Blake Battaglia Wins 2017 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event For $332,020

(Photo: WSOP.com)

It was a grand hello to the professional poker ranks for Illinois’ Blake Battaglia as he took down the biggest payday of his career at the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event in his home city of Chicago – winning $332,020 and his first WSOPC gold ring.

1287 entries to the $1675 buy-in tournament saw the $1million guarantee smashed, with $1,870,000 up for grabs by the time entries closed – 135 lucky players set to cash, although when they reached that stage the first of the $2,787 minimum payouts was shared, not quite recouping the buy-in for Dor Goldman and Joseph Trezzo.

At the other end of the money, it was 31-year old former electrician Battaglia who was heading towards a massive win, the father of three telling WSOP.com:

“It hasn’t hit me yet. It’s unreal. I can’t believe it,” adding that he was, of course, “definitely ecstatic about it!"

Battaglia’s final day run was almost a post-to-post affair, his big stack keeping him clear of trouble as the final table got underway, with Jeff Banghart his biggest rival.

Battaglia explained later:

“I know that he overtook the chip lead for a little while. When we went to the final table there was like back-to-back hands where me and him played pots together. He’s a good player. He was playing solid all day, from what I saw."

When they eventually faced each other heads-up for the title and bracelet, WSOP.com reported that: ‘It did not take long, but could have even been shorter. At one point, Battaglia was one card away from glory, but got snuffed on the river…

“Oh man, the ring was half way on my finger man,” Battaglia told reporters. “I just had to buckle down. I knew like to not go on tilt… But, you know, we recovered like right away.”

When the end came, Battaglia already had a 7:1 chip lead over his adversary and it came down to a race between Battaglia’s A♠ 4♦ and Banghart’s 3♥ 3♣.

When the flop fell 

9♥ 6♥ 2♠ 

Banghart’s hopes were still alive and kicking, but the turn…

A♥

…left him drawing very thin indeed, and the river 5♣ sealed the deal, giving Battaglia a huge boost to his poker career.

Final Table results: