An action-packed 12 days of poker closed with two popular locals winning their second WSOP Circuit rings of the series at Graton Poker in California’s Wine Country.
John Koo – winner of a $400 NLH ring earlier in the series – took down the $400 Closer to put a bow on 18 ring events. Koo, who earned the nickname ‘Bookend’ for winning the opening and closing events of RuinGood Graton a year ago, may now be The Graton Closer, as this is the second series where he took down the final event. We’d offer up Mariano Rivera as a nickname, but Koo is a San Francisco Giants fan, and Nen, Beck, Wilson or Romo just doesn’t feel the same …
Craig Carrillo – winner of the series Omaha 8 – stepped down to two-card poker and picked up his second series ring in the final day’s $250 Seniors. Cheers from the fans echoed throughout The Event tournament arena as Carrillo and Koo won their rings within a few minutes of each other as the last day of play concluded.
Moments before Koo and Carrillo’s celebrations, Alex Lipkin held off Michael Lin to win the series $500,000 Guarantee Main Event title and the $162,520 top prize, plus Thomas Sherman eliminated the defending WSOP Circuit Main Event champ Sasha Sabbaghian in the High Roller.
You can check out Ryan Lucchesi’s recap of the Main Event, and his interview with Lipkin, right here.
This was the third WSOP Circuit series held at Graton, and the 18 ring events set a new all-time record for total entries for the property on the edge of Sonoma County’s famed Wine Country.
Additional ring winners included Mario Lopez taking down the opening $250,000 Guarantee $400 Mystery Bounty; Travis Fujisaka earning the ring in the two-day $1,125; MJ Han and Angela Liu garnering two rings for women in a $400 NLH and the Ladies Event; Adam Nattress – Big O; Greg Peddicord –Monster Stack; Danny DeFilippis – Big 30k Stack; Atar Barkai – Mega Stack; Gregg Rothberg – $400 Seniors; Tyler Willse – HORSE; Valentin Antione – Turbo; and Luis Mendoza in the house-special Great Ton of Chips.
Graton Resort & Casino and Graton Poker plays host May 1-12 to its latest RunGood Poker Series, with the WSOP Circuit returning in August. Our Poker Live Updates reporting team is going to be at both full series as the in-house media team for Graton Poker.
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
