Waxman at the Top of WSOPC A.C.

Young up-and-coming American pro Matthew Waxman took down his first major live title at the WSOPC’s Atlantic City Main Event yesterday. The A.C. tournament drew lower than predicted numbers, but the Main Event still managed to attract a decent field of 352 competitors. With a $1500 + $150 buy-in, the prize pool was still a healthy $512,160. Waxman’s first place payout of $117,797 sent his live tournament earnings well over the half-million mark.

Much of Waxman’s early earnings were in online competition, but he started chasing poker fame at major live events in 2008, finishing in the money in three events and final tabling in a fourth at his first WSOP in 2009. Waxman has since final tabled at a number of events, but until Tuesday a live championship title had evaded him. “It really feels great to lock one up,” conceded Waxman.

While a handful of notable pros showed up to compete in the early days of the tournament, Waxman was arguably the most seasoned player left in the final nine. While Day 2 chip leader Brandon Croft was also an early favorite, Waxman entered the last day of competition in good position with the second largest stack. It took Waxman no time at all to overtake Croft’s slim lead, and shortly thereafter he sent the first final tabler – Manish Patel – to the rail.

Croft had been bleeding chips from the start of the day, and in true crash and burn fashion he was sent to the rail in eighth when he went all-in with QJ. Jesus Cabrera called with an AQ, and when neither player improved their hand on the draw Cabrera won it by a kicker. It was an important win for Cabrera, and the momentum sent him all the way through to the heads-up portion of the event. Here are the final standings for the Main Event: 

1. Matt Waxman – $117,797
2. Jesus Cabrera – $72,824
3. Mark Sykes – $53,126
4. Chris Bonita – $39,406
5. Dave Cubeta – $29,685
6. Mike Summers – $22,704
7. Tam Ly – $17,618
8. Brandon Croft – $13,869
9. Manish Patel – $11,072

The Main Event may be in the books, but the WSOPC Atlantic City tournament continues with Event 8 tomorrow, Event 9 on Friday, Event 11 on Tuesday, and Event 10 – the No-Limit Hold’em Regional Championship – running for four days starting Sunday and wrapping up this leg of the WSOP Circuit on Wednesday.

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