Shahin Edalatdju Wins Harrah’s Rincon WSOP Circuit Main Event
Shahin Edalatdju won the Main Event at the Harrah’s Rincon stop of the WSOP Circuit and took away a great first placed prize of $116,325, as well as the gold ring and a seat in the National Championships. The poker stars came out to play in this one and the event saw WSOP bracelet holders, ring winners, a November Niner and plenty of Circuit regulars take to the felt in Rincon. It was however a local gas station owner Shahin Edalatdju who cleared up everyone’s chips and took the money.
Shahin Edalatdju arrived from Iran back in 1984 and started his new life in the US with just $20 to his name. He is now a small business owner, and this is by far his biggest ever cash win in poker tournaments with his previous best standing at just $5,300. The field at Rincon of 330 players meant a prize pool of $495,000 and players in the mix included Eric Baldwin, Sam Stein, Soi Nguyen and the 1983 WSOP Main Event Champion and Poker Hall of Fame man Tom McEvoy. The final table started with Edalatdju sitting in 5th place, and play got off to a fast start with Sean Burson heading home early, leaving just 8 players in the frame. Played slowed down somewhat until a three way pot saw 2 players eliminated, then Craig Francis also went soon after. When we eventually hit heads up play it was Shahin Edalatdju and Steve Firestone who remained and they battled it out for a whole 5 hours. Firestone began the battle with a 6 to 1 chip lead however Shahin Edalatdju cut that down eventually taking the lead. Chips went between players for some time however when Edalatdju went all in with pocket 8’s and Firestone called with his A,4 it was all over as nothing on the board could come to the rescue of Firestone.
Shahin Edalatdju now heads to Atlantic City in May for the National Championships and he’ll no doubt be feeling very confident after beating such a star studded field.
