The penultimate WSOP Circuit stop of the season at Harrah's Chester offered nine "Ring Events" (meaning that the champion would earn a WSOP Circuit Championship Ring), but despite it being the first time the WSOPC had ever stopped in Pennsylvania, the low turnout across the board surprised many. The $1,580 main event even offered, but barely promoted, a $400,000 guaranteed prize pool and with 269 players, an overlay of $8,605 was paid out by the casino.

Courtesy of WSOPWith the victory, Kenny Nguyen now has over $400,000 in lifetime career earnings.

With the overlay in place, the main event offered great value to the players in attendance and Kenny "Super Tuan" Nguyen would emerge from the pack to earn the WSOPC title, a seat in the National Championship and $94,901. The major title may have been Nguyen's first, but it was the second-largest score of his career. The Lynwood, IL native has played on the tournament circuit since 2009 and finished sixth at the WPT's Borgata Poker Open in 2009 for $156,212. He has two WSOP cashes, with a best finish of 32nd in a $1,500 event in 2009. This was Nguyen's first live cash since November, 2010.

Entering the final table, Kenny Nguyen wasn't the Nguyen many had their eyes on. Huy Nguyen, WSOPC main event champion at Choctaw, ended Day 1 with the chip lead and entered the final table in fifth. There have only been two other WSOP Circuit main event two-time champions (Peter Feldman and Chris Ferguson) and Nguyen, looking to become the third, fell short and was eliminated by Ed Cotter in ninth. Nguyen had already secured his second WSOPC win in April with a victory in a $555 buy-in event in St. Louis.

The turning point for the champion Nguyen came against one of online poker's first superstars, Ari Engel. "BodogAri", second in chips with four players remaining, got creative to try and further expand his lead with a squeeze play. Ramana Epparla opened the pot to 130,000 in chips (blinds 25,000/50,000 with a 5,000 ante) and Kenny Nguyen called from the button. Typically an ideal scenario, Engel picked up an ace (A-5) in the big blind and moved all-in. Epparla folded, but Nguyen called and showed A-Q to have Engel dominated. Nguyen's hand held and he would become the chip leader and then eliminate Engel a few hands later.

Robert Scott would knock out Epparla in third place by hitting a three-outer on the river and by doing so, regardless of where he finished, he would also lock up a spot in the National Championship by becoming the "Casino Champion" during the WSOPC series. In his only other cash during the series, he finished ninth in the $555 event for $2,142. This was his fourth career WSOP Circuit cash.

The WSOP Circuit's next stop in New Orleans is already underway and it will not only feature the $1,500 main event (May 16), but also a $5,160 pot-limit Omaha event (non-ring, May 17) and the $10,000 Regional Championship on May 19. By offering the three big events, it could entice some of the players looking for multiple events at a tournament stop to make the trip. Traveling to events isn't always easy or cheap, but if there are three events worth playing, including a televised one, the value just might be there and there may be a larger turnout as a result.

1. Kenny Nguyen ($94,901)
2. Robert Scott ($58,639)
3. Ramana Epparla ($42,366)
4. Alan "Ari" Engel ($31,179)
5. Sean Knitter ($23,358)
6. Edward Cotter ($17,799)
7. Robert Hwang ($13,790)
8. Ryan Waddell ($10,858)
9. Huy Nguyen ($8,685)

Small blinds: The World Series of Poker will work with the Bad Beat on Cancer, one of its official charities, to offer the "First Annual Bad Beat Seminar Series". The 11 seminars will feature a variety of pros who will focus on different topics. The first speaker on June 4 will be Chad Brown who will discuss his own personal ongoing battle with cancer. Attending the seminars is free, but donations will be accepted. Additionally, players can continue to donate 1 percent of their tournament winnings to the charity during registration. … Bertrand Grospellier won the 25,000 euro buy-in high roller event at the EPT Grand Final. He earned 525,000 euros for the victory. David Sands (fourth), Vanessa Rousso (fifth) and Galen Hall (seventh) also made the money in the 58-player event. … Victor Ramdin finished 23rd in the EPT Grand Final. The event will conclude on Thursday. … On Tuesday, Absolute Poker made a deal with the DOJ with hopes of being able to repaying American players. … The Bellagio is holding preliminary events before the $25,000 WPT Championship. Early champions include Scott Clements, Michael Briggs, Matthew Leecy and Kirill Kruglov.