Curtis King Wins Cherokee Main Event for $363,703
The Charleston player turned a final-day chip lead into his first WSOP Circuit ring at Harrah’s Cherokee.
Curtis King won the WSOP Circuit Cherokee Main Event at Harrah’s Cherokee for $363,703 and his first career Circuit ring after beating Toby Boas heads-up.
As reported earlier in the week, King came into the final day with the chip lead after the event was down to its final 11 players. The $1,700 no-limit hold’em tournament drew 1,681 entries across two starting flights and paid 247 players.
King and Boas quickly separated from the rest of the field, with both holding far more chips than anyone else at the table. Boas first pulled ahead after eliminating Scott Gronroos in seventh place, then King answered by taking back the lead when Andrew Kelsall ran a flopped set of eights into King’s turned flush.
Boas widened the gap again by knocking out Donta Moss in fifth, but King stayed in range by sending Kataka Eaton out in fourth. Ryan D’Angelo then doubled through King to set up the final duel, and King later eliminated D’Angelo after D’Angelo spiked two pair against him and King found a river four to stay alive.
The last hand finished with King open-shoving on a 9♠7♥4♥6♠ board. Boas called with 5♦4♦, but King’s pocket eights held when the K♦ hit the river.
Reports differed on the exact prize-pool figure. The official WSOP recap said the event started with a $2 million guarantee and generated $2,307,380, while Card Player and Spadepoker put the total prize pool at $2,546,715. WVNews identified King as being from Charleston, West Virginia, and said the Cherokeee stop ran from Aug. 6-17 across 18 ring events with $8,698,110 distributed in prize money overall.
The win was King’s biggest career cash, and Poker.org said it pushed his lifetime tournament earnings past $1 million on HendonMob.
