSOP reporters moments after winning. “It’s simply amazing. I wanted this really bad.”
He won the event wearing a lucky 26-year-old ball cap that looks as if it spent most of its life in combat. Estes said he hopes it will stay together and intact long enough to be worn as he wins his third ring.
“I worried every single moment of the final table,” Estes added. “This hat is at least 26-years-old, it used to be red and used to be put together. I think we only have a couple more years left and hopefully I’ll get another ring before it breaks.”
The Main Event attracted 746 entrants who built a prize pool of $1,130,190. The final nine were guaranteed at least $14,000. The top six players returned for Day 3 to battle to the end.
“The final table was great,” he said. “That’s because of me – I’m so nice,” Estes joked. “No, everybody here was absolutely professional and nice. We understood that we all each couldn’t win.”
Estes, who walks around with that tattered St. Louis Cardinals hat in his home city of Chicago, won his other WSOP Circuit ring in a $400 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event at Grand Victoria Casino Chicago last November. With 44 WSOP cashes, he was the most accomplished player of the final nine.
This wasn’t Estes best lifetime tournament cash. He won $293,032 for finishing fifth in the $3,000 event at the World Poker Tour Championships last December. He’s approaching the $1 million mark in winnings and if his good year continues, he’ll soon soar above it.
Maybe it is the hat.
Final Table Payouts
- Michael Estes – $198,576
- Grant Keller – $132,386
- Kristopher Magruder – $91,159
- Sargon Guliana – $63,981
- Mark Cahill – $45,789
- Max Sheridan – $33,426
- Mykhailo Lendel – $24,901
- Christopher Weber – $18,937
- Jacob Fishbein – $14,709
The WSOP Circuit is running across the county in Thunder Valley with the $1,700 Main Event kicking off yesterday. After that, the Circuit heads to Harrah’s Pompano Beach Oct. 10-21, before hitting Caesars Southern Indiana October 17-28.
