Hollis "Victory" Holcomb Wins WSOP Circuit Choctaw $1,700 Main Event for $255,535

July 29, 2019 Anthony Thompson

Hollis "Victory" Holcomb is the first champion of the 2019/20 World Series of Poker Circuit season after outlasting a field of 976 entries in the Choctaw Durant stop en route to the first-place prize of $255,535. The victory was the first of Holcomb's poker career after finishing in third-place in Tulsa's Circuit event just last year.

"You know the money is good but it's different," he said. "I've been thinking about this ring forever. I finished third in the Tulsa series a couple of seasons ago and that has been stinging ever since so it feels good to bring this one home."

"I wouldn't be here without Chris Ghylin, he was a great influence on me and this is for him."

Holcomb, an Oklahoma native, only used one bullet to buy into the tournament, which he secured via a home poker league held in Bartlesville. The northern Oklahoma poker league has 15-20 people in it and they just became a whole lot richer as Holcomb explained: "We have had this home game going for about 15 years now and the way it works is you have a certain amount of sessions with the overall winner getting his buy-in paid for from the league, and whatever that player wins, they have to share half of it with the league. So you know this is awesome, I'm so glad I get to share this victory with my league."

Another perk to Holcomb's poker league aside from the winner having their buy-in paid for is the trophy they win, which is dedicated to Holcomb's friend Chris Ghylin.

"I'd really like to say, I had a really good friend who taught me not only a lot about poker but also life. He passed away two years ago and he would have loved this. It was really unfortunate, he was only in his thirties, he was a great poker player and just a great person. I wouldn't be here without Chris Ghylin, he was a great influence on me and this is for him."

Official Final Table Results

Place Player Hometown Prize 1 Hollis Holcomb Bartlesville, Oklahoma $255,535 2 Vincent Moscati Verplanck, New York $157,929 3 Jesse Solano San Antonio, Texas $118,349 4 Tony Nguyen Fort Worth, Texas $89,536 5 Braxton Dunaway Midland, Texas $68,390 6 Matt Russell Spring, Texas $52,747 7 Steven Williams Little Rock, Arkansas $41,082 8 Shomari Williams Fort Worth, Texas $32,314 9 Scott Hall Fayetteville, Arkansas $25,672

Final Day Action

Ten players started the day but the official final table of nine would be reached after the first hand of play when Joseph Skinner jammed his short stack of 735,000 in the middle from the button and was called by Scott Hall from the big blind. Skinner held a suited ace-rag that was dismantled by Hall's pocket jacks and he was eliminated in 10th place for $20,602.

Shortly after Skinner's elimination, Hall ran his pocket kings into Braxton Dunaway's aces and Hall was eliminated in ninth place the very next hand taking home $25,672.

Next to go would be the start-of-day chip leader Shomari Williams. Williams had a slew of bad luck that started with his pocket aces getting cracked by Vincent Moscati's pocket kings and it didn't end there. Williams got his remaining stack in the middle holding pocket jacks and was snapped off by Holcomb holding pocket fives. Williams was in good shape to find a double until there was a five in the window and he took his exit in eighth place for $32,314.

The eliminations would continue with Steven Williams taking his exit in seventh place when he ran his ace-queen into Tony Nguyen's pocket nines. Williams was unable to pair one of his overs and took home $41,082 for his seventh-place finish.

Next on the final table chopping block was Matt Russell who open-jammed his suited weak ace into the pocket jacks of Holcomb. Russell failed to pair and rolled out in sixth place for $52,747.

Matt Russell

Five-handed action wouldn't last very long once players returned from there dinner break as the final table's next causality was Dunaway, who jammed his remaining chips in the middle preflop with a made hand of sevens but they didn't hold up against Moscati's ace-jack. Dunaway walked away in fifth place taking home $68,390.

A few hands later would see Holcomb claim another victim at the final table when his ace-five offsuit cracked the pocket kings of Nguyen and he was eliminated in fourth place for $89,536.

Holcomb would continue his final table streak of eliminations with Jesse Solano. Holcomb opened with a 750,000 raise from the small blind and Solano moved all in from the big getting snapped off by Holcomb. Solano chose the wrong time to jam as his pocket fives were crushed by Holcomb's pocket sevens and he took home $118,349 for his third-place finish.

Heads-up action didn't take long to conclude as Holcomb continued his final table rampage with one last elimination. All of the chips went into the middle preflop with Moscati holding ace-king and Holcomb pocket jacks. Moscati would flop the flush draw but fall short in connecting with any of his outs and the seven-time ring winner took his exit in second place for $157,929, while Holcomb secured his first-place finish for $255,535.

Larson Goes Back-to-Back

David Larson wins two back-to-back rings.

The WSOP Choctaw Durant $1,700 Main Event was just one of a dozen gold ring events at the stop. One man, 48-year-old poker pro David Larson from Appleton, Wisconsin, managed to claim two titles back-to-back within a 24-hour period.

Larson was making the trek to Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina for the Global Casino Championship – which he qualified for by finishing as Casino Champ at the WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond last October – when he decided to stop at Choctaw and play Event #7: $400 No-Limit Hold’em, a tournament that attracted 123 entries and created a $40,590 prize pool. Larson bagged the Day 1 chip lead, which he took into the final table before winning it all for $11,057 and his third career ring.

“I’ve won a lot more money playing poker but this is for sure the most fun I’ve ever had.”

With the first win, the former software engineer became the 132nd player to win three or more WSOP Circuit rings. He didn’t stop there as the next day he fired Event #9: $250 NLH and bested a 180-entry field to win it for $9,137.

“Today I felt more pressure because I won yesterday but also people were afraid of me because I won yesterday,” he told WSOP officials. “People definitely played a little more conservative today so it was harder for them to give-up their chips and yesterday people were a lot more splashy.”

Larson became the 55th player to win four or more rings, though his have all come in the last calendar year.

“This is definitely the most fun I’ve had,” he said. “I’ve won a lot more money playing poker but this is for sure the most fun I’ve ever had.”

The back-to-back also propelled Larson to victory on the WSOPC Choctaw leaderboard, which meant he secured a seat into next year’s Global Casino Championship.

Here’s a look at all those who won rings at the WSOP Circuit Choctaw:

WSOPC Choctaw Durant Ring Winners

Event Entries Winner Prize Event #1: $400 NLH Monster Stack 508 Andy Belke $33,140 Event #2: $400 NLH 2,206 Kyle Birdwell $102,195 Event #3: $400 Congress 217 Morton Davis $17,212 Event #4: $400 NLH One-Day 262 Steve Williams $19,742 Event #5: $400 NLH 150 Urim Staraveci $13,125 Event #6: $400 NLH 8-Handed One-Day 166 Ron Robinson $14,190 Event #7: $400 NLH 123 David Larson $11,057 Event #8: $400 NLH 8-Handed One-Day 167 Imran Sabzali $14,129 Event #9: $250 NLH 180 David Larson $9,137 Event #10: $400 NLH 8-Handed One-Day 216 Clarence Prevost $17,132 Event #11: $1,700 Main Event 976 Hollis Holcomb $255,535 Event #12: $250 NLH Multi-Flight 594 Khang Luu $22,842 Event #13: $400 NLH One-Day 280 Patrick Wagner $21,414

This concludes the first WSOP Circuit stop at Choctaw for Season 16. Next up on the WSOP Circuit will be in North Carolina at Harrah's Cherokee with the first ring event beginning in just a few days’ time and the $1,700 Main Event set to get underway on Friday, August 9th.