WSOP-C Graton

Jarod Minghini takes home sixth ring in Event #16

On Sunday night, Jarod Minghini got the call that one of the biggest buy-in events of the series was facing a serious overlay, and in an effort to help out his hometown card room, he decided to jump in the action; his first tournament back since his eighth-place finish ($1,250,000) at this year's WSOP Main Event. 

"I'm friends with all the people who run these things around here, so I decided to jump in. Then I started getting chips and said to myself, well, now we have to win," said Minghini.

Win is exactly what Minghini did. He maneuvered a final table that included WSOP-C ring record holder Ari Engel (his third final table of the series), up-and-coming crusher Peter Thao, and eclectic Bay Area mainstay Rayo Kniep, to defeat Abhishek Rajagopal heads-up and take down Event #16: $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em.

Minghini collects the $27,737 first-place prize, his sixth WSOP-C ring, entry into the Dec. 4 $5 Million Guarantee WSOP Circuit Championship $2,750 Mystery Bounty at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, and a hotel package offered at Atlantis, Bahamas. 

Minghini mentions a key spot came when he joined the same table as Kniep.

"When I got to the table with Rayo (Kniep), he gave me all his chips, so that was a pretty key spot for me," laughed Minghini, adding, "Thanks, Rayo!"

Minghini took a bulk of the $100,000 prize pool, but his road to the victory was not a straight line, as is the case in most tournaments.

"I lost a huge pot to Ari (Engel) with 12 people left and was down to 2.5 big blinds. Then, in three consecutive hands, I doubled with pocket fives, doubled again with ace-king against ace-queen, then defended the big blind with jack-ten and doubled on a ten-high flop."

The spin-up led Minghini to the final table with middle-of-the-pack chips, but a hand with Engel helped clear his path to victory.

"I sucked out on Ari. He was short-stacked when I sucked out on him, but he was beating the sh** out of me in props, I was down like $1,900 to him in props, so I had to get him out of there and beat his ace-queen with ace-deuce, Minghini said with a laugh.

"Then, three-handed went pretty smoothly from there, and I was able to close it out."

Event #16 final table results:

1. Jarod Minghini - $27,737
2. Abhishek Rajagopal - $18,052
3. Arthur Tanimoto - $12,187
4. Ari Engel - $8,546
5. Fan You - $6,234
6. Peter Thao - $4,739
7. Steven Stockman - $3,759
8. James Robertson - $3,119
9. Daniel Dong - $2,712

The full tournament results can be found here

Join PokerOrg throughout the series for live wall-to-wall coverage until the final rings are awarded on Monday, August 25. 

Victor Parades captures his third ring in the closer

On Monday night, Victor Parades defeated "Super" Mario Lopez heads-up to take down Event #18: $400 The Bay Area Closer No-Limit Hold'em.

Parades reigned supreme over a stacked final table that included multiple ring winners to collect the $18,133 first-place prize, his third WSOP-C ring, entry into the Dec. 4 $5 Million Guarantee WSOP Circuit Championship $2,750 Mystery Bounty at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, and a hotel package offered at Atlantis, Bahamas. 

The final event of the series drew a total of 109 entries to create a prize pool worth $35,970, and the final 17 players all earned a piece of it.

Here's how the final table broke down - 

Event #15 final table results:

1. Victor Parades - $9,422
2. Mario Lopez - $6,083
3. Nolan Kido - $4,082
4. Kim Jardin - $2,851
5. Michael Clifford - $2,077
6. Vansh Dhingra - $1,580
7. Aaron Knight - $1,258
8. Thomas Sherman - $1,051
9. Jane Bahk - $924

The full tournament results can be found here

Join PokerOrg throughout the series for live wall-to-wall coverage until the final rings are awarded on Monday, August 25. 

Stefan Clemens collects biggest career cash and first ring after taking down Graton Main Event

Just nine hopefuls from a starting field of 520 returned to The Graton Event Center at Graton Resort & Casino today, and a little over six hours later, Stefan Clemens emerged as the champion of Event #13: $1,700 Main Event No-Limit Hold'em. 

Clemens' first career tournament victory comes with the $151,543 first-place prize (more than five times his total Hendon Mob earnings), a prestigious WSOP-C Ring, entry into the Dec. 4 $5 Million Guarantee WSOP Circuit Championship $2,750 Mystery Bounty at WSOP Paradise in the Bahamas, and a hotel package offered at Atlantis, Bahamas. 

Clemens is a local business owner and youth soccer coach who came from an athletic background, and says that same competitive spirit is what drives him to compete in big poker tournaments.

"I try to tell people, it's not a lot of cardio or running around, but the intellectual mind games and strategy really test you," Clemens said.

Adding, "I love physical sports, but I'm 39 now, and as I get older, I'm enjoying competing more in the mental aspect of things."

Clemens' first recorded tournament cash was in 2017, and due to his home life and schedule, he carefully picks and chooses what events he plays. 

He mentions that when he was younger, he may not have had the mental discipline to avoid playing recklessly or above his bankroll, but now says that with maturity, he's able to approach the game more wisely.

"I was actually planning to play the WSOP Main Event this year, but decided at the last minute that it wouldn't be a good decision for my bankroll," Clemens said. 

"But I'm definitely playing next year," he said with a laugh.

There were a lot of "firsts" for Clemens in this tournament. His first final table, his first win, and his first ring. He reflected on what he learned form this experience and what a win like this means to him - 

"It's pretty surreal, on Friday night, after making Day 2, I dreamt about the good hands. It's such a fun game to play."

Clemens added, "I told myself to stay patient and play tight. I had some swings on Day 2, but then I made the final table, and it was the same thing on Sunday. 'Holy crap! First final table.' So I just took it one step at a time. On the outside, I tried to stay calm, but the whole time I was super excited and giddy on the inside."

"I've played other tournaments and I've done ok, but I learned a lot from this final table in terms of how other people play these spots, their bet sizes, their timing tells, and also playing short handed was a great experience."

Jonathan Warta

Clemens defeated Jon Warta heads-up to take a bulk of the $787,800 prize pool, but points to a hand that he played early on at the final table (some would call the hand of the tournament) against the chip leader coming into the day, Abhishek Paliwal. 

Paliwal shoved the river with a flush and ran into Clemens' full house, making Clemens the overwhelming chip leader, and taking Paliwal from the top of the counts to a ninth-place finish.

Clemens would play another big hand against high stakes regular, and 2024 GPI Award nominee for Breakout Player, Noel Rodriguez, ultimately sending Rodriguez to the rail in fourth-place for $50,198. 

The full board read and Clemens barelled two streets, then shoved the river. Rodriguez called it off with , but ran into the pocket kings of Clemens.

Noel Rodriguez

The ultimate ladder-er, Norman Yeung bowed out in third place for $71,351. Yeung proved hard to eliminate as he doubled multiple times throughout the final table to continue sticking around, but would find the exit after becoming short and running his ace-seven into Warta's kings.

Heads-up play between Clemens and Warta wouldn't last long, as Warta became short early on after Clemens rivered a(nother) boat against Warta's two pair. 

Clemens rivers full house against Warta a few hands into heads-up

The last hand saw Warta move all in from the button with pocket threes and Clemens call in the big blind with king-seven offsuit. Clemens flopped a king and faded Warta's backdoor outs to become the Graton Main Event champion.

Clemens with super-floor man Jordan Cutter

Main Event final table results:

1. Stefan Clemens - $151,543
2. Jon Warta - $103,315
3. Norman Yeung - $71,351
4. Noel Rodriguez - $50,198
5. Vishnu Chada - $35,990
6. Rineeth Raghu - $26,305
7. Timothy Boerum - $19,607
8. Michael McQuaid - $14,911
9. Abhishek Paliwal - $11,573

The full tournament results can be found here

Join PokerOrg throughout the series for live wall-to-wall coverage until the final rings are awarded on Monday, August 25.