WSOP-C Cherokee

David Dowdy - Event #18 Champion

When Event #18: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Double Stack at Harrah's Cherokee began, the players that made up the 468 entries it brought in knew that by night's end, someone would be in a room full of empty tables and stacked chairs.

Tonight, after 21 years in the game chasing a piece of WSOP hardware, David Dowdy sits behind the last stack of chips in the tournament as the winner of his first career circuit ring!

Dowdy is no stranger to the WSOP. He's got cashes dating back to 2009 and six final tables on his resume, but the hardware had always eluded him, including in a 2022 bracelet event where he fell just one spot shy of glory.

This one is perhaps extra special after getting heads up with the lead and losing a couple all-ins from ahead for the ring, cutting him all the way down to five big blinds. Preston McEwen was on the rail for Dowdy for the win and he came in handy as he Dowdy credited him with helping him not tilt when he lost those all-ins to be left with dust.

With McEwen on the rail down the stretch, Dowdy rallied back, retook the lead and got the rest of the chips in the middle holding a dominating hand that held up this time, locking the victory up for Dowdy who wore the relief and joy of the win all over his face.

Dowdy mentioned how good it felt to "finally get the monkey off his back" as he sat for pictures with his new piece of jewelry and, of course, Preston.

For his win, David takes home the ring, the 2025 WSOP Tournament of Champions seat and $29,268.

Final Table Payouts:

• 1. David Dowdy - $29,268
• 2. Daniel Martin - $19,519
• 3. Kenneth Stuart - $13,552
• 4. Jerry Robinson - $9,597
• 5. Cuba Levenberry - $6,935
• 6. John Korsedal - $5,116
• 7. Carlos Barbosa - $3,854
• 8. Michael Mestey - $2,966
• 9. Timothy Bishop - $2,334
• 10. Richard Fowlkes - $1,878

Congratulations to David Dowdy on his break through WSOP Circuit victory!

Florian Pesce had a roller coaster🎢 of a ride to claiming his FIRST RING 💍 and the 4th LARGEST amount taken home (💰$368,380💰) from a WSOPC Cherokee MAIN EVENT !! He talks about where he started in France 🇫🇷 to where he is now! 🥳 

Florian Pesce - Main Event Champion

The third and final day of Event #12: $1,700 Main Event here at Harrah's Cherokee began with 18 players, all hopeful that by the end of the night, they'd be sitting behind every chip in the room and tonight, that distinction belongs to Florian Pesce.

The event was a massive one, bringing in 1,710 entries, so making it down to the final day to battle it out with 17 other players is a huge accomplishment all by itself, but being the one to seal the deal was clearly a huge moment for Pesce.

His poker journey to this point in his life is a pretty cool trajectory, from learning to play bridge and other card games with his grandparents leading to him playing $0.03/$0.06 online in middle school.

His path through poker as an adult has been a fun one, too. Up until today, Pesce had lifetime live earning of $318,000 with no first-place finishes or six-figure scores on his resume but with the fall of the final card, he locked up his first outright victory, his first six-figure cash and he more than doubled his lifetime earnings in one shot; the proverbial three birds with one stone.

In fact, in this very event on Day 1, Pesce lost a massive all in pot midway through the day and was left with just 4,000 in chips and still managed to somehow storm back from 1/10th of a starting stack to owning every single chip in the tournament.

Main Event Final Table

The final table was no easy task, either, making this victory even more sweet. Players like Mike Hunsucker, Matthew Davis Jarrett Mullins were all present and trying to throw blocks up in Pesce's path to victory, but in the end, solid play and the guts to do what felt right in every situation carried Pesce through to victory lane.

The aforementioned Mullins ended up being Pesce's final opponent and while the battle was somewhat one-sided due to heads-up play starting with Pesce holding a 5.5:1 chip lead, Mullins did drag some pots and make some impressive river calls to try and keep pace with Pesce in the battle that spanned about 30 minutes.

On the final hand, Pesce jammed from the button into Mullins short stack only to see Mullins call it off with ace high, beating the queen high of Pesce. That didn't last long, though, as a queen hit the river like a lightning bolt, sending Mullins to the rail and securing the victory for Pesce.

For his win, Florian will take home the WSOP Circuit Main Event ring, a seat to the 2025 WSOP Tournament of Champions and the massive $368,380!

Congratulations to Florian Pesce on winning the second largest field WSOP Circuit Main Event is history!

Final Table Payouts:

• 1. Forian Pesce - $368,380
• 2 Jarrett Mullins - $245,597
• 3. Patrick Plott - $175,337
• 4. Taylor Hart - $126,837
• 5. Jason Brauda - $92,985
• 6. Danny Clarkson - $69,097
• 7. Mike Hunsucker - $52,055
• 8. Cody Copenhaver - $39,765
• 9. Matthew Davis - $30,808
• 10. Dylan Kahn - $24,212

Jarrett Mullins - 2nd Place

Florian Pesce jammed from the button and Jarrett Mullins snap-called for his tournament life to send the last two remaining players to a runout.

• Jarrett Mullins:
• Florian Pesce:

The flop came a very safe [2][] for Mullins and the turn changed nothing, but when the jumped out on the river, that was all she wrote for Mullins who makes his exit with a runner-up finish for $245,597.

• Florian Pesce - 68,400,000
• Jarrett Mullins - Eliminated

Winner's recap is soon to follow.