Last month, Mike oakesO’Connell (pictured) scored his first World Series of Poker Circuit ring in style. On his final hand, he hit quads and pocketed $10,000 from the $365 No Limit Hold’em tournament. Oh yeah, the hand he hit quads on: pocket fives, of course.

The final hand saw O’Connell in a race against Hassan Babajane, who had A-Q. One five came on the flop and the case card came on the turn to give O’Connell his first ring. “It’s surreal,” O’Connell told PocketFives. “It’s something I have always dreamed of doing.”

When asked how he navigated through the 124-man field, O’Connell candidly said, “The deck hit me upside the head all night. I got really good hands and some really good spots. I had twice as many chips as second place going into the final table, so I was able to sit back and watch everyone else knock each other out. The only player I knocked out at the final table was when we were heads-up.”

O’Connell went to Foxwoods, the site of the Circuit stop, with his friend, Brian Pincus, who as fate would have it finished in ninth place. “We didn’t do much to celebrate,” he said. “It was a long day. We played a $160 the following day. I took ninth and his wife took 14th. On Saturday, we played the $580, but I used all my run good during the previous two tournaments.” The tournament he won lasted 14 hours.

O’Connell got started in poker during the Moneymaker Boom. “His win and the way ESPN covered it really got me into poker,” the Circuit ring winner said. “I had always been a recreational player, though. I played some tourneys online when I had the chance. This was my fifth live tourney ever.”

He’s a longtime member of PocketFives. In fact, he signed up for our site in May 2005, just a couple of months after we launched. At the time, he was playing on Paradise Poker and saw players talking about PocketFives. He said, “I took a look and signed up immediately. The guys who were on the site back then like JohnnyBax(pictured), sheets, NSXT2, and Wein – the insight and knowledge that was thrown around was insane.”

O’Connell is not a poker player by trade. Instead, he’s a ship broker on Long Island and a coach for a junior hockey team. “We have clients who need to move cargo from one place in the world to another,” O’Connell explained about his job. “We find ships that can move it for them. I get to play poker maybe once or twice a month.”

Congrats to oakes on his first of what we hope are many WSOP Circuit rings!

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