Natural8-WSOPC: James “PHJ10” Carroll claims a career second WSOP ring; Japan’s Kosei Ichinose, Thailand’s “pennyblack”, and India’s “EasyShips” among side winners

The World Series of Poker is back on the GG Network with a month long Super Circuit Online Series hosted at online platform Natural8. Running for the full month of May, the festival boasts of US$ 100 Million in guaranteed prizes with a total of 18 WSOP Circuit Rings up for grabs. For the first time ever, 2 Cash Game Rings will also be awarded. To ensure everyone has a chance at the coveted merch, buy-ins are kept at an affordable US$ 25 up to US$ 840. The highlighted Main Event US$ 5 Million guaranteed has a US$ 525 price tag. To get in for cheaper, make sure to check out the satellites.

Last night, the first WSOPC Ring was claimed by USA’s James “PHJ10” Carroll at the RING #2: $210 Beat the Pros [WSOPC Edition] event. This was Carroll’s second ever career ring. At the side events, three Asians shipped it, namely Natural8 Team Hot Pro Kosei Ichinose, Thailand’s “pennyblack”, and India’s “EasyShips”.

Up next are two ring events, both guaranteeing US$ 1,000,000 each. RING #1: $100 Super Circuit Kick-Off has already breached its guarantee with over 12K entries and climbing. If you haven’t secured a Day 2 spot yet, last chance entry flights remain to try to qualify. Day 2 is just hours away, taking place on Monday, May 3 at 4:05am HKT. The RING #3: $400 DOUBLE STACK MILLION No Limit Hold’em event starts a bit earlier, Monday, May 3 at 2:05am HKT. Registration is open until 5:45am.

With the games just underway, sign up to Natural8 to avail of all the exclusive player incentives which include LiveX Sponsorship Packages from US$ 10,000 to US$ 50,000, exclusive WSOP Freerolls, and WSOP Flipouts. You can read up on those perks at the bottom of the page.

Join Natural8 – $100 in Free tickets with your 1st Deposit

RING #2: $210 Beat the Pros – JAMES “PHJ10” CARROLL – US$ 49,835.14

The first WSOPC Ring went to USA pro player James “PHJ10” Carroll after he outlasted the 2,879 entry field of RING #2: $210 Beat the Pros [WSOPC Edition]. This was his second career WSOPC Ring having locked up his first at last year’s WSOPC series at WSOP.com. On the cash side, Carroll pocketed US$ 23,301.31 for his win plus US$ 26,533.83 in bounty rewards for a combined US$ 49,835.14. This was Carroll’s 47th WSOP career cash.

Buy in: US$ 210
Guarantee: US$ 500,000
Entries: 2,879
Prize pool: US$ 575,800
ITM: 368
Running time: 8 hours and 53 minutes

Final table payouts

1st James “PHJ10” Carroll – USA – US$ 49,835.14
2nd beos – Hong Kong – US$ 29,798.97
3rd Rainer Kempe – Germany – US$ 20,724.85
4th oku1988 – Hong Kong – US$ 17,296.40
5th Scorpio520 – China – US$ 11,843.69
6th backbone – China – US$ 12,991.15
7th buckylovin – Poland – US$ 8,558.39
8th Tyler “TheRayGuy” Cornell – USA – US$ 4,991.32
9th Tsz “Eh8Ay” Shing – USA – US$ 5,101.65

Event recap

The event attracted 2,879 at US$ 210 each to boost the pot to US$ 575,800. One of the attractions of this event was the added perk of qualifying into a freeroll when you eliminate a player highlighted in Blue (Influencer), Purple (Streamer), or Green (Pro). Before the money flowed, a long list of these players fell such as Natural8 Team Hot Pros Pete Chen and Bryan Paris, Felipe Ramos, and Kevin Martin who fired seven bullets. On the flip side, running the deepest was Germany’s Rainer Kempe who charged all the way up to 3rd place.

Recapping the action at the final two tables, at 15 remaining, Hong Kong player “beos” zoomed to the top on a double up through PHJ10 with turned quads. Beos went on to rail StacknRacks in 11th place with flush over trips to carry the biggest stack into the final table. This was a good showing by Asia with four players in the round.

The final table ran just under an hour and 20 minutes, tabling a total of 139 hands. On the fifth hand, Poland’s “buckylovin” bluff shoved on a turn board, , PHJ10 snap called with set, and with the river , it was a double up. Three hands after, China’s “backbone” delivered a double knockout to take the lead with dusting Tyler “TheRayGuy” Cornell and Tsz “Eh8Ay” Shing . Next showdown credited backbone with a third final table victim with buckylovin rivered out in 7th place.

After backbone’s rush of eliminations, came a lengthy six-handed round. For the next thirty minutes, beos grinded to regain the chip lead, backbone began slipping, PHJ10 climbed to second rank, then beos emptied out backbone with top pair over second pair. On the very next hand, PHJ10 won a big pot on a lucky set against beos’s to take the lead for the first time. PHJ10 widened further by railing China’s “Scorpio520 ” then several hands later, he did the same to Hong Kong’s “oku1988”.

By this time, PHJ10 had a huge 4.5:1 chip advantage over each of his opponents however, it didn’t hold. Beos won three big pots off PHJ10 which included two double ups to reclaim the top spot. The biggest hand was set over that missed. PHJ10 recovered some of the lost chips on a double up with pocket Tens over beos’s pocket Nines, then jumped out front again on an incredibly lucky runner runner full house to beat beos’s top pair. See hand pictured below, both players were all in on the flop.

From here on, PHJ10 held on. He finished off Kempe with dominating then locked up the ring eleven hands later. As mentioned above, this was James “PHJ10” Carroll’s second career WSOPC ring. His first was in March 2019 at the WSOP.com Super Circuit Online Series, outlasting a field of 726 entries at Event #6: $320 No Limit Hold’em.

In live earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, Carroll has accumulated over US$ 4.5 million since 2009. His largest recorded career score was US$ 1,256,550 for his victory at the WPT 101 Bay Shooting Star US$ 7,500 No Limit Hold’em Main Event. In 2018, he nearly clasped a first WSOP bracelet at the US$ 1,500 No Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event, finishing 2nd to Canada’s Tommy Nguyen. Carroll had to settle for US$ 640,916 instead. With his latest win, he has now collected US$ 1,221,390.14 in WSOP winnings.

Asia Results – Side Events

WSOPC Series: $525 Bounty Hunters PLO

Buy in: US$ 525
Guarantee: US$ 30,000
Entries: 83
Prize pool: US$ 41,500
ITM: 11 places
Winner: KOSEI ICHINOSE – Natural8 Team Hot Pro – Japan – US$ 11,864.89
2nd Sasha Liu “Poker Sasha” – USA – US$ 7,813.82

WSOPC Series: $250 Daily Main

Buy in: US$ 250
Guarantee: US$ 100,000
Entries: 501
Prize pool: US$ 115,230
ITM: 71 places
Winner: PENNYBLACK – Thailand – US$ 20,963,64

WSOPC Series: $52.50 Bounty King PLO

Buy in: US$ 52.50
Guarantee: US$ 20,000
Entries: 454
Prize pool: US$ 22,700
ITM: 63 places
Winner: EASYSHIPS – India – US$ 4,335.72

WSOPC by the numbers

Day 1 prize pool: US$ 2,062,196
Completed Ring Events: 1
Side events: 22
Total entries: 17,113

Exclusive Natural8 Promos

Freerolls

Natural8 will be giving away free WSOP tickets via their hourly freerolls, VIP Club Freerolls, First Deposit Freerolls, and Natural8 Exclusive WSOP Freerolls. Players can win satellite tickets and WSOP tickets worth over US$ 2,000 weekly.

US$ 50,000 LiveX Sponsorship Package

Win the Main Event and this package is yours! The sponsorship package includes:

12 months LiveX Crew Sponsorship
US$ 15,000 Las Vegas Package ($10,000 to cover your buy-ins and $5,000 for expenses)
US$ 35,000 for live event sponsorships over 12 months

US$ 10,000 LiveX Sponsorship Package

Win one of the other WSOPC Ring Events and this package is yours! The sponsorship package includes:

6 months LiveX Crew Sponsorship
US$ 10,000 Las Vegas Package

Natural8 WSOP Flipouts

For N8 members that play any of the WSOPC events, you gain entry to exclusive Natural8 Exclusive WSOP Flipouts with each entry increasing your stack. Flipouts happen every Saturday on May 7, 14, 21, and 28 at 23:00 UTC.

Join Natural8 – $100 in Free tickets with your 1st Deposit

Stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we continue to bring you recaps of the ongoing Natural8 – WSOPC festival.