With almost 400 players putting up the $1.7k to contest the WSOP Circuit Tunica Main Event, there was $127,307 up top to be won. And when the dust cleared it was Tennessee’s Klint Griffin who emerged with the win, the cash and the circuit ring.
To do so Griffin had to first navigate that 395-strong field, spending two days working his way up the chip counts until the final day’s play began. Of the six players who survived to Day 3, four had previous WSOP cashes, including two circuit rings. Trace Henderson, who ended Day 1 as chip leader, had even won this very event last year.
In the end, though, tourney experience would only go so far; Klint Griffin may not have had the most extensive tournament resume, but he ended up with all the chips.
The 2023 winner of this event, Trace HendersonA controlled performance
Griffin began the final day as the fourth largest stack, but became the chip leader pretty quickly in the day and was able to control the table through to his victory.
The action started with a bang, as short stack Phuong Nguyen found a one-outer on the river to stay alive. That one-outer ended up meaning a ladder up for him as Drew Dunaway became the first player to go in 6th place for his biggest poker cash on the occasion of his 30th birthday.
Nguyen would then bow out in fifth place, as his luck ran out when what looked like a likely chop ended with his elimination to end his day.
Phuong Nguyen experienced both kinds of luck in quick successionLast year’s winner Trace Henderson followed in fourth, after initially taking the lead in four-handed play. Unfortunately for him, a poor run of cards saw him quickly drop down to the short stack, before he lost a big flip holding 
against Griffin’s 
when the board brought a king, an ace and no seven.
Learning from past mistakes
That left three players: Griffin, Billy Dickerson and Brazil’s Lucian Camargo - a circuit ring winner in Pompano Beach. Dickerson, like Griffin, had little to no previous tournament results to speak of.
Billy Dickerson bagged his biggest-ever score with his third-place finishAnd like Griffin, Dickerson would end the day richer than he started it, though he would go out in third when the two got it all-in pre-flop each holding a low pocket pair. Dickerson had 
, Griffin had 
, the board brought no help and Dickerson walked away with $55k.
That put Griffin at a significant chip advantage of around 12.4m to 3.4m, and he kept up the pressure on his Brazilian opponent. Eventually Camargo found a hand worth shoving - 
- and Griffin found a hand worth calling with - 
.
Flop: 
Turn:
River:
And with that, Klint Griffin claimed the win, Camargo booking a $76k payday for his runner-up finish.
Brazil's Lucian Camargo: close, but no cigar"I played cash games for a living 20 years ago but I walked away,” Griffin said after his win, ”I didn't play any tournaments again at all until last fall and then did three circuit mains, made day two in each but made mistakes. This time I just thought about all the mistakes I made and tried not to make those again."
Seems to have worked. Griffin banked $127k for his win - comfortably his biggest ever score.
WSOPC Tunica 2024 Champion Klint GriffinWSOP Circuit Tunica Main Event: final results
| Position | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Klint Griffin | $127,307 |
| 2 | Lucian Camargo | $76,678 |
| 3 | Billy Dickerson | $55,792 |
| 4 | Trace Henderson | $40,272 |
| 5 | Phuong Nguyen | $29,600 |
| 6 | Drew Dunaway | $22,160 |
| 7 | Daniel Kusnerak | $16,904 |
| 8 | Thomas Tackett | $13,144 |
| 9 | Eric Sutton | $10,421 |
