Bay Area soccer coach Stefan Clemens took down the main event at the latest World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Graton Casino in the San Francisco Bay Area, earning $151,543 for the win. The Northern California resident also earned his first WSOPC gold ring as the champion. This triumph grew his lifetime tournament earnings above $180,000.
“It’s pretty surreal. Yeah, I feel pretty grateful that I’m able to afford something like this and take three days to come play. I’m grateful and happy with the whole production of it, and thank you to you guys for that. When I went to bed on Friday night after making Day 2 … I just dreamed about the good hands. It’s such a fun game to play. I just told myself to play patient and play tight, I’m a tight player. I had some swings on Day 2 but I then made the final table. And then the same thing on Sunday. ‘Holy crap! First final table.’ So I just just took it one step at a time. But just the whole time inside I was just super excited – and giddy – but on the outside I tried to stay calm,” said Clemens after the win.
Clemens, who used to be an assistant coach at Cal-Berkeley, has started two youth soccer businesses since leaving his position at Cal around the time of the pandemic.
“Some might not consider [poker] a sport, it’s a card game, but what I try to explain to people is that it’s not a lot of physical, cardio, running around, but the intellectual mind games, strategy, reading people, when to go, when to be patient… It really tests you,” said Clemens when asked about transferring his competitive background from sports to poker. “So that absolutely comes into play. And as I get older too, I love physical sports, but I love doing the mental game too.”
Setting The Stage
This $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em event had two starting flights that saw a field of 520 contenders enter the fray. That built a final prize pool of $787,800 which well surpassed the $500,000 guarantee. The final 79 players all cashed for at least $3,444.
The final table started with Abishek Paliwal out front and Clemens was right behind him. In a surprising turn of events, Paliwal was the first to fall in ninth after Rineeeth Raghu doubled through him during the early action.
Michael McQuaid was out next in eighth place, and then “Peppermill Tim” Boerum took his leave in the seven spot. Local Northern California poker pro Noel Rodriguez had busted Tim, and then he also scored the knockout punch against Raghu for sixth place.
Clemens got into the mix by busting Visnu Chada for fifth place, and he continued to add to his stack by eliminating Rodriguez in fourth place. A slow period of play then set in before Norman Yeung also hit the rail at the hands of Clemens.
Showdown For The Ring
Heads-up play began with the chips nearly even, but Clemens was slightly ahead of Jonathan Warda when cards got into the air. The final match only lasted about 15 minutes before all the money got into the middle on the final hand.
That last hand saw Warda peg his tournament hopes on pocket threes preflop in the hole from the button. Clemens had him covered holding K♠7♦, and A♠K♦4♦5♦10♠ was slung out on the board. That gave Clemens the win and the ring. Warda was out in second place with the runner-up prize money of $103,315, which was the first six-figure score of his poker career as well.
In addition to the hardware and money, Clemens also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Stefan Clemens | $151,543 | 840 |
| 2 | Jonathan Warta | $103,315 | 700 |
| 3 | Norman Yeung | $71,351 | 560 |
| 4 | Noel Rodriguez | $50,198 | 420 |
| 5 | Vishnu Chada | $35,990 | 350 |
| 6 | Rineeth Raghu | $26,305 | 280 |
| 7 | Timothy Boerum | $19,607 | 210 |
| 8 | Michael McQuaid | $14,911 | 140 |
| 9 | Abhishek Paliwal | $11,573 | 70 |
Photo Credit: WSOP and Poker.Org.
