Alex Aqel Wins WSOPC Potawatomi for $208,184

The 2017 World Series of Poker Circuit Potawatomi was held at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, with its $1,675 Main Event attracting 677 players to create a prize pool worth $1,015,500. At the end of Day 2, however, it was Alex Aqel who managed to triumph over the field to capture a gold ring, as well as the tournament’s top prize of $208,184.
In November of 2016, Aqel took down the $1,100 MSPT Milwaukee for $138,385, and following another winning performance which now pushes his career earnings to $402,865, the 32-year-old Chicago resident stated:
“Playing for that amount of money is a lot easier because I just recently had a big score myself. It was more that I just wanted to win a WSOP Circuit main event. That was huge for me.”
The WSOPC Potawatomi paid out 71 money places, and amongst the recognizable pros seeing a return on their buy-ins was Dr. Andy Philachack in 50th ($3,392), Nick Jivkov in 49th ($3,392), Allen Kessler in 40th ($3,757), and Chris Karambinis in 14th ($12,745).
When just eight players remained, Alex Aqel was the second biggest stack still in contention, and he subsequently managed to win key hands holding A-J to an opponent’s pocket sevens, and then pocket sevens against an opponent’s A-6 to ultimately help him to progress all the way through to heads-up play where he faced Chad Wiedenhoeft for the title.
During the intense final battle, Aqel managed to move into a 3 to 1 chip lead when the deciding hand was then played with Aqel (Kh-10c) check-raising all-in on a Ks-Jd-9h-Kd-3d board. After deliberating a while, Wiedenhoeft (Js-7h) made the call holding one pair, and upon seeing the bad news he had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $128,816, while Alex Aqel was crowned the champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Alex Aqel $208,184
2: Chad Wiedenhoeft $128,816
3: James Gregg $94,482
4: Denise Pratt $70,262
5: Garrett Riley $52,958
6: Nicholas Pupillo $40,447
7: Nikolas Stone $31,298
8: Joshua Reichard $25,534
9: Bradley Jansen $19,477