3-Bet: Short Deck Poker to Debut at WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney Today, Gavin Munroe Wins WSOPC Gold Ring & WPT Russia Schedule Released

The 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) International Circuit Star Sydney is currently underway and for the first time ever at the stop there is an $880 Short Deck Championship on tap that hits the floor today.

Meanwhile, Gavin Munroe has won his career-first WSOP Circuit gold ring at the 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) $400 NLHE Monster Stack at IP Biloxi for $26,278.

Wrapping up our report is news from the World Poker Tour (WPT) that will be kicking off its yearlong poker journey with the inaugural WPT Russia series slated to run from January 18-27 at the beautiful Sochi Casino. WPT recently announced the complete schedule for the inaugural series.

Short Deck Poker to Make it’s Debut at WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney

The ongoing 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) International Circuit series at The Star Sydney has been seeing high-end action over the past few days. The series is for the first time, also featuring a short deck poker event.

The $880 Short Deck Championship is slated to kick off today. The short deck poker format is simple yet engaging. In fact, it is quite similar to the regular Texas Hold ‘em but played without the cards lower than a six in the deck.

With the short deck fad catching up across various popular tournament series, the WSOPC at The Star Sydney is also expected to see a good turnout for this exciting format.

Gavin Munroe Wins 2018 WSOP Circuit IP Biloxi $400 NLHE Monster Stack

Taking home his first-ever score along with a gold ring at the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC), Gavin Munroe from Mississippi took down the $400 NLHE Monster Stack at IP Biloxi. Munroe, who works as a poker dealer at a nearby Biloxi casino, won $26,278 for his efforts.

Munroe has made several attempts to score in previous circuit events but with little success. “I’m a dealer at the Beau Rivage. I’ve been here about seven months,” Munroe said after his win. His aggression on Day 1 was palpable in the way he played. “Just open a lot of hands,” he said, talking about his strategy on the table. “Raise, raise, raise. Keep on applying the pressure. Just keep on raising. That was what I was told [to do].”

A total of 362 entrants made their way into the event generating a prize pool of $119,460. The top 45 finishers would earn at least $540.

Munroe was leading the 12 survivors on Day 2 with close to 2.5 Million in chips. The heads-up play saw Munroe facing Gina Ham. Ham gave him a tough fight to take over the lead before Munroe reasserted command and took the event down.

Interestingly it was a family affair for runner-up Ham whose husband Mack Ham also made it to the final table and finished in seventh place.

When the unofficial ten-handed final table kicked off, it was Munroe in charge with 3,015,000 in chips, while Donald Crabtree was close behind with a stack of 2,520,000.

Unofficial Final Table Chip Counts

1. Gavin Munroe – 3,015,000

2. Donald Crabtree – 2,520,000

3. Gina Ham – 1,150,000

4. Austin Reilly – 900,000

5. Jesus Cabrera – 800,000

6. Brent Siebenkittle – 685,000

7. Dell Taylor – 630,000

8. Todd Michaels – 630,000

9. Andy Bankston – 185,000

10. Mack Ham – 220,000

It was Todd Michaels (10^th for $2,012) who turned out to be unlucky and fell out at 10^th place.

Final Table Recap

The first casualty on the final table was Brent Siebenkittel and he was eliminated in ninth place.

Austin Reilly, Mack Ham and Ismael Cabrera fell in eighth, seventh and sixth place respectively, bringing the field down to five-handed play.

James Bankston saw his run cut short in fifth place and Dell Taylor joined the rail shortly afterwards.

Donald Crabtree who was among the top stacks entering the final table was eliminated next in third place.

Down to the heads-up play between Gina Ham and Munroe, the event saw a raging fight between the two with Ham not ready to give up easily. She took the lead a couple of times on the final table but towards the end, she came up short after several big pot collisions with Munroe.

On the final hand, Ham re-raised all in for the remainder of her chips after a flop. This time Munroe held and called instantly. Ham tabled but was drawing dead after the appeared on the turn. The river was meaningless for her and she lost the game to Munroe, settling for a runner-up finish.

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Gavin Munroe – $26,278

2. Regina Ham – $16,241

3. Donald Crabtree – $11,867

4. Dell Taylor – $8,811

5. James Bankston – $6,644

6. Austin Reilly – $5,085

7. Mack Ham – $3,949

8. Ismael Cabrera – $3,111

9. Brent Siebenkittel – $2,485

WPT Russia Schedule Announced

The World Poker Tour (WPT) will kick off the new year with the inaugural WPT Russia tournament series which will run from January 18-27. Hosted at the luxurious Sochi Casino, the poker festival boasts of a whopping ₽184,500,000 in guarantees across seven scheduled events.

With several online Day 1’s added to the schedule, WPT Russia will start with the WPT Opener featuring seven starting flights that cost ₽33,000 to enter. A total of ₽30 million is guaranteed to be won in the WPT Opener.

But the crème de la crème of the series will be the WPT Russia Main Event with a huge guarantee of ₽90 million. Players can enter via two online flights on partypoker, or battle across three live flights that will play out at the Sochi Casino.

Other key events include a ₽618,000 buy-in High Roller event and a ₽30 million guaranteed WPT DeepStacks.

2019 WPT Russia Schedule: