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The third and final day of the World Series of Poker Circuit $1,700 Main Event 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, but that distinction belongs to Florian Pesce after a chaotic penultimate day and a dominating final table run.
The event was a massive one, bringing in 1,710 entries, and the final 18 players weathered a dramatic Day 2 where a mid-day table flipper bringing the tournament to a pause with 65 players left. A heroic response from tournament organizers had the event back on track after two hours of work and play continued until the final two tables bagged for Day 3.
From the mean streets of middle school
The poker journey for Pesce to this point in his life is a cool trajectory, from learning to play bridge and other card games with his grandparents to 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 earnings 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.
Pesce rolls to the end
The final table was no easy task, either, making this victory even more sweet. Players like Mike Hunsucker, Matthew Davis, and Jarrett Mullins were all there 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 near six-to-one 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 the short stack of Mullins 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.
WSOP Circuit Cherokee final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florian 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 David | $30,808 |
| 10 | Dylan Kahn | $24,212 |
