Jerry Monroe Wins WSOP Circuit Harrah New Orleans Main Event For $208,184

Winding up the run of tournaments annually run under the banner of World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) for 2017-2018, the WSOPC Harrah’s New Orleans $1,675 Main Event took place on Monday. Jerry Monroe (cover image) shipped the Main Event pocketing $208,184 from a prize pool of $1,015,500 that was created over a field of 677 players.

Monroe, who is into real estate topped the final table to win his second career main event title and his third gold ring. Back in 2011 Monroe had won the WSOPC IP Biloxi Main Event. With the Harrah New Orleans Main Event title under his belt the 41-year old Georgian has also snagged one of the last two remaining spots in the Global Casino Championship 2018. Darren Martin finished runner-up in the Main Event.

Thirteen players reached the final day and the field narrowed down to nine players, who formed the final table.

“I thought it was a really big uphill battle,” said Monroe, talking about him winning the Main Event. “I did think it would be me and Darren at the end since he was the most accomplished player out of the 13 that came back today. I felt like it would be me and him when it got down to two and it did end up being me and him.”

“It is more special.The field is stronger in the main event than in the regular fields, so it’s a good accomplishment. I feel good about it. I enjoyed it”, Monroe added.

Apart from the final-table players other notable poker prosthat cashed in the Main Event included Jonathan Hilton (17^th for $10,500), Blake Whittington (30^th for $5443), Cory Waaland (41^st for $3,757) and Nick Pupillo (53^rd for $3,392).

Final Table Recap

At the outset it was Darren Martin and John Skinnerwho claimed most of the big pots and Skinner often went all-in. Donnel Dais from Atlanta was the first one to get eliminated. He cashed $19,477 at ninth position.

Soon, three others, Scott Horvath (8^th for $24,354), Benjamin Mintz (7^th for $31,298) and Hugh Cullen (6^th for $40,477) bounced off the final table.

Then, in a five-way pot, Skinner shoved his queen-high straight only to run into the king-high straight of Martin and this hand have Martin the chip lead who then busted Justin Donato at fifth place for $52,958, followed by Skinner at fourth place for $70,262.

The short-stacked Monroe then doubled up through Mike Cohen who got eliminated in third place for $94,482.

As the field whittled down to only two players, Monroe entered the heads-up against Monroe with a huge chip deficit. By now Martin had more or less 75% of the chips in play that gave him an incredible 3-1 chip lead. But Monroe played a strong, aggressive game and soon Martin saw his stack dwindling. Monroe won eight hands one after the other to even out the chip counts. He took the lead by shoving one top and one bottom pair against Martin’s two bottom pairs.

In the last hour, Martin was distinctively conservative and Monroe took advantage of this. In the final hand, Martin shoved two aces and Monroe checked. The flop came and Monroe bet 150,000 on which Martin called. The turn opened and here Monroe bet 400,000 before calling, Martin moved all-in for 4 million. Monroe shoved with Jack-three for a flopped two pair and Martin needed a good river. The river completed a full house for Monroe.

Final Table Results

1. Jerry Monroe – $208,184

2. Darren Martin – $128,816

3. Michael Cohen – $94,482

4. John Skinner – $70,262

5. Justin Donato – $52,958

6. Hugh Cullen – $40,477

7. Benjamin Mintz – $31,298

8. Scott Horvath – $24,354

9. Donnell Dais – $19,477