2020 WSOP Circuit – February
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida – Event 9
$3,250 High Roller (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  104
Prize Pool:  $312,000
February 13-14, 2020

You’d expect a high-roller event to have a tough final table, and this one delivered with some heavy hitters — David Prociak, Stephen Song, Jake Schwartz, Faraz Jaka, and Brock Wilson. But it was Mark Zullo, who rarely plays tournaments, who outlasted them all to claim his first live tournament victory, winning a coveted WSOP Circuit ring along with $89,150.

Zullo was assisted by a few key cards in a few key spots, including a huge four-outer that came when he was heads-up against Brock Wilson.

“The kings vs. aces hand, I had the kings,” said Zullo, referring to a cooler where he eliminated Gary Lucci in seventh place. “I hit a king, and that was pretty big. After that, I had a lot of the chips, and I had momentum down to heads-up. Then he kind of crushed me heads-up. But I got lucky at the end.”

The luck Zullo is referring to at the end of the touranment is when Zullo semi-bluffed all in on the turn with a gutshot straight draw, and Wilson snap-called with top two pair. Zullo needed to catch a seven on the river to stay alive, and the river card was the .

That seven on the river catapulted Zullo back into the chip lead, and it wasn’t long after that when Zullo’s held up against Wilson’s to end the tournament.

Zullo doesn’t play many tournaments throughout the year, but he does go to Vegas for the World Series of Poker every summer. Zullo has racked up 12 WSOP cashes in the past five years, with the biggest coming from his 53rd-place finish in the 2018 WSOP Main Event ($156,265).

While a deep run in the WSOP Main Event can be magical, there’s nothing like a victory. “I’ve been playing a long time,” said Mark Zullo, “but I’ve never won a live tournament. This first win is pretty exciting.”

Final Results:

1st:  Mark Zullo  –  $89,150 + WSOP Circuit ring
2nd:  Brock Wilson  –  $55,099
3rd:  Faraz Jaka  –  $37,505
4th:  Jake Schwartz  –  $26,338
5th:  Anthony Askey  –  $19,100
6th:  Stephen Song  –  $14,319
7th:  Gary Lucci  –  $11,110
8th:  David Prociak  –  $8,933
9th:  Jamey Kramer  –  $7,453
10th:  Arkadiy Tsinis  –  $7,453
11th:  Mukul Pahuja  –  $6,461
12th:  Michael Browne  –  $6,461
13th:  Russell Jaicks  –  $5,828
14th:  Michael Rossitto  –  $5,828
15th:  Peter Walsworth  –  $5,481
16th:  Jason Daly  –  $5,481