William Kopp Wins Third Circuit Ring in WSOP Cherokee Main Event ($376,154)

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Cherokee stop in North Carolina wrapped up this week and saw William Kopp taking down the $1,700 buy-in Main Event for a career-best $376,154 and his fourth piece of WSOP hardware.

Kopp, who defeated heads-up opponent Brian Jones to deny the Kentucky resident his first Circuit ring, had two Circuit rings heading into the Main Event that drew 1,623 runners for a prize pool of $2,458,845. Not only that, Kopp won his first bracelet earlier in the summer at the 2023 WSOP when he took down Event #66: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better for $259,549.

Kopp, the brother of 2022 WSOP Casino Employees event champion Katie Kopp, proved his no-limit Hold’em chops by navigating a final table that included Texans Lam Nguyen (4th – $133,953) and Jorge Arriola (5th – $103,007) and Circuit crusher Preston McEwen, who finished third for $175,713 to be denied his sixth Circuit ring.

McEwen had a fantastic series that saw him making three final tables, first finishing seventh in Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold’em for $19,128 before besting that with a sixth-place finish in Event #8: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack for $23,102.

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Read About the WSOPC Choctaw Main Event!

WSOPC Cherokee Main Event Final Table Results

Kopp, who now has $764,447 in Hendon Mob earnings, won his first Circuit ring in 2014 at WSOPC Foxwoods resort when he took down a $580 buy-in event for $40,836 and his second Circuit ring in 2018 at Harrah’s Cherokee when he won Event #6: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha for $26,261.

According to live updates, Kopp entered heads-up play with the chip lead and maintained it up to the final hand where Jones moved all in with jack-five and Kopp called with pocket nines. A runout without a jack secured the victory for Kopp as Jones earned a career-best $232,481.

Mercer Wins Fourth Ring; Porbandarwala Wins Eighth Ring

Several players picked up their maiden Circuit rings during the WSOPC Cherokee stop, which consisted of over a dozen ring events across two weeks. Kelly Andrews kicked things off by winning Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – Big 30K Stack for $35,429 before Christopher Catone took down Event #2: $400 No-Limit Hold’em for $118,932.

Other first-time ring winners include Artur Winstone (Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $44,167), Alvin Wilson (Event #4: $400 Seniors Event – $50,979), Roy Parkhurst (Event #6: $400 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed – $44,510) and Larry Slater (Event #7: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $28,347).

One player who wasn’t after their first ring was Bradley Mercer, who had three rings before getting through a field of 371 runners in Event #5: $600 No-Limit Hold’em to win a fourth ring and $39,947. The North Carolinian went on to finish runner-up in Event #8: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – Monster Stack for $69,910 and also finished 23rd in the Main Event for $14,492.

Mercer wasn’t the only player to add to his ring collection. Soheb Porbandarwala closed out the Cherokee stop by taking down Event #19: $400 No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack Closer for $27,593 and his eighth Circuit ring.

Other ring winners at WSOPC Choctaw include James Naifeh (Event #14: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $32,822), Richard Scott (Event #15: $400 No-Limit Hold’em – $35,048) and Robert Gregory (Event #16: $250 Seniors Event – $34,047).

The WSOP Circuit team is also at Graton Resort & Casino in northern California this month and will head to Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa Aug. 16-27 for a stop that will include a $1,700 buy-in Main Event.

A full list of ring winners at WSOPC Cherokee is available in the table below.

WSOPC Cherokee Ring Winners

_{*Photos courtesy of WSOPC}