Nick Pupillo Triumphs at WSOPC Thunder Valley for $170k

Nick Pupillo has won the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley, after besting a field of 528 players, including Dann Turner heads-up, to capture the title, and a first place prize worth $170,286. Following a victory which pushes his live earnings to $1,317,356, of which $596,743 has been won in 2017 alone, the 25-year-old poker pro commented:
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career. I struggled with, like, money management and stuff like that, but things are turning around.”
Latest stop on the WSOP Circuit tour was the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California, with its $1,675 buy-in Main Event featuring a prize pool of $792,000. Amongst the notable pros then finishing in one of the tournament’s money places was Sean Yu in 47th ($3,041), Stan Jablonski in 40th ($3,318), Josh Prager in 35th ($3,667), and Charles “Woody” Moore in 11th ($12,743).
After the final table got underway, Jed Hoffman (A-A) took care of Roque Quiambao (9-9) in 9th, before being dealt A-K and doing likewise to Steven Tabb (A-Q) in 8th. Next, Casey McCarrel (A-K) sent Glenn Larson (A-3) to the rail in 7th, while start-of-day chip leader Dann Turner subsequently eliminated Paul McCaffrey (7th), Jed Hoffman (5th), and Paul Richardson (4th) in short order.
With just three players remaining, Nick Pupillo scored his first elimination holding pocket twos against the 9-8 of McCarrel, and just like that the heads-up phase was set between Pupillo and Turner, with the two players fairly even in chips.
Applying pressure, Turner was able to grind his opponent to just 20 bbs, before Pupillo mounted a comeback, eventually moving ahead to a 2-1 chip lead. Soon after, the deciding hand was played with Turner (A-5) moving all-in preflop and Pupillo (A-6) making the call. The dealer then laid out a J-5-2-8-6 board to seal the deal, and so Dann Turner had to be satisfied with a runner-up prize of $105,281 for his hard-fought efforts, while Nick Pupillo was crowned the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Nick Pupillo $170,286
2: Dann Turner $105,281
3: Casey McCarrel $76,911
4: Paul Richardson $57,016
5: Jed Hoffman $42,879
6: Paul McCaffrey $32,710
7: Glenn Larson $25,304
8: Steven Tabb $19,855
9: Roque Quiambao $15,800