Ulises Roman Takes Down World Series Of Poker Circuit Caesars Southern Indiana Main Event

Ulises Roman won his first World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring and $84,399 after coming out on top at Caesars Southern Indiana on May 18. Roman now holds more than $530,000 in career tournament earnings, with this being his second outright victory.

The Huntington, West Virginia resident previously won a Mega Stack Series event at Caesars Palace Las Vegas back in 2008. This latest win amounted to the second-largest score of his career, trailing only the $98,212 he earned with a runner-up finish in a $2,5000 buy-in at the 2008 Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza IV.

“I’ve been playing since 2006 off and on, so I just recently came back to play. I came here because it’s only three hours away from where I live … and voilà, first ring,” said Roman after coming out on top.

The $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a field of 250 entries over two starting flights, resulting in a total prize pool of $378,750. The top 39 players all took home at least $3,351.

The returning field of 39 played down to a final table more quickly than was expected. Instead of halting action and coming back the following day, every player remaining voted to move forward with the march toward a champion. Roman was right in the middle of the pack when the final table began.

Eric Poole fell in ninth place, and then Roman secured a double up when he made broadway against the wheel. Eighth place went to Aaron Gamino, with Roman delivering the final blow. Brian Jones soon followed Gamino to the rail in seventh place.

The pace of bustouts held steady as Niles Lawless fell in sixth, and Frank Covich busted in fifth. Roman was the short stack when four-handed play began, but he found another double-up with A-10 against A-8. Iverson Shuffer was knocked out in fourth place, and Roman was the short stack once again when three-handed play started.

Another double came for Roman when he was all in with preflop A-K and he found another ace on the flop against the pocket kings held by Bradford Albrinck. That hand put Roman in the chip lead, and he carried that momentum forward by taking out Albrinck in third place to set up a final match holding a nearly 2:1 chip advantage against Trace Henderson.

Just one all-in pot took place between the final two players, and that hand began with Henderson opening on the button with AK. Roman moved all in holding pocket tens, and Henderson called off the last of his chips. The final runout of the tournament came down Q875J, and that gave Roman the gold ring and tournament win. Henderson took home $56,658, growing his career haul to more than $1.5 million, with three gold rings won along the way.

Final Table Results

The next WSOP Circuit main event is already underway at Commerce Casino in Southern California, with the final table crowning a winner on May 20.

Photo credit: WSOP/Poker.Org.