The heads-up match between Tyler Martinez and Chuck Thompson in the latest WSOP Circuit tournament was a striking contrast of style and personality. On one end of the table sat Thompson, the burley 69-year-old white-bearded poker veteran of decades of battles over the green felt. On the opposite end was Tyler Martinez, the 23-year-old online poker pro, who is relatively new to live tournaments. Indeed, with all due respect to Martinez – who has certainly put in massive hours playing on the Internet – his adversary Thompson was winning poker tournaments way back before the younger man was even born.

But none of that mattered. When the two players sat down face to face, Martinez’ skills and experiences were every bit as impressive as Thompson’s. As the hands played out with Martinez ultimately prevailing, one could arguably say another torch has now been passed to a new generation of poker talent. That sobering message is not necessarily new, with so many exceptionally-talented players in their 20s winning poker tournaments. But the way Martinez won, outfoxing the savvy vet with a mix of well-timed aggression and one exceptional trap play that worked to perfection was memorable.

Martinez defeated Thompson and earned $13,749 in what was his first live poker tournament victory. He was also presented with a WSOP Circuit gold ring, the ultimate token of achievement for Circuit victories.

The $300 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament attracted 189 entries, creating a prize pool totaling $54,999. The top 18 finishers collected payouts. All of the action took place over a two-day period inside Rincon Pavilion Showroom.

After 180 players were eliminated on the first day, nine survivors took their seats at the final table which was played on the second day. Pablo Lopez, who works as a bartender in San Diego, sat down with a massive chip lead. His stack size contained perhaps the highest proportion of chips of any nine-handed final table at any major poker tournament played so far this year. Lopez had a whopping 41 percent of the chips on the table – an almost unheard of chip advantage for a major tournament. But his good fortune only carried him as far as third place.

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by Nolan Dalla