Andrea Buonocore is a talented Italian poker player who stunned his fans when he defeated 467 entries in the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Bally's main event. He got his first WSOPC gold ring and received $143,229.
The Bally's Las Vegas $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold 'em main event had a $709,956 prize pool, and Buonocore got its largest share. He has $548,967 in poker career tournament earnings now.
The circuit's champion told WSOP journalists that it felt amazing to win the event as he hadn't played in any tournaments for an extended period. Instead, he has been competing in cash games.
Buonocore was playing his usual $100-$200 poker game in Bobby's room. But it was broken and not thrilling hence making him uncertain about what to do.
The player checked online and saw that Bally had this tournament. He decided to sign up for it, although it was late, went deep and luck was on his side.
Besides receiving the money ad title, Buonocore amassed 720 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points as the event's winner. It was his first POY-qualified score this year and moved him to a six-way tie for the 141st position in the 2022 POY race that Global Poker funds.
The Main Event's Finishers
The event had 71 finishers who made a lot of money from it. Most of the accomplished players cashed because the event was in the middle of the Las Vegas strip. They included Nipun Java( two-time bracelet winner), who won $3,879 after finishing 29th, Eric Blair(two-time ring winner), who won $4,407 who finished 25th, Stanley Lee (two-time ring winner), who won $5,086 after finishing 22nd, Ashley Sleeth (ring winner) who finished 18th and won $7,092, Sean Yu( eight-time ring winner and bracelet winner) who won $8,565 after finishing 15th, Jon Turner( two-time Card Player Poker Tour main event winner) who finished 13th and won $8,565, and Jesse Sylvia (World Poker Tour main event champion) who won $16,463 after finishing 8th.
Action on the Final Day
The event had only five players left at the beginning of its final day. Bruce Vandervort exited the final table first after Bounocore's pocket fours cracked his pocket tens, and the chips were preflopped. The latter took the pot after rivering a set of fours and reduced the field to four participants.
Vandervort won $35,920 after finishing fifth. Buonocore climbed the leaderboard fast after winning another crucial all-in as his pocket queens held against Jim Collopy's, a two-time bracelet winner, pocket sevens. The two players clashed in a vital all-in showdown.
The board showed 9Club Suit4Heart Suit3Heart SuitJClub Suit as the chip went in on a turn. Collopy used 6Heart Suit5Heart Suit to shove for an open-ended straight flush draw.
Buonocore then used AClub Suit2Club Suit to call for a gutshot and nut club draw. The river's 9Diamond Suit improved none of the players as Bounocore's ace-high helped him get the pot.
Collopy got eliminated in fourth place and won $47,875. Statistics state that he has $3,561,153 lifetime tournament earnings now. Timothy Chang's pocket fives lost an important all-in against Eric Baldwin's pocket tens.
Chang shoved Q-2 from the button, and Bounocore's A-K called him. Both of them didn't improve, and Chang exited the tournament in third place and won $64,664. This helped Buonocore get a huge chips lead as he faced Baldwin in a heads-up battle.
Buonocore used 7Club Suit7Diamond Suit to open from the bottom while Baldwin held KDiamond Suit4Diamond Suit when he three-bet shoved. The former called as the board ran out 10Club Suit9Spade Suit4Spade Suit2Spade Suit7Heart Suit, thus offering him a set of sevens for the victory. Baldwin won $88,498 after finishing second and earned over $7.1 million in his professional poker career.
