Jesse Wilke Wins WSOC Harveys Lake Tahoe For $125k

Jesse Wilke has won the WSOP Circuit Harveys Lake Tahoe Main Event, after overcoming a field of 380 players over four days on his way to capturing a gold championship ring, as well as the $125,401 first-place prize. Following an impressive victory in the Sierra Nevada, which now takes his live poker earnings to $245,742, Wilke commented:
“It is a big deal. I’ve had kind of a rough year. I had the chip lead of the Main Event on Day 4 in the money and didn’t make Day 5. It means a lot to finally connect the dots between online and live play and show a little success on the live circuit, too. I have a symbol that my hard work actually paid off.”
The $1,675 Main Event was held at Harveys Lake Tahoe, and attracted a good-sized audience to create a prize pool worth $570,000. Amongst the notable players then seeing a return on their investment was Michael Moore in 45th ($2,576), Daniel Lowery in 35th ($2,839),  Sean Drake in 20th ($5,523), and La Sengphet in 14th ($7,877).
By the time the final table of nine had been reached, Jesse Wilke was the chipleader on a 2.2m stack, followed by Richard Fitzgerald (1.435m), Dan Stir (1.25m), and Allen Hickman (1.025m). Also competing for the WSOPC title was Gerald Cohen (685k), Jasthi Kumar (565k), and Barry Kay (435k).
After the final table had been further reduced to just five players Jesse Wilke’s then proceeded to eliminate all the remaining players in the competition. First Jesse Wilke (A-10) caught a 10 on the river to knock out Dan Stir (A-K) in 5th ($31,703), and soon after he dispatched Jasthi Kumar to the rail in 4th for $42,043.
Three-handed, Wilke (J-6) and Gerald Cohen (J-8) committed their stacks on a J-10-4-6 board, and with a harmless 2 falling on the river Cohen departed in 3rd for $56,624, while Jesse Wilke and Barry Kay were left to duke it out for the title.
Following a tough heads-up battle the deciding hand was eventually played after Jesse Wilke was dealt 9-8 to his opponent’s 10-4. The 7-5-3-6 board subsequently made both players straights, and after all the chips went in Kay had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $77,492, while Jesse Wilke was crowned the winner.
Final Table Payouts:
1 Jesse Wilke – $125,401
2 Barry Kay – $77,492
3 Gerald Cohen – $56,624
4 Jasthi Kumar – $42,043
5 Dan Stir – $31,703
6 Alen Huckman- $24,265
7 Richard Fitzgerald – $18,844
8 Yotam Shmuelov – $14,843
9 Robert Donahue – $11,856