Zachary Donovan Takes Down WSOP Circuit Coconut Creek Main Event For $243,916

Zachary Donovan
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  • Namita Ghosh February 20, 2019
  • 2 Minutes Read

One of the popular regional destinations for the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) is Seminole Casino Coconut Creek. The WSOP Circuit stop at Coconut Creek kicked off on February 8 with a roster of 14 events. Capping off the series was the $1,700 NLHE Main Event that attracted a massive field of 805 entries over two starting flights. After four days of intense competition, Boston native Zachary Donovon (cover image) emerged victorious when he defeated Sokchheka Pho heads-up to win $243,916 along with his second WSOP Circuit gold ring.

The victory was bittersweet for Donovan, who may have picked up his second-biggest career score at the event, but lost his grandfather on Day 1A. “I flew down here, originally just planning on visiting my grandfather, and then maybe coming to play here, because he was in the hospital. He wasn’t doing too well. Then he got really sick, really fast, and a few days later was in hospice. Then on Friday, Day 1, he passed. He passed in the morning. It was nice I got to say my goodbyes to him…he was a huge fan of my poker,” Donovan said, adding, “I guess he was with me the whole time. We won.”

The $1,700 buy-in across 805 entries generated a prize pool worth $1,219,575, smashing the $1 Million guarantee with relative ease. The top 81 places got paid a minimum $3,037.

Day 2 began with 171 survivors (80 –Day 1A, 91 – Day 1B) and many notables failed to cross the money line including bracelet winners like Tristan Wade, Leif Force, Charles Johnson, Kammar Andries, Scott Baumstein, Brett Pader, Ryan Van Sanford, Robert Mizrachi and Timothy Miles.

The pace of eliminations quickened once the bubble burst and soon Matt Waxman (19th for $10,330), Kevin Johnson (26th for $7,427), bracelet winners Phil Hui (35th for $4,927), Brian Altman (50th for $3,951),John Gordon (61st for $3,598), Chris Bolek (75th for $3,037) and Pedro Aldave (77th for $3,037), all joined the rail.

Day 3 began with 15 finalists and Donovan was second in chips with a stack of 3,140,000, behind only Jason Young who held 4,115,000.

Matthew Smith (15th for $15,062), Matjaz Ferk (12th for $18,513) and Dennis Brand (11th for $18,513) were all eliminated in quick succession.

The unofficial ten-handed final table kicked off with Young in the lead holding 4.8 Million in chips. Brandon Duvdivani (10th for $18,513) was the first one out and his exit got action on the nine-handed final table going.

 

Final Table Recap

Mike Azzaro, Jessica Dawley and Jack Shea crashed out one after the other to take ninth through seven place payouts respectively.

Chad Eveslage saw his title hopes cut short in sixth place after his pocket queens ran into Hamid Izadi’s ace-king and the board brought two more aces for the latter.

Next up, Warren Sheaves moved all in from the small blind with ace-queen and found a caller in big blind Donovan who held pocket kings. Sheaves couldn’t connect on the board and Donovan collected the pot eliminating Sheaves in fifth place.

Donovan, who had maintained his lead all the way down to four-handed play, had a volley of tough hands to face over the next three hours of play. Each time he lost a big pot, he somehow managed to regain most of them back fairly quickly thereafter.

On the sidelines of Donovan`s swingy final table journey, Jason Young eliminated Hamid Izadi in fourth place in a big pot where Izadi’s spiked a flush draw on the flop but was up against Young who held for an ace-high and straight draw. Izadi failed to complete the flush as the turn and the river bricked out.

Shortly thereafter, Jason Young hit the rail in third place. Young moved all in on the button for 4,100,00 with and found himself at risk, as Donovan looked him up from the small blind with . The board ran and Donovan scooped the pot.

A back and forth heads-up duel between Sokchheka Pho and Donovan led to the final hand where Pho moved all in from the small blind for his last 1,700,000 and Donovan called off.

Zachary Donovan

Sokchheka Pho

The board ran and Donovan took down the title with his rivered full house, relegating Pho to a runner-up finish.

Zachary Donovan
Zachary Donovan Wins WSOPC Coconut Creek Main Event

Final Table Results (USD)

  1. Zachary Donovan – $243,916
  2. Sokchheka Pho – $150,374
  3. Jason Young – $110,859
  4. Hamid Izadi – $82,626
  5. Warren Sheaves – $62,406
  6. Chad Eveslage – $47,746
  7. Jack Shea – $36,990
  8. Jessica Dawley – $29,014
  9. Mike Azzaro – $23,038

 

Content & Images Courtesy: WSOP

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