Dr Quinlan – aka Reraise1986 – wins Global Poker Tournament of Champions

Kentucky doctor Branden Reraise1986 Quinlan has been crowned as Global Poker’s Tournament of Champions king – bagging a $5000 live tournament package after seeing off 159 rivals in the Grizzly Games II champion’s showdown.

All the winners and runners-up from the Grizzly Games series 2 were back to fight it out for the $5k prize package that includes travel and accommodation expenses, tournament buy-ins and Global Poker swag.

For busy Dr Quinlan it was fortunate that it coincided with his hospital rotation, and he even had a rail as he played the biggest online event of his poker life – his seat at the table coming courtesy of his 2nd place in the Grizzly Games 2 Medium Main Event

“It’s funny, when I got through to the Tournament of Champions, my two nephews were so excited and asked if they could watch me play. I said, ‘Well, it’s going to be me and the screen for a few hours, I don’t know how fun it’s going to be for you,’ but they came over and were glued to the screen the whole time, cheering me on. When I finally won they started screaming and running around the house. It was really awesome.”

Brandon’s wife was also cheering him on as he ran deeper in the tournament:

“I told my wife how I was doing, as I was progressing, ‘There’s 18 people left; there’s 12 people left’ and she said, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re going to win this!’ We were all pretty excited.”

It looked as though it would be close but no cigar, however, as he found himself card-dead in the crucial heads-up battle with ILovePenguins. Mirroring his day job of long shifts spiked with short bursts of action, the tide eventually turned and the Tournament of Champions title eventually hinged on this hand

♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

Reraise1986: A♠ 8♠

ILovePenguins: K♦ 6♦

Flop: K♣ 4♠ A♦

Turn: J♦

River: 8♥

Already a huge fan of Global Poker since joining last summer, Dr Quinlan is thinking of spending his $5000 live package on a visit to the WSOP this summer. In the meantime he says he’ll be trying his hand at the Jackpot Sit’n’Go Tournaments in addition to his regular ring games.