Francis Anderson has enjoyed the best year of his poker career over the last 12 months. After grinding on the live tournament circuit for the better part of two decades, Anderson won his first World Series of Poker bracelet last July at his fourth career WSOP final table, along with a first-place prize of over $500K.
Anderson also made his second career WPT final table at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood and settled into a healthy diet of local events in Las Vegas over the course of the year. He was down at Horseshoe Las Vegas for most of the World Series of Poker Circuit series that wrapped up on Tuesday night, but until the last event of the series and the final event — a $3,300 High Roller — it had been a real grind for Anderson.
"I just view every tournament as its own thing," said Anderson. "[But] I was having a really bad series. I min-cashed the main, but I bricked most of the stuff and I busted late in the night [on Day 1]. I woke up and I was like, 'OK, I'll fire one more bullet today.'"
It turned out to be a magic bullet for Anderson, who claimed his first career WSOP Circuit ring and $56,358 by winning the WSOPC High Roller outright. Anderson defeated Sam Laskowitz heads-up, a recently crowned first-time WSOPC winner in his own right.
Shannon Shorr picked up his first live WSOP win in the Main Event across the room. A victory a long time in the making
For all of his successes — over $3.6 million in live events all told according to The Hendon Mob — Anderson was thankful to have closed out this tournament after fighting to close out such events in the past and falling short.
"This is my first win in any high roller field in my life," said Anderson. "I've been playing a lot of PokerGO events, and it hasn't gone this well. This definitely boosts my confidence, and it feels great to win a high roller for once."
The ebbs and flows of the tournament on Tuesday were mostly kind to Anderson.
"It went pretty smooth at first, and the bubble went really well for me," said Anderson. "The final table, I was card dead for the first hour and a half, but then five-handed, things started to turn my way."
Anderson reached heads-up play and built up a tremendous lead over Laskowitz as the Circuit ring fell within his reach. Things got a little dicey when Laskowitz went 5-for-5 in a run of all-in pots, nearly pulling himself back within contention, but Anderson happily closed it out on the sixth try.
Road to a $1 million freeroll
With this win, Anderson punches his ticket to the WSOPC Tournament of Champions, set for May 15 at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, California.
It's a culmination and redemption of a long run of WSOP Circuit events that didn't go Anderson's way, and he's all too happy to have a shot in the $1 million freeroll.
"When I started my career, I did travel to play a bunch of Circuit events," said Anderson. "Now, I pretty much just play the ones in Thunder Valley or Vegas. But yeah, it feels great to finally get my first Circuit ring."
Looking ahead to the summer
That tournament will be part of a ramp-up into a busy summer for Anderson, as he chases a second WSOP bracelet and beyond. It may well be his first foray back out into the tournament world after a brief hiatus, as Anderson settles into a schedule that's been successful for him in recent years - ramp it up in April, and then rest in May.
"I actually have a fight to Florida scheduled in about an hour and a half, but I think I'm gonna wait for tomorrow," Anderson said. "In April, I usually play a fair amount of volume, then in May, the last two to three weeks before the WSOP, that's when I buckle down and get in the lab. Take a lot of time off from poker, because there's about seven weeks of a big grind ahead."
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