Eric Bunch and Lauren Bunch are no strangers to tournament poker success, but their respective runs over the course of the recent World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Hard Rock Tulsa are impressive, to say the least.
Across an 18-event series, the Oklahoma couple collectively won four WSOPC rings and made nine total final tables across eight unique events. Eric won his third, fourth, and fifth career WSOP Circuit rings in the span of a single week. It started with the $400 buy-in opening event, in which Eric outlasted a field of 220 entrants on his way to victory. Shortly thereafter, Eric won event no. 4, the $400 mini main event, besting a field of 895 to claim the $46,800 first-place prize.
Lauren took down her third career WSOP Circuit event in a $400 pot-limit Omaha tournament, event 3 of the series, in between Eric’s first and second triumphs at the stop. In total, she’d go on to cash in eight of the 18 total events, reaching five final tables along the way.
Eric claimed his third ring of the series and fifth overall in another $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, a 40/40/40 tournament tailored for players aged 40 years and older. Across five cashes at WSOP Circuit Tulsa, Eric had three wins and four final table appearances.
Shared Dominance
The lone crossover between the husband and wife standouts in Tulsa came in event no. 8, the $400 big O event. They both reached the final table of the tournament, with Lauren finishing in fourth place and Eric settling for seventh.
After his success at WSOPC Tulsa, Eric’s career earnings eclipsed $1.9 million. He has four WSOP Circuit wins in 2026, along with a standout win in an $1,100 no-limit hold’em event during the Venetian DeepStack Championship series in June. Lauren’s lifetime haul sits at over $409,000.
Eric currently ranks 125th place in the Card Player Player of the Year race, a strong showing in the yearlong contest presented by CoinPoker.
Event No. 1 – $400 No-Limit Hold’em
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Eric Bunch | $16,939 | 154 |
| 2 | Michael Varnell | $10,976 | 128 |
| 3 | Donald Reeves | $7,335 | 102 |
| 4 | Preston Roberts | $5,056 | 77 |
| 5 | Chris Hooper | $3,599 | 64 |
| 6 | Michael Budde | $2,647 | 51 |
| 7 | Deven Taylor | $2,015 | 38 |
| 8 | Russell Thorpe | $1,588 | 26 |
| 9 | Igor Golovin | $1,299 | 13 |
Event No. 3 – $400 Pot-Limit Omaha
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Lauren Bunch | $8,245 | 86 |
| 2 | Sean Lindsey | $5,265 | 72 |
| 3 | Michael Varnell | $3,513 | 58 |
| 4 | David Brown | $2,451 | 43 |
| 5 | William Berry | $1,792 | 36 |
| 6 | Michael Perrone | $1,376 | 29 |
| 7 | Joe Williams | $1,113 | 22 |
| 8 | David Cadaoas | $950 | 14 |
| 9 | Joshua Brower | $860 | 7 |
Event No. 4 – $400 Mini Main Event
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Eric Bunch | $46,800 | 365 |
| 2 | Jonathan Braker | $31,202 | 304 |
| 3 | Anthony Teal | $21,507 | 243 |
| 4 | Naga Valiveti | $15,148 | 182 |
| 5 | Bobby Nair | $10,906 | 152 |
| 6 | Matthew Perlman | $8,838 | 122 |
| 7 | Jeffrey McMillen | $6,052 | 91 |
| 8 | Zachary Christ | $4,669 | 61 |
| 9 | William Scarsdale | $3,690 | 30 |
Event No. 9 – $400 40/40/40 No-Limit Hold’em
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Eric Bunch | $27,205 |
| 2 | Bobby Scissom | $18,104 |
| 3 | Joseph Ferguson | $12,590 |
| 4 | Daniel Hughes | $8,929 |
| 5 | Lynn Koehn | $6,460 |
| 6 | Kiet Tran | $4,770 |
| 7 | Ronald Hines | $3,597 |
| 8 | Andrew Sterkel | $2,770 |
| 9 | Brian Swafford | $2,180 |
Photo credits: Hard Rock Tulsa
