A handful of acquainted poker names have been glued to NFL video games on Sunday as Circa Survivor VI, one of many greatest sports activities betting competitions within the U.S., got here all the way down to the wire in Las Vegas.
Amongst these using the motion, chasing a share of the tens of millions of {dollars} at stake, have been poker streamer pioneer Jason Somerville and high-stakes poker participant Galen Corridor, each of whom have been alive heading into NFL Week 18.
Circa Survivor VI attracted a report 18,718 entries at $1,000 apiece, smashing the $15 million assure and creating an $18,718,000 prize pool. 5 entries survived the complete NFL season leading to a five-way cut up, with every entry formally incomes $3,743,600.
Corridor had two entries attain the end line, which means the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Journey Fundamental Occasion champion and World Sequence of Poker bracelet winner banked almost $7.5 million earlier than any hedging or personal offers have been factored in.
Poker Royalty within the Combine
Former PokerStars ambassador Somerville, extensively considered the godfather of poker streaming due to his early prime-time Twitch success, was a part of the ultimate sweat after a profession that features a WSOP bracelet and greater than $3 million in stay match earnings.
Somerville was a part of the JUICY KEWCHI entry, a crew run by Survivor Atlas founder and poker participant Gabe Patgorski that included a number of members of the poker neighborhood in keeping with VSiN.com.
Corridor isn’t any stranger to massive scores both. He gained the 2011 PCA Fundamental Occasion for $2.3 million and later captured a WSOP bracelet.
Based on skilled poker participant and achieved sports activities bettor David “ODB” Baker, poker expertise was all over the place on the prime of the leaderboard.
“Not less than 4 of the 5 Circa Survivor winners have been owned or picked by poker gamers,” Baker famous on social media.
Matt Graham (L), Casey Diener (centre-left)
Baker proved his sports activities betting chops in 2021 when his crew, which included Mark Gregorich, gained the Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest for $435,623 and took second place within the Circa Sports activities Million for $200,000.
Amongst these concerned was Matt “Mattg1983” Graham, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and well-known on-line grinder in the course of the poker increase period, who was a part of the REAL BRO entry.
REAL BRO was run by poker participant Casey Diener alongside associate Joey Michael, with Graham additionally a part of the crew. Diener, a daily on the stay match circuit with almost $471,329 in profession earnings, helped information the entry by means of the complete NFL season and into the five-way cut up.
Whereas the precise quantities every particular person or crew finally locked up stay unclear attributable to reported widespread hedging and monetization of entries, there is no such thing as a query the returns have been monumental relative to the $1,000 buy-in.
What’s the Circa Survivor Sports activities Betting Contest?
Circa Survivor is held each NFL season by Circa Sports activities and has rapidly change into probably the most adopted contests in sports activities betting.
Gamers choose one NFL crew to win every week, however can solely use every crew as soon as per entry for the complete season. Decide a shedding crew and that entry is eradicated. There aren’t any comfort prizes, and entries should survive the complete NFL season to money or till just one entry stays.
Six entries entered the ultimate day with an implied worth of greater than $3.1 million apiece, however that quantity rapidly dropped to 5 after PARTZ1-9 was eradicated when the Cincinnati Bengals misplaced on a last-second area purpose towards the Cleveland Browns.
A number of of the remaining entries gathered at a viewing social gathering hosted by Circa proprietor Derek Stevens contained in the Circa Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas, the place the ultimate 5 survived the remaining video games on the slate to lock up a share of the report prize pool.
Poker Gamers Outperform Perry
In 2023, high-stakes professional Sean Perry made headlines by refusing to cut Circa Survivor when 13 entries remained, turning down a deal that may have paid every finalist $400,000 with the remaining left to play for.
Perry finally busted with out reaching the tip and walked away with nothing. The excessive curler and son of old-school poker professional Ralph Perry has created some drama and controversy throughout the sports activities betting neighborhood for promoting picks and claiming to crush the sportsbooks, a declare that many have disputed.
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Calum Grant
Senior Editor & Reside Occasions Govt
Calum has written for varied poker retailers however discovered his dwelling at PokerNews, the place he has contributed to numerous articles and stay updates, offering insights and reporting on main poker occasions, together with the World Sequence of Poker (WSOP).
