The race to the top of the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring leaderboard has seen a lot of movement in the last few months. All of the top four players have won at least one ring since ringing in the New Year.
The latest move in the rankings comes from Daniel Lowery, who got in a quick one-two punch at the WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa. Lowery won both Seniors events at the Hard Rock, earning two rings in a matter of days and putting himself on a par with Maurice Hawkins with 18 rings.
All this gold has shuffled the leaderboard around, widening and closing the gaps as the players talk (and play) a big game in the battle for the record.
Hawkins and Lowery are now both just one ring behind Ari Engel — who holds 19 rings in the top spot — making this a very tight race.
Until Lowery stepped up his game this last week, Engel and Hawkins were battling it out for the top spot with Hawkins briefly catching up to Engel for a few days in early March. Both players had 18 rings for a spell, but shortly after Hawkins won his 18th ring, Engel won his 19th.
Engel's 19th ring was won in the NLH Big $500 event in the WSOP Super Circuit Online festival hosted by WSOP PA.
Adding to the drama of the race is Joshua Reichard who is currently in fourth place on the ring leaderboard. Reichard won his sixteenth ring at the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond last week.
Michael Lavin rounds out the top five with fifteen rings. Lavin won many of his rings online. He won his last ring in February 2024.
With around 100 WSOP Circuit ring events still to go before the end of May, all of these players will have plenty of opportunities to add another few rings to their hoard.
Plus, someone further down the rankings could go on a run and make this reallyinteresting.
| Place | Player | WSOPC Rings | Number of WSOPC Cashes | Total WSOPC Cashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ari Engel | 19 | 377 | $3,049,309 |
| 2 | Maurice Hawkins | 18 | 217 | $4,120,068 |
| 3 | Daniel Lowery | 18 | 194 | $2,085,666 |
| 4 | Joshua Reichard | 16 | 161 | $2,173,278 |
| 5 | Michael Lavin | 15 | 229 | $675,266 |
| 6 | Valentin Vornicu | 13 | 126 | $1,187,799 |
| 7 | Michael Setera | 13 | 178 | $529,543 |
| 8 | Soheb Porbandarwala | 12 | 141 | $1,318,449 |
| 9 | Richard Ali | 11 | 187 | $857,900 |
| 10 | Roland Israelashvili | 11 | 515 | $4,113,482 |
While Daniel Lowery was mopping up the two Seniors events, John Dollinger was taking down the Main Event.
When registration closed, 487 people had paid the $1,700 entry fee to play the Main Event. This put $737,805 in the prize pool, setting up a first-place payout of $147,178.
To get there Dollinger had to knock out Russell Brooks heads up. He did so, breaking a nine-year streak without a win.
“I’m very competitive," Dollinger told the WSOP. "A few times I’ve got second place and I’m not even happy. I love winning, I love competing and there’s nothing more competitive than poker. [...] It’s kind of a universal game.”
Brooks won $98,109 for second place, while the final table also included Iman Alsaden (3rd - $67,346), James Jewell (4th - $47,149) and Yordanos Mebrahtu (5th - $33,679).
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Dollinger | $147,178 |
| 2 | Russell Brooks | $98,109 |
| 3 | Iman Alsaden | $67,346 |
| 4 | James Jewell | $47,149 |
| 5 | Yordanos Mebrahtu | $33,679 |
| 6 | Kiran Suresh | $24,555 |
| 7 | Andy Robinson | $18,282 |
| 8 | Marvin Donaldson | $13,906 |
| 9 | Matt Riffel | $10,811 |
With the WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa over, there are just six more events in the 2024-2025 season of the WSOP Circuit.
The WSOP Circuit Turning Stone is already underway, finishing up on March 24.
The next event to kick off will be the WSOP Circuit festival at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. This festival kicks off on March 20 and runs until March 31.
Then in April, there are events at the Grand Victoria Casino and the Horseshoe Casino Tunica. And in May there will be events at Harrah's Cherokee and Caesars Southern Indiana.
We will have recaps for all these events right here. In the meantime, you can check out the complete results for the WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa below.
| Event | Entrants | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSOPC Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack | 366 | $120,780 | Travis Baker | $24,542 |
| WSOPC Event #2: $250 No-Limit Hold'em | 274 | $54,800 | John Reynolds | $11,971 |
| WSOPC Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold'em | 132 | $43,560 | Phillip Teel | $10,885 |
| WSOPC Event #4: $400 No-Limit Hold'em | 1,003 | $330,990 | Bobby Sanoubane | $50,305 |
| WSOPC $250 Seniors Event #1 | 448 | $89,600 | Daniel Lowery | $17,187 |
| WSOPC Event #5: $400 No-Limit Hold'em | 130 | $42,900 | Brian Garner | $10,715 |
| WSOPC Event #6: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Mega Stack | 258 | $85,140 | Aleksandr Kolomeitsev | $18,966 |
| WSOPC Event #7: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Bounty | 169 | $37,180 | William Rowlett | $9,011 |
| WSOPC Event #8: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed | 136 | $44,880 | Bradley Fullington | $11,045 |
| WSOPC Event #9: $400 No-Limit Hold'em Double Stack | 96 | $31,680 | Russell Brooks | $31,916 |
| WSOPC Event #10: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha | 133 | $43,890 | Todd Tucker | $10,961 |
| WSOPC Event #11: $400 No-Limit Hold'em | tbc | tbc | Andrew Robinson | $8,602 |
| WSOPC $250 Ladies Event | tbc | tbc | Kimberly Chermock | $4,759 |
| WSOPC Event #12: $1,700 MAIN EVENT | 487 | $737,805 | John Dollinger | $147,178 |
| WSOPC Event #13: $400 No-Limit Hold'em | tbc | tbc | Daxton Alexander | $11,285 |
| WSOPC Event #14: $400 No-Limit Hold'em | tbc | tbc | David Yarbrough | $13,075 |
| WSOPC $250 Seniors Event #2 | 399 | $79,836 | Daniel Lowery | $15,831 |
| WSOPC Event #15: $250 No-Limit Hold'em | tbc | tbc | Randy Dozier | $10,280 |
*Photos courtesy WSOPC