WSOP-C Grand Victoria

See you next time!

After twelve days of coverage of the WSOPC in Elgin, a total of 18 rings were crowned with 15 of those winners being first time winners on the circuit. Millions of dollars were given away to players, who traveled far and wide to this prestigious event at the wonderful Grand Victoria Casino. 

It is time for Poker.Org to say farewell Illinois! We'll see you again next time. 

Be sure to check back in on the site for the coverage of the WSOPC at all of the stops, with the Horseshoe in Tunica, Mississippi being the next destination on the docket. 

Michael Muntean

Today was the final chance for players in the Midwest to take home a WSOPC ring. Event #18: $400 Closer was a field filled with those hunting to add more to an already great series, or chop losses on a losing series. 364 entrants came out to generate a prize pool worth $120,120 with a gold ring to play for. 

Last series in November it was Christopher Thiel who took home his first ring, and this time around Thiel ended his run in this event as runner-up while tech-salesman Michael Muntean took up the mantle as the newest closer champion. 

When asked about whether the money or ring meant more to him, Muntean gave his honest answer. 

"The money is worth to me, it will solve a lot of problems." 

During the final table, there was a key hand that stuck out in Muntean's head as far as the turning points of the tournament. 

"Most of these guys are a lot better than me. In the big hand with Edwin, I was just trying to remain calm and try not to give away too much of a tell as to me having aces. I figured when he raised he definitely had something and thankfully all the money went in and my aces held against queens to take 80% of the chips in play. When the two big stacks get all of the money in four-handed, I just knew it was going to be my tournament at that point because I had all of the chips." 

With cashes dating back around 10 years, Muntean broke down his experience with poker which now mostly consists of tournaments. 

"I don't play cash as much as I used to. I have been playing the dailies here at Elgin for the last year and a half. I used to play HPTs and Circuit event dating a while back, but I kind of fell out of it. Once they started doing dailies here a few years ago, I started to pick it up again. I've done ok and made a little bit of money, but this is very exciting. The $24k, the ring and the tournament of champions seat." 

As excited as he is to have received a seat, Muntean will need to take a look at his work schedule to see if he can make it to the tournament of champions. 

"Some of the guys here I know do not work, but I am one of the guys that plays more recreationally. Not much is going to change as far as my playing schedule in the future. I'll play this stop, Hammond, and the MSPT up in Wisconsin. Beyond that, nothing too much is going to change. I'll still focus on the dailies here and try to rack up cash here." 

With that, Muntean took his payout ticket to the cage and cashed out for his new high score. 

Final Table Results

1. Michael Muntean - $24,405
2. Christopher Thiel - $16,270
3. Bhanuchandar Sadineni - $11,289
4. Edwin Pava - $7,993
5. Homi Syodia - $5,776
6. David Luttrell - $4,263
7. Kevin Fry - $3,214
8. Michael Mieszala - $2,477
9. Dustin Ethridge - $1,953
10. Niko Stevens - $1,575

Sandra McTernan

For the first time in Grand Victoria Casino's history, the Grand Master tournament occurred. No other event this series received more entrants in a single flight than Event #15: $400 Grand Master 40/40/40 tournament as 614 players came out to chase the ring in this exclusive field. Only ten players survived to return to play at the beginning of the day and after four hours of play, just one player remained to claim the title. 

It was Sandra McTernan who ended up taking down the title and beating 3-time WSOPC champion Ken Baime heads up for her very first ring. She takes home the title as well as a new career best score of $35,693. Moments after the win she spoke about her initial thoughts. 

"The win means more to me," she said candidly when talking about prize. "The $35.6k is nice, but it's the win. It's getting through the whole thing. I do don't do this a lot, so being able to play through a field with players who play WSOPC events a lot more consistently, and being able to play heads up against Ken was awesome." 

One thing that McTernan said was ever present in the tournament was the fun and friendly atmosphere. 

"I didn't just enjoy the final table, I enjoyed the whole field. The personalities at each table I was moved too. Everyone was very happy to be playing, which isn't always the case in tournaments." 

As long as the hours were, it did not phase McTernan as far as her play was concerned. "I didn't feel tired after yesterday. I got the same amount of sleep as I normally do. 

She broke down some of the initial strategy she uses at the table and broke down here assessment of the best way to approach the game. 

"When I get to new tables I watch very closely how everyone acts as far as their aggression and passivity. That's a big chunk of my game because I believe that personalities have a lot to do with poker. It isn't just math and statistics." 

McTernan is a recreational poker player and she doesn't have any plans to change that, but she may make one trip in the near future in regards to poker. 

"I've entered other events, but I don't go to the other circuit events. I am an amateur and I play for fun. I usually don't travel for poker. I honestly didn't think that this was something I was going to have to think about, but we will see if I can make it out there to Commerce. I'll definitely still play tournaments here at GVC, but I do it for fun and I don't want to do it to take away the fun of it. So I'll be back here in November and maybe we will see about LA." 

With that McTernan collected her ring, her payout, and exited the tournament area. 

Final Table Results

1. Sandra McTernan - $35,693
2. Ken Baime - $23,804
3. Wakim Bryant - $16,794
4. Eric Hwang - $12,047
5. Joe Chang - $8,789
6. James Karamanis - $6,523
7. Christopher Clark - $4,927
8. Roger Lewis - $3,789
9. Bala Iyer - $2,966
10. Dimitrios Diamantopoulous - $2,366

Stay tuned to Poker.Org for more of today's recaps. 

Arnestas Armonas

Event #16: $600 Play to Six finished up first of the four events completing today. 82 of Chicagoland poker's best and brightest came out to generate a prize pool of $42,230, to be divided up between the lucky 13. The 12 rings at the final table exceeded the total of every other final table at Elgin this stop. Only six players returned today at 1:00 PM to add an additional 13th ring to the bunch. 

Going from the chip lead at the beginning of the day, to the ring by the end of the tournament was Burr Ridge's own Arnestas Armonas. After a couple of close calls and deep runs here and in Elgin, he finally conquered the WSOPC ring. Initially discovering tournaments after a cash game session, Armonas broke down what he sees as the main draw of tournaments over the other poker form. 

"I have played cards all of my life but I only just started playing tournaments recently. When I first found out about the tournaments, I understood it. Cash game is just a fist fight, playing with the same regs. With tournaments there is more in it. The progression of levels, the bubble, payjumps, for me it is something way more interesting when there is somewhere to go and in the case of tournaments it's to the top. Cash is grinding, tournaments are competition."

Armonas talked a little bit about how he approached the tournament today holding the chip lead. 

"I play aggressive. I first showed my ace-king at the table, then I bluffed a lot of pots afterwards without having hands. The most important part is to see how many chips you have. I had the advantage as the chip leader, and I used it to get as many pots as I could." 

The pressure of tournaments does not get to Armonas, who has gotten used to and even enjoys the high pressure situations. 

"For me, 1 on 1 under pressure is my kind of thing. This was my field."

"My first ring is for my wife," Armonas said with a smile on his face, "she let me play it. I am out a lot working and then playing and she let me do what I love to do. With work and businesses there really is not much passion there, but with this game there is real love." 

With this win Armonas secures himself a seat to the 2025 WSOPC tournament of champions, something he is very happy to do and fly out to. After this, he collected his payout and hopped right into the final tournament of the series. 

Day 2 Results

1. Arnestas Armonas - $11,966
2. Daniel Meyers - $7,669
3. Anthony Kastelic - $5,129
4. Benjamin Krauss - $3,588
5. Natan Lidukhover - $2,630
6. Kamalashasan Kalyanasundaram - $2,024

Stay tuned to Poker.Org for all recaps of the events.