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Brian Altman – Photo Credit: WSOP Circuit
Brian Altman won the World Series of Poker Circuit main event on Feb. 27 at the Harrah’s Casino in Cherokee, North Carolina. The poker professional originally from Longmeadow, Massachusetts defeated a large field to take home the top prize worth $393,753 and fourth WSOP Circuit ring.
The former World Poker Tour Player of the Year added to his long poker resume with the victory that includes three WPT titles, and a WSOP gold bracelet. His career earnings are now up to $7,760,182.
Altman was awarded 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points to put him in the top 40 in the current POY standings with 1,200 points. Altman has made some strong showings in the POY race in recent years, he finished in 12th place in 2021, and 11th place in 2020.
The $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament had a prize pool worth $2,356,299 thanks to three starting flights that attracted a total of 1,703 entries. The top 171 players all cashed for at least $3,488 in prize money.
There were just 171 that returned for the second day of the tournament, and the field played down to 15 before the final day of the tournament on Monday. It took a little less than four hours of play to reach the final table when play resumed.
Despite not taking out any of the first four players to fall at the final table, Altman held the chip lead with 13.2 million at the start of five-handed play. Altman scored his first knockout when he busted Kyle Cartwright in fifth place to increases his stack to 17.7 million. Ronald Sewell then took out the next two players to secure a chip lead of 28,050,000 at the start of heads-up play against the 22,850,000 held by Altman.
Altman took the lead back about ten minutes later, but Sewell found a double up to survive with pocket kings and eventually held the advantage in chips once again. Altman then fought his way back to the top, and the next time Sewell moved all in brought the tournament to a close.
Sewell was all in preflop for 8 million with K
8
, and Altman had him covered holding A4
. The board was dealt A
722Q, and Sewell was eliminated in second place, good for $242,121 for his deep run in the tournament. The local player from Shelby, North Carolina and former WSOP Circuit ring winner scored the largest cash of his poker career.
“I love playing circuit events. I would consider myself a main event player, and I really enjoy playing against all different kinds of player types. Trying to figure out how they play, and that’s what I really like about this type of player pool at the WSOP Circuits,” said Altman to the WSOP Circuit reporters after the win. He continued, “I really love this stop because the casino is in the middle of the Smoky Mountains, it’s absolutely beautiful here and there’s great hiking that’s very accessible.”
A few other notables with deep runs in the star-studded event included Russell Sullivan (14th), Tommy Vu (15h), Jeremy Eyer (24th), Alex Rocha (70th), Thad McNulty (80th), John Bowman (86th), Joshua Dean (102nd), David Somers (108th), Jared Ingles (110th), Keven Stammen (119th), Carlos Loving (134th), Donnie Phan (135th), Brett Bader (148th), Laura Born (150th), Vincent Moscati (157th), and Jeremy Joseph (165th).
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Brian Altman | $393,753 | 1,080 |
| 2 | Ronald Sewell | $242,121 | 900 |
| 3 | Leo Taffe | $182,603 | 720 |
| 4 | Charles He | $138,936 | 540 |
| 5 | Kyle Cartwright | $105,656 | 450 |
| 6 | Ashraf Chehata | $82,614 | 360 |
| 7 | Shouyi Gao | $64,575 | 270 |
| 8 | Heath Claxton | $50,938 | 180 |
| 9 | Warren Sheaves | $40,553 | 90 |
The next WSOP Circuit event is already taking place at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana near Chicago, and it runs until Mar. 6. The $1,700 buy-in main event begins on Friday, Mar. 3. You can see the full schedule for the tournament series right here.
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