The 2024 World Series of Poker Circuit Graton Resort and Casino $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event drew 580 entries, easily surpassing the $500,000 guarantee to build a final prize pool of $877,185. After a pair of starting flights and two more days of action, Sasha Sabbaghian emerged victorious with his first WSOP Circuit gold ring and the top prize of $168,015.
This was the largest tournament score yet for Sasha Sabbaghian, who hails from Granite Bay, California. He now has nearly $624,000 in career earnings to his name, with 81 cashes and four titles.
The final day began with nine players remaining and two-time bracelet winner Marco Johnson in the lead. Sasha Sabbaghian was second in chips when cards got it the air. Johnson ended up finishing sixth for $28,557. The Northern California native now has nearly $4.4 million in lifetime tournaments cashes. Johnson ran pocket eights into the pocket jacks of WSOPC ring winner Bob Mather to slide toward the bottom of the chip counts and was eliminated shortly after that.
Despite scoring that big double up, Mather was ultimately the next to fall. He got all-in with 5Heart Suit4Heart Suit trailing the 7Heart Suit7Club Suit of Michael Persky, who won two WSOPC main events in California within a few months of each other last year. Persky’s pair held up and Mather was knocked out in fifth place ($39,067). He now has $949,000 n career earnings after this latest deep run.
Persky’s run ended when his A-8 ran into the A-Q of Mitchell Tsang. Persky earned $54,475 as the fourth-place finisher.
A classic preflop race spelled the end of Peter Yang’s tournament. He got all-in with A-10 facing the pocket sevens of Sabbaghian, who had overtaken the lead during short-handed action. Neither player improved and Yang was knocked out in third place ($77,399).
Heads-up play began with Sasha Sabbaghian holding more than a 2:1 lead over Tsang. In the final hand, Sabbaghian min-raised to 500,000 from the button with ASpade Suit9Diamond Suit and Tsang three-bet shoved with AHeart SuitQDiamond Suit from the big blind. Sabbaghian called and the board ran out KHeart Suit10Diamond Suit10Club Suit7Diamond Suit9Spade Suit, bringing a nine on the river to secure the pot for Sabbaghian.
Tsang cashed for $112,010 as the runner-up.
WSOPC Graton Main Event Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | HOMETOWN | PRIZE (IN USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sasha Sabbaghian | Granite Bay, CA | $168,015 |
| 2 | Mitchell Tsang | San Francisco, CA | $112,010 |
| 3 | Peter Yang | N/A | $77,399 |
| 4 | Michael Persky | Novato, CA | $54,475 |
| 5 | Bob Mather | Las Vegas, NV | $39,067 |
