- Local bartender Stefan Isensee navigated a massive field and short-stack pressure to secure an unlikely RunGood Main Event payday.
- NFL Hall of Famer Richard Seymour claimed a major tournament victory against a strong field to add another milestone to his record.
SAN DIEGO — Two poker tournaments wrapped up this past week with winners that nobody could have predicted: a local bartender who almost had to skip the final day for work, and an NFL Hall of Famer adding yet another ring to his already stacked trophy case.
San Diego bartender Stefan Isensee defeated 368 competitors to win $29,110 in the RunGood Poker Series Passport Season $600 Main Event at Jamul Casino Resort on Sunday.
With just 10 large blinds, Isensee was the smallest stack going into the final table. He overcame four different all-in situations and grounded his way to a three-way deal with Saba Golshan and William Wolf before sealing the victory. The top three slots were changed per the agreement, and the remaining 45 participants were compensated out of the $191,360 prize fund.
Results like Isensee’s show how unexpected the tournament structure can be for players of all skill levels in states with poker tournaments at this level.
NFL Legend Takes Down High Roller
Pro Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Richard Seymour won the $2,200 buy-in High Roller during the WSOP Circuit stop at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina this week, bringing him a new piece of hardware. Along with his first WSOPC gold ring, the three-time Super Bowl champion received $106,577 in compensation.
After battling through a field of 234 competitors, Seymour defeated Bradley Butcher heads-up to win the title. Maxwell Young, who holds nine career rings, and Donovan Dean, who has won the Cherokee Main Event twice, were also in the mix of competitors.
What started as a $200,000 guarantee turned into a $468,000 prize pool — 36 players walked away with a payout. Harrah’s Cherokee keeps drawing the crowds, and poker in North Carolina has built a real name for itself among grinders as a circuit stop that delivers.
Seymour’s resume away from the field does the talking for him. A third-place finish at the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure brought in $376,360, an additional $75,000 from his run to the National Heads-Up Poker Championship quarterfinals, and back-to-back WSOP Main Event cashes in 2019 and 2023 demonstrated that he belongs at the same table as the best in the world.
With Sunday’s triumph, he is within striking distance of winning $1 million from tournaments. High-profile players are still drawn to the felt by poker in California and elsewhere, but Seymour stands out from the majority of celebrity players due to his consistent performance in a variety of forms.
The two victories were separated by only one day, indicating a successful weekend for the live poker tour circuit.