Evan Dollinger, of Coral Springs, won the main event of the WPT Regional Summer Heat Series at the Stax Poker Lounge at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.
He earned $90,501.
The $440 buy-in event drew 944 entries.
Dollinger, 27, has been playing full-time since 2007, knocked out the fifth, sixth and 11th-place finisher, and almost had the No. 3 player with his KK vs. A-4 preflop. But he turned an ace to stay alive.
He said he started to lose the heads-up battle, but was lucky and got JJ vs TT all-in preflop to double up.
The final hand, I won with 66 vs 57 on a 5 6 J T board and my opponent check-raised all-in on the turn.
He says he ran to his wife, Rebecca, to celebrate, and credits her for bringing him "food, water, and whatever else I needed for almost two full days so that I could focus on playing poker."
"I don't know if I could have done it without her," he said. Sounds like a keeper...
The pay list:
| Evan Dollinger | $ 90,501 | |
| Dimitry Agrachov | $ 52,782 | |
| Michael Laake | $ 35,065 | |
| Alan Percal | $ 23,438 | |
| Ronit Chamani | $ 16,241 | |
| N A | $ 12,550 | |
| Joseph Chalbaud | $ 9,597 | |
| Ory Hen | $ 7,013 | |
| Corey Burbick | $ 4,983 | |
| Marc Fluss | $ 3,580 | |
| Frank Lerczak | $ 3,580 | |
| Jason Weber | $ 3,580 | |
| Michael Monaco | $ 2,805 | |
| Neal Rocklin | $ 2,805 | |
| Richard Sternberg | $ 2,805 | |
| N A | $ 2,362 | |
| Jonathan Gold | $ 2,362 | |
| William Franzese | $ 2,362 | |
| Soo Jae Han | $ 1,993 | |
| Jacob Schinderler | $ 1,993 | |
| Michael Borrelli | $ 1,993 | |
| Quintin Henley | $ 1,993 | |
| Michael Puccio | $ 1,993 | |
| Robert Nalbandian | $ 1,993 | |
| Scott Campbell | $ 1,993 | |
| Robert Scott | $ 1,993 | |
| Gregory Marcus | $ 1,993 | |
| Jeffrey Sheppard | $ 1,698 | |
| William Greisman | $ 1,698 | |
| Daniel Giggs | $ 1,698 | |
| Zackery Stites | $ 1,698 | |
| Courtney Logan | $ 1,698 | |
| Daniel Nocerino | $ 1,698 | |
| Andrew Becker | $ 1,698 | |
| David Tiderman | $ 1,698 | |
| Neil Crilly | $ 1,698 | |
| John Matinache | $ 1,440 | |
| Brett Bader | $ 1,440 | |
| Ari Dinov | $ 1,440 | |
| James Spires | $ 1,440 | |
| Micahel Moreno | $ 1,440 | |
| Michael Amato | $ 1,440 | |
| Jerry Wong | $ 1,440 | |
| Scott Stewart | $ 1,440 | |
| Marsha Wolak | $ 1,440 | |
| James Solana | $ 1,255 | |
| Jorge Puig | $ 1,255 | |
| Michael Marks | $ 1,255 | |
| Don Danielson | $ 1,255 | |
| Bill Oderat | $ 1,255 | |
| Yigal Hen | $ 1,255 | |
| John Amrhein | $ 1,255 | |
| Donald Blank | $ 1,255 | |
| Steven Moreno | $ 1,255 | |
| Abbey Daniels | $ 1,107 | |
| Miguel Mckenzie | $ 1,107 | |
| Diego Ponce | $ 1,107 | |
| Michael Lewin | $ 1,107 | |
| Luis Ojalvo | $ 1,107 | |
| Angel Jimenez | $ 1,107 | |
| Taylor Fortini | $ 1,107 | |
| Lori Alpern | $ 1,107 | |
| Juan Restrepo | $ 1,107 | |
| Joshua Hillock | $ 960 | |
| David Walker | $ 960 | |
| Derek Buonano | $ 960 | |
| Patrick Hughes | $ 960 | |
| Larry Kusch | $ 960 | |
| Roque Azpurua | $ 960 | |
| Victoria Anderson | $ 960 | |
| Philip Paul | $ 960 | |
| Ronnie Bardah | $ 960 | |
| Mariano Szlaifer | $ 849 | |
| John Desoto | $ 849 | |
| Scott Hart | $ 849 | |
| Fernando Salazar | $ 849 | |
| Rahul Devara | $ 849 | |
| Robert Zuckerman | $ 849 | |
| Andrew Slater | $ 849 | |
| Harjinder Chawla | $ 849 | |
| Alan Phillips | $ 849 | |
| Jeff Belsewich | $ 775 | |
| Martha Borja | $ 775 | |
| Francis Garcia | $ 775 | |
| Jeffrey Deloian | $ 775 | |
| Philip Sweeting | $ 775 | |
| Ali Kazaneh | $ 775 | |
| Kathryn Pannel | $ 775 | |
| David Bell | $ 775 | |
| John Yenidounia | $ 775 | |
