Blair Hinkle Wins WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs Main Event

Blair Hinkle has earned the first seat in the WSOP Circuit National Championship.

The new slogan for the World Series of Poker Circuit is “First The Ring, Then The Bracelet” – but the first WSOPC main event winner of the new season decided to write his story in reverse.

Blair Hinkle, who won his first WSOP bracelet in 2008 just two weeks after his own brother Grant had earned his own WSOP hardware, emerged victorious at the WSOP Circuit main event at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa. He may have been the only previous gold bracelet winner of the last 13 players, but the final day was anything but easy for Hinkle, whose stack swung back and forth and had him on the verge of elimination several times throughout the final table.

The day began with 13 players, but the final table wasn’t set until ESPN poker analyst Bernard Lee was eliminated in 10th place with A-K against Jack Do’s K-K. After eliminating John Wakeen in eighth place Hinkle found himself in the lead, but he quickly surrendered it after doubling up three-time WSOPC ring winner Dwyte Pilgrim with A-2 against Pilgrim’s A-K. Another confrontation shortly afterward saw Hinkle get in behind Pilgrim with K-Q to A-2 but come out ahead when a queen hit the turn. 

A key coin flip (9-9 vs. Charles Moore’s A-K) with five players left saw Hinkle grab the lead, and then Shiva Dudani leapt ahead when he knocked out Matt Lawrence to leave the game three-handed. Thirty minutes later Hinkle finally got the best of Pilgrim, flopping a straight with 8-6 against Pilgrim’s top pair with A-T to send the multiple-ring-winner home and set up the heads-up match. Hinkle and Dudani played for nearly an hour and a half before Dudani bluffed all-in on the river with a busted straight draw; Hinkle called with two pair and ended the first stop of the new WSOP Circuit season.

For the win, Blair Hinkle takes home $88,555 and the gold WSOP Circuit ring. He also earns the first seat in the 2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, which will be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas next May before the WSOP begins.