WSOPC Pompano Beach: Local grinder crushes Main Event

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After three long starting flights and a brutal Day 2 session, eight players bagged up chips for the grand finale of the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Harrah's Pompano Beach Casino in Florida.

When those eight players returned on Monday, all of them had the same goal in mind — to claim a WSOPC Main Event ring by day's end. However, when play got underway, one player was a mathematical favorite to be the last man standing based on chip stacks, and now, that man stands alone.

Cohen closes the deal

The win gave Ian Cohen a new high score and a ring on his home turf.

Ian Cohen was comfortable when he walked into the Harrah's Pompano tournament room today. Why? Well, holding the chip lead helped, but more than anything, he felt at home.

That's because he is home. Cohen has grinded cash games and tournaments at Pompano Beach Casino for years.

After navigating his way through the final table masterfully to get himself into heads-up play with about a 6:1 chip lead against Josh Hillock, that comfort level was on full display as he ground Hillock down to just two blinds before putting the final nail in the coffin in Hillock's tournament run.

For his part, Hillock, a local business owner and "retired" professional poker player, easily held court as the jester of the table, keeping the good spirits, laughs, and conversations going on his way to a score that surpassed his previous career live high and moved him over the $1,000,000 in live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob.

Josh Hillock couldn't stop Ian Cohen's run through the final table.

The best of the rest

Anatoly Nikitin was putting a run together late but blinded down a bit before he jammed the small blind and ran into the queens of Cohen in the big blind. The third-place finish was good for a new career-high live score to add to his over $500,000 in live earnings. Robert LeBeau fell in fourth when his queen-nine couldn't beat Cohen's ace-queen. 

Anatoly Nikitin added to over 500K in lifetime earnings with a third-place finish.

Omar Sader

The fifth spot belonged to Steve Karp after he jammed middle pair after the flop against Nikitin. Nikitin called with top pair and held on to send Karp up the river. Jose Chapui finished sixth and Jack Nathan finished seventh, while James Carroll was the first go to from Monday's final eight. 

WSOP Circuit Pompano Beach final table results