Curtis King won the World Series of Poker Circuit main event at Harrah’s Cherokee, taking home his first career WSOP Circuit ring and a $363,703 payout. King’s victory came against a deep final table in the $1,700 no-limit hold’em event, which included three players with at least $3 million in total career earnings.
King defeated Toby Boas heads-up to secure his victory. For Boas, it’s the second time in the last 18 months he’s finished second in a WSOP Circuit main event at Harrah’s Cherokee. In addition to that runner-up finish in May 2025, Boas also finished fourth in the WSOPC Cherokee main event back in February, and recorded a third-place finish in a 2018 WSOP Circuit main event at the property.
Improbably, despite making 11 career final tables at Harrah’s Cherokee, Boas has never won a WSOPC ring. In this instance, Boas received $242,423 for his second-place finish, the second-largest live tournament result of his career.
The final table also featured WSOP bracelet winner and prominent poker boom-era online poker player Ryan ‘g0lfa’ D’Angelo, who finished in third place ($172,763). Four-time WSOP Circuit winner Andrew Kelsall settled for sixth place ($67,820).
Another Big One In North Carolina
Across two starting flights, the $1,700 WSOP Circuit Cherokee main event drew 1,681 entries. That generated a total prize pool of $2,546,715. By the end of day 2, only 11 players remained. A short time into the third and final day of the tournament, the field reached an official final table.
Boas and King significantly outpaced the rest of the field, with each holding almost twice as many chips as any of the other players below them in the chip counts. Boas started to pull away, and then extended his lead by knocking out Scott Gronroos in seventh place ($51,053) when pocket nines held against pocket sixes.
Kelsall ran a flopped set of eights into a turned heart flush for King, bringing King back into contention for the chip lead at the expense of Kelsall’s entire stack. But Boas distanced himself yet again, knocking out Donta Moss in fifth place ($91,361) with A♠8♠ against Moss’ K♠Q♥.
King knocked out Kataka Eaton in fourth place ($124,782), and with D’Angelo on a short stack, it seemed as though it wouldn’t take long for them to get heads up. But D’Angelo flopped two pair, sixes and sevens, for a key double through King. It appeared as though King’s tournament was about to go up in smoke, as D’Angelo’s pocket kings dwarfed King’s pocket fours.
D’Angelo was all in and at risk, but most of King’s chips were in the middle. King picked up four additional outs to a wheel on the turn, and then spiked a miracle four on the river to knock D’Angelo out of the tournament.
Boas Denied Again
After many previous close calls in WSOP Circuit main events at Harrah’s Cherokee, Boas had his fourth serious opportunity at finally winning his elusive first ring. He wasn’t particularly far from King’s chip lead as their match began, but King quickly started to pull away.
On the final hand, with a board reading 9♠7♥4♥6♠, King open shoved for twice the size of the pot. Boas went into the tank, and eventually found a call with 5♦4♦. King was in good shape with pocket eights, but he still had eight outs to dodge heading into the river. The K♦ rolled off on the end, and King earned the win.
Along with his first-place payout, the WSOP Circuit ring, and the $5,000 WSOP Paradise prize package awarded to all ring winners, King banked 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points. His second qualifying result in the yearlong POY race presented by CoinPoker pushed King into the top 500 for 2026.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Curtis King | $363,703 | 1,080 |
| 2 | Toby Boas | $242,423 | 900 |
| 3 | Ryan D’Angelo | $172,763 | 720 |
| 4 | Kataka Eaton | $124,782 | 540 |
| 5 | Donta Moss | $91,361 | 450 |
| 6 | Andrew Kelsall | $67,820 | 360 |
| 7 | Scott Gronroos | $51,053 | 270 |
| 8 | Caio Sobral | $38,980 | 180 |
| 9 | David Sathue | $30,194 | 90 |
Photo credit: WSOP/Poker.Org
