Before the concept of a WSOP Super Circuit stop existed, there was Cherokee.
Cherokee has been one of the biggest stops on the schedule since its first series in 2013, and it held all of the Main Event turnout records until Montreal's Playground came on the Circuit scene with its massive fields.
It still remains the top stop in the United States, and this week's Main Event was once again one of its biggest. This time, 1,681 players turned out, and that was good for the third-largest Main Event in Cherokee's history. The flagship tournament was also the biggest late-summer version, as the February edition historically draws a bigger crowd.
The final 11 players will return on Monday to play for the largest part of a prize pool that tipped over $2.5 million, and the winner will collect just over $363K. Let's meet the top five:
Can anyone catch the King?
Curtis King - 11.2M (112bb)
- Career earnings: $682,752
The chip leader has never won at Cherokee before, but he has come close. A second-place finish in a 2016 8-Max and a third-place finish in a 2023 6-Max are near the top of more than 100 Hendon Mob entries, and the Charleston, WV native has plenty of other late game experience at this venue.
King will need a fifth-place finish to beat his high score of $68K, so there is still some work to do, but a win would be more than half of a pile of career earnings that dates back to 2016. His first-ever cash? The aforementioned second-place finish. His second? A win at Hard Rock Tampa a few months later.
Ryan D'Angelo - 9.6M (96bb)
- Career earnings: $4,184,294
The highest-earning player on the final day has been doing this a very long time, with Hendon Mob entries that date all the way back to 2006. A third-place finish in a $2K bracelet event in 2008 juiced his bankroll, and his career-high score came a short time later at the 2010 PCA.
It's been a long and consistent road since then, including a 2-7 bracelet in 2016, and a win here at Cherokee in 2023. But there's a blank spot in the trophy case for a WSOP Circuit ring, and D'Angelo can fill it on Monday. He almost had one in February, but lost in heads-up play in the Double Stack Closer.
Toby Boas - 8.3M (77bb)
- Career earnings: $2,818,889
Toby Boas is the other poker millionaire on Cherokee's Day 3, and he's fresh off a second-place finish in the Grand Finale at the BetMGM Summer Poker Festival in Las Vegas, where he took $74K back to Gainesville, FL.
Boas has been in this spot before, and he really wants to improve on his fourth-place finish in this event in February. He has won a tournament at Cherokee before, but never a WSOP Circuit ring.
Scott Gronroos - 7.7M (77bb)
- Career earnings: $80,644
Scott Gronroos has been adding entries to his Hendon Mob since 2012, but he's never had a five-figure score until this Main Event. The Jacksonville, Florida native has grabbed small cashes all over Florida, Texas, and even the WSOP, but he has never made more than $6,455.
That is all changing very quickly, and Gronroos has already locked up $23K. He will lock up even more as the day goes on, provided he can stay among the top stacks.
Kataka Eaton - 7.5M (75bb)
- Career earnings: $14,881
Finishing up the top five is Kataka Eaton, the player with the fewest cashes among the leaders. Eaton has cashed five times since 2019, but they're all on the WSOP Circuit. Three of Eaton's five cashes have come at Cherokee, so the Douglasville, Georgia native is increasingly familiar with the layout.
His best, a second-place finish in Biloxi in 2019, is also his career-best cash of $6,945.
The rest of the field
The best of the rest is Donta Moss, followed by Wayne Harmon, and then a gap before Andrew Kelsall in the eighth spot on the leaderboard. Caio Sobral, Jeremy Eyer, and David Sathue round out the final 11.
- Donta Moss - 5.2M (51bb)
- Wayne Harmon - 5.1M (50bb)
- Andrew Kelsall - 3.4M (34bb)
- Caio Sobral - 3.3M (32bb)
- Jeremy Eyer - 3.3M (32bb)
- David Sathue 2.6M (25bb)
Remaining Payouts
- 1st - $363,703
- 2nd - $242,423
- 3rd - $172,763
- 4th - $124,782
- 5th - $91,361
- 6th - $67,820
- 7th - $51,053
- 8th - $38,980
- 9th - $30,194
- 10th-11th - $23,731
Players return at 12pm ET with blinds at 50K/100K/100K, and they will play down to a winner on Monday. Stay tuned to PokerOrg for live coverage from the floor from beginning to end.
