Dmitrii Perfilev Wins WSOPC Coconut Creek Main Event for $222,691

The WSOP Circuit took place at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek in Florida from September 13-24, with the 12 event series producing a number of notable winners, including the likes of 6-times WSOPC ring winner Martin Ryan, 2016 November Niner Jerry Wong, and professional poker dealer William Watson. Of course, the WSOP Circuit is also designed to appeal to amateur poker enthusiasts, and as it explains on the WSOP.com website:

“WSOP U.S. Circuit Events are designed to give the recreational and amateur player an opportunity to participate in the WSOP experience at a more affordable price point and with less of a time commitment than the traditional WSOP in Las Vegas.”

This was subsequently reflected in the number of recreational players walking away with coveted gold rings in the competition.

Dmitrii Perfilev Wins Main Event

On the face of it, Dmitrii Perfilev may have seemed one of them as prior to his victory in the WSOPC Coconut Creek $1,700 Main Event for $222,691 he had just one live cash to his name, which also occurred this year after finishing the Florida State Poker Championships $1,500 NLHE Event in 3rd place for $65,587.

Nevertheless, as the Russian-born businessman explains, he is more of an Omaha cash game player, and is a grinder who plays poker around four days each week. Commenting after his impressive win, Perfilev stated:

“I have some businesses, but poker is still my life.. I’m an Omaha player. Florida players know me.”

$1,700 WSOPC Main Event

The WSOPC Coconut Creek Main Event attracted 735 entries to create a $1,113,525 prize pool. A total of 81 players would then see a return on their buy-ins, including Jonathan Hilton in 75th ($2,773), Jerry Wong in 71st ($3,018), Spencer Champlin in 52nd ($3,608), Brian Hastings in 38th ($4,009), Corey Bierria in 15th ($13,752), and Josias Santos in 13th ($13,752).

Final Table

Sheddy Siddiqui (A-Q) scored the first elimination after sending Dustin Murphy (A-8) to the rail in 10th, before being dealt A-5 and taking out a short stacked Jose Delcid (6-4) in 8th.

Dmitrii Perfilev (A-A) then enetered the fray by taking care of Michael Amato (A-K) in 6th, while his pocket queens were also good enough to end Stu Paterson’s (Q-10) hopes in 5th.

Continuing their domination of the final table, Siddiqui (A-8) eliminated Cesar Solares (J-9) in 4th, and Perfilev (A-K) did likewise to Harry O’Brien (A-8) in 3rd to set up the final battle for the title.

Heads-Up Recap

Perfilev entered heads-up holding an almost 2-1 chip lead over Siddiqui, but before long the latter was reduced to just 133bbs and decided to push all-in preflop holding Q-10. Perfilev (K-J) made the call, and following a 9-8-3-2-5 board won the contest with king high. Commenting upon his aggressive strategy that saw him secure the chip lead on Day 2 and eventually took him all the way through to the final table and ultimate victory, Perfilev explained:

“I was in eight or nine all ins and I was ahead in most of them. But the players were playing a little scared of the money. So, I just kept playing ‘Raise, raise, raise.’ Even though I was losing chips [in the all ins], I was getting most of the chips back through the postflop action.”

While most poker dealers must have seen all imaginable occurrences during gameplay, on a break one dealer expressed surprise at how well Perfilev was doing despite his all-in set backs, stating that he “had never seen anyone run so bad and still go so deep.”

Final Table Results

1st: Dmitrii Perfilev $222,691
2nd: Sheddy Siddiqui $137,298
3rd: Harry O’Brien $101,219
4th: Cesar Solares $75,441
5th: Stu Paterson $56,979
6th: Michael Amato $43,595
7th: Jordan Schneider $33,773
8th: Jose Delcid $26,491
9th: Lloyd Gunther $21,034
10th: Dustin Murphy $16,903