Recently, PocketFives.com member Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki (pictured at right) took down his very first World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring in the Caesars Atlantic City Championship Event. His reward was $215,000 after defeating Kyle kwob20 Bowker heads-up. A total of 195 players registered for the $5,150 buy-in tournament and for Klodnicki, the win came just over a year after a 12th place finish in the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. PocketFives.com caught up with Klodnicki a few days after his monumental win.

Also at the final table was Grayson gray31 Ramage (pictured at left), who finished in third place for just over $100,000. Klodnicki told PocketFives.com that the roller coaster of a final table began with his pocket aces falling to Q-6 all-in pre-flop, but he promptly doubled up with pocket fives against Bowker’s A-K. Back in the driver’s seat, Klodnicki busted a player with pocket aces against pocket nines before playing a significant pot against Ryan ryanbluf Karp.
In the hand in question, Karp (pictured at right) raised from the cutoff and Klodnicki called from the big blind with a wired pair of fives. The flop came 5-8-10 rainbow, giving Klodnicki bottom set. The action went check-check to the king of clubs on the turn, putting two of the suit on the board. Klodnicki led out for 100,000 and Karp called to see an offsuit seven hit the river. Klodnicki checked, Karp bet 190,000, Klodnicki made it 525,000, and Karp called with K-7 for two pair. Klodnicki scooped the pot and set himself up for success down the stretch.

Four-handed, Klodnicki raised to 90,000 with 9-10 of clubs and Ramage re-raised from the big blind to 260,000 with A-K. Klodnicki jammed for 1.5 million and Ramage called, setting up a massive pot. Klodnicki flopped a nine and never looked back, ultimately taking down the $5,150 buy-in tournament.

Klodnicki’s 12th place run in the 2008 WSOP Main Event was worth $592,000. The same year, he finished as the runner-up to Barry barryg1 Greenstein (pictured at left) in a $1,500 buy-in Seven Card Razz tournament at the WSOP for $97,000. This year, Klodnicki took third in a $2,500 buy-in Mixed Event for $98,000, outlasting all but two runners in the 412-player field. On the significance of this week’s win in Atlantic City, Klodnicki told PocketFives.com, “I have been having an off-year and was losing confidence in my game. Every time I’ve been deep in big tournaments, things haven’t gone my way. It’s just nice to have the cards fall my way this time.”

Next up for Klodnicki is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, set to play out in January at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. From there, he’ll head to Los Angeles for the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Poker Classic, which kicks off in late February. Online, Klodnicki took down the $55 rebuy on PokerStars for $15,000 in mid-November, two months after finishing third in Full Tilt Poker’s $150 rebuy for $33,000. He also has outright victories in the Full Tilt $1K Monday and PokerStars $100 rebuy.

He relayed a rather interesting run-in with Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler at the New Jersey Casino: “Early on Day 2, I was grinding a pretty short stack because I took a sick beat at the end of Day 1. Kessler was at my table and he was complaining a lot to the floor about how they needed to break a table. Ultimately, they did and a guy got moved to our table. The very next hand, the cutoff opened and I jammed for about 15 big blinds with J-7 of hearts. He called with A-K and I won.” The punch line of the story, you ask? “Allen then said that when I go on to win the tournament, I’m going to owe him.” Apparently the player being moved altered the distribution of cards, resulting in Klodnicki sucking out on A-K with J-7.

In addition to the $215,000 top prize, Klodnicki also claimed a seat in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, set to kick off on July 5th from the Rio in Las Vegas. Here were the final table results from the WSOP Circuit Event Championship in Atlantic City:

1. Chris SLOPPYKLOD Klodnicki - $215,915
2. Kyle kwob20 Bowker - $128,357
3. Grayson gray31 Ramage - $100,852
4. Mukul Pahuja - $73,347
5. Ryan ryanbluf Karp - $67,178
6. Charles Furey - $55,010
7. Wayne Lewis - $45,842
8. Farzad Rouhani - $36,673
9. Eugene efouks Fouksman - $27,505