This week’s poker news caps off the year with a story of three winners. As the calendar flips to 2020, let’s take a look at this week’s new poker champions:
Anthony Spinella Captures WSOPC Harrah’s Las Vegas Main Event
Anthony Spinella is the big winner of this year’s World Series of Poker Circuit season and the $192,199 top prize that comes with it. A native of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Spinella outlasted a field of 665 entries to earn the first-place prize. Also, he ended up earning a seat at the 2020 Global Casino Championship as part of the win.
The victory was Spinella’s 50th cash all-time at WSOP events. In total, he’s now crossed the million-dollar mark for his career earnings. He joked about buying his son a new Christmas present following the capture of his second WSOPC gold hardware with a tongue in cheek line that he now has the means to do it.
For Spinella, it was his first live tournament win after his first WSOPC ring and bracelet came from online tournaments. Nipun Java of Los Angeles, California took home $118,774 for his runner-up finish while Jimmy Lee of Edmonton, Alberta earned an impressive $87,339 after he placed third.
Michael Rocco Earns Victory In Wynn Winter Classic Championship
Longtime poker pro Michael Rocco is the big winner of this year’s Wynn Winter Classic Championship. The veteran poker player took home a whopping $540,800 for the first-place finish at the Las Vegas event.
The Wynn Winter Classic Championship, which had a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million, crushed that standard with 557 entries pushing the total pot to nearly double at $2,740,440. Following a marathon 16-hour final day, it was Rocco that outlasted 2018 WSOP third-place finisher Michael Dyer for the victory.
It is the biggest cash of Rocco’s career following a third-place finish in the 2014 World Poker Tour LA Poker Classic. He also placed third in the 2017 PCA $25K High Roller event. Meanwhile, Dyer took home $353,242 for his runner-up result, while third-place finisher Ben Farrell was rewarded with a handsome $239,780. Louis Salter and Joe Kuether rounded out the top-five finishers, earning $168,312 and $124,690 respectively for their impressive performances.
Alex Foxen Primed To Win GPI Player Of The Year Title
In one of the most unique stories of the year, it appears as though we could see a repeat in the GPI Player Of The Year title race. American Alex Foxen appears primed to earn the GPI Player Of The Year Title for a second year in a row following another impressive victory in the Season XVIII WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Foxen, who finished second in the same event back in 2017, delivered an event better result this time around to vault himself from 10th to 1st place in the POY standings. The first-place prize pool came in at a whopping $1,694,995. After winning the title last year, Foxen is primed to go back-to-back and cement his status as one of the best poker players in the world.
Toby Joyce was the runner-up in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic, as the only other player to top $1 million by earning $1,120,040. Seth Davies, Peter Neff and Danny Park rounded out the top-five finishers at this event.