On Monday morning, Evan Sandberg had a pair of WSOP online bracelets in his trophy cabinet. By the end of the day, he had a World Series of Poker Circuit ring to dust around as well.
After collecting his $133,841 for first place in the Event #13: $1,700 Main Event at the WSOP Circuit Lake Tahoe festival, Sandberg now has a little over $1.4 million in live cashes.
The $1,700 buy-in, no limit hold’em Main Event attracted 439 players and racked up $665,085 in the prize pool. This made up more than a third of the $1,764,246 in prizes awarded across the 18 ring events of the festival.
Fighting For First
Sandberg’s battle to the top spot didn’t come easily. Having spent two days fighting through a field that was 439-entries strong, Sandberg found himself at a final table with Michael Pearson.
Pearson is a solid player with form at Lake Tahoe, having taken down this exact event in 2016 and 2019.
Sandberg also had to watch out for WSOP Circuit ring winners Bilguun Odgerel and Brett Murray and Dann Turner who has a WSOP Online bracelet, five WSOP Circuit final table finishes, four WPT Deepstack final tables, and a TV bubble finish in the 2023 WPT Rolling Thunder Main Event.
Despite the strong line up, Sandberg did his best to avoid being intimidated at the final table.
“For me, I always enjoy a challenge,” he told WSOP.com. “So, playing with tough competition does make it a lot funner for me. It motivates me to really play my best.”
With all this hardware at the table, Sandberg managed to hold his own, going into Day 3 with the fifth biggest stack of seven.
Day 3 Action
On the final day, Vinny Chu and Travis Stevenson were the first out of the action on Day 3. Pearson followed in fifth, earning $28,921.
Murray and Turner took fourth and third respectively, leaving Sandberg heads up against James Czarnecki.
Czarnecki had a good start in the heads up phase of the tounrey. Although the players began with roughly even stacks, Czarnecki quickly pulled ahead.
However, Sandberg was able to turn things around when his three-bet bluff with Qx6x was called preflop.
“I thought he looked weak when he raised — a completely bad read,” he explained after the hand.
However, it was a perfectly timed mistake since the flop came out queen high and he picked up a six on the turn. After check-raising all in and getting a call, Sandberg’s two-pair took it down and suddenly he was out in the lead.
After that, it was just a matter of mopping up the last of Czarnecki’s chips. Czarnecki ended up taking home $87,977 for second place, while Sandberg pocketed $133,841 and the ring for first place.
WSOP Circuit Lake Tahoe Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evan Sandberg | San Francisco, CA | $133,841 |
| 2 | James Czarnecki | Edgewater, MD | $87,977 |
| 3 | Dann Turner | Cleveland, OH | $59,232 |
| 4 | Brett Murray | San Francisco, CA | $40,871 |
| 5 | Michael Pearson | Santa Rosa, CA | $28,921 |
| 6 | Travis Stenerson | Japan | $21,101 |
| 7 | Vinny Chu | Elk Grove, CA | $15,659 |
| 8 | Bilguun Odgerel | Oakland, CA | $11,999 |
| 9 | Lee Viloria | Hayward, CA | $9,455 |
Coming Soon
The next big event on the WSOPC calendar is the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Durant. The Main Event of that festival will declare a winner on November 11 and the preliminary ring events are already underway.
After that there are just four more events left in 2024 for the WSOPC. The WSOP Circuit Grand Victoria starts on November 7, the WSOP Circuit Commerce on November 21, and the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Las Vegas on November 28.
Then it is on to the final event of the year when the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee kicks off on November 28, closing out the year when the festival finishes on December 9.
You can check out the full results for the WSOP Lake Tahoe festival below.
WSOP Circuit Lake Tahoe Full Series Results
| EVENT | ENTRANTS | WINNER | PRIZE | PRIZEPOOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: $400 No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack | 187 | Ben Primus | $14,517 | $61,710 |
| Event #2: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha | 87 | Mark Castagnini | $7,962 | $28,710 |
| Event #3: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 507 | Adam Greenlee | $30,555 | $167,310 |
| Event #4: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 113 | Anthony Costa | $9,768 | $37,290 |
| Event #5: $300 Seniors Event | 302 | Joseph Mongkoluaaree | $15,455 | $72,481 |
| Event #6: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 108 | Tom Jeffrey | $9,336 | $35,640 |
| Event #7: $400 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Max | 195 | Jordan Ramirez | $14,991 | $64,350 |
| Event #8: $400 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better | 113 | Sterling Lopez | $9,767 | $37,290 |
| Event #9: $400 Monster Stack | 574 | Jason Graeb | $34,721 | $189,420 |
| Event #10: $250 Ladies Event | 118 | Cheryl Svenson | $6,070 | $23,600 |
| Event #11: $600 No-Limit Hold’em | 156 | Patrick Lanahan | $19,893 | $80,340 |
| Event #12: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 108 | Donald Ciaglo | $9,336 | $35,640 |
| Event #13: $1,700 MAIN EVENT | 439 | Evan Sandberg | $665,085 | |
| Event #14: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 106 | John Swensson | $9,319 | $34,980 |
| Event #15: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 144 | Derek Nicolich | $12,070 | $47,520 |
| Event #16: $300 Seniors Even | 278 | Denis Lee | $14,574 | $66,720 |
| Event #17: $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 159 | Dan Stavila | $12,996 | $52,470 |
| Event #18: $400 No-Limit Hold’em Double Stack Closer | 193 | Jed Hoffman | $14,977 | $63,690 |
