Just two weeks ago at the WSOPC Baltimore, Carter McMahon won his first Circuit Ring in the $400 PLO8 event. Two weeks later, McMahon found himself in the biggest tournament spot of his life, here at the final table of the Main Event at the WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Pompano Beach.
McMahon made the most of his first Circuit Main Event final table appearance, nearly going wire-to-wire to win a career-best score of $212,703 and his second Circuit Ring.
“I don’t really have many words right now, to be honest with you” McMahon said following the win. “It’s all coming so fast. I just won my first ring two weeks ago. To get here, this is a lot more money than the first ring, and it felt like a lot more pressure. Feels like I haven’t eaten in two days. It’s been fun, though.”
The breakthrough
McMahon’s first recorded tournament cash in 2022 was fairly recent, and McMahon mentioned putting in a lot of time mastering the game a few years prior during the pandemic, a decision that clearly paid off today.
“I started playing during COVID. We were kind of locked in the house, and I told myself, 'Let’s just get really good at something while you have all this time.' So, I devoted myself to getting really good at this game. I hadn’t really seen the results I’ve been looking for. This feels like it was a long time coming. I definitely feel like I’ve put in my 10,000 hours into this game. Way over that, by now. I feel like this is the start of something big.”
McMahon came into the final table with a dominant chip lead, holding nearly 40% of the chips in play. McMahon spoke of being prepared for such a high-pressure spot.
“There’s always pressure coming in with a big lead. Everyone thinks you should just win it because you have all the chips. To start off, I lost a big hand early where I was way ahead. I knew it was gonna be a battle all day. You just gotta stay in it the whole time, you can’t give up at any point.”
Hawkins a hard target
McMahon met adversity early in the day, doubling up all-time ring leader Maurice Hawkins twice, shortly after the eliminations of Matthew Yorra and Romeo Mendoza in sixth and fifth place, respectively. The second double-up saw Hawkins briefly take the lead from McMahon, but McMahon was able to quickly battle back, winning two big pots off of Hawkins, the second of which saw Hawkins incorrectly hero-call with third pair.
“Everyone in there was tough” McMahon said of his final table opposition. “Everyone knew what they were doing, and everyone played well. I feel like I could battle with everyone there. Even Maurice, Maurice is a great player, but I was never nervous or scared to play against him.”
Hawkins had to settle for fourth place shortly after his ill-timed hero call against McMahon, getting his chips in with ace-ten preflop soon after and falling to Jeffrey Gale’s ace-jack. Gale himself was out next, after four-bet shoving with queen-nine suited at the wrong time and running into McMahon’s ace-king. Following that hand, McMahon entered heads-up play with over a 7:1 chip advantage against Ricardo Eyzaguirre.
Eyzaguirre wasn’t going down without a fight, and he quickly doubled up twice through McMahon to nearly pull even in chips. The final hand of the night saw Eyzaguirre flop two pair on a nine-high board, while McMahon flopped an open-ended straight draw. The straight came in on the turn and all the chips got in the middle, with McMahon’s straight remaining best on the river for him to win the final hand of the tournament.
2025 WSOP Pompano Main Event final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carter McMahon | $212,703 |
| 2 | Ricardo Eyzaguirre | $141,777 |
| 3 | Jeffrey Gale | $97,967 |
| 4 | Maurice Hawkins | $68,952 |
| 5 | Romeo Mendoza | $49,449 |
| 6 | Matthew Yorra | $36,146 |
| 7 | Stewart Yancik | $26,942 |
| 8 | Anthony Ruttler | $20,484 |
| 9 | Joshua Gibson | $15,983 |
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