Chicago Poker Player Freersatta.kingolls Way to Second WSOP Circuit Ring Win in 2 Years

Table Of Contents

• Early Success
• Second Ciruit Ring Victory
• WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond Event #17 Final Table Results
• Chasing a Bracelet

Earlier this month, Chicago poker player Jennifer Lin parlayed a cash game promotion into a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) victory that earned her $17,416 and her second Circuit ring in under two years.

The March 10 victory at Horseshoe Hammond in Event #17: $400 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed marked Lin's fifth WSOP Circuit final table since November 2022, which is when Lin first decided to make the leap from cash games to tournaments.

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PokerNewsspoke with the rising Circuit grinder about getting into poker in college, battling with Midwest crusher Josh Reichard to win her second Circuit ring and her plans to chase a WSOP bracelet this summer.

WSOP Circuit Hammond Highlights

Early Success

Lin, who has a full-time consulting job, started playing poker seriously six years ago when she joined a college poker club.

"I thought, cool, I know how to play poker," Lin said in an interview. "I grew up with a family who during family gatherings after dinner they would play casual poker games. So I joined that and I just made friends there."

Lin and her poker friends moved to Chicago together "just to keep the home game vibes going" and she started playing cash games at Illinois casinos like Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.

She eventually decided to try tournaments and had immediate success. Her first-ever cash was an eighth-place finish in the WSOPC Elgin $200 Ladies Event for $631 in November 2022. Less than six months later, she won the same tournament for $7,191 and her first Circuit ring.

Lin called the initial final table run "the confidence boost I needed to really dive into this world of tournaments and really learn about this new game."

"Because I feel it's quite different than cash games, which I used to exclusively play," she said.

Second Ciruit Ring Victory

Lin would have two more Ladies Event final table runs before picking up her second Circuit ring in March. In a full-circle moment for her poker career, the Circuit victory started with a low-stakes cash game.

After busting Day 2 of the WSOPC Hammond Main Event and having to wait four hours for the 8-max event to start, Lin sat down at the $1/$3 table. She made an ace-high flush and was surprised when the dealer called the floor over, who told her she had won a $400 Circuit seat.

"I did not know that this was a promo, it was like an ace-high flush promo. So not only did I scoop the pot but I won the ticket to the event I was going to play anyway. So saved $400 there."

Lin went on to win the event she freerolled into after battling at the final table with Josh Reichard, who won his 16th ring earlier in the series to close in on Dan Lowery, Ari Engel and Maurice Hawkins.

After losing a boat-over-boat cooler to Reichard in the mid-stages of the tournament, Lin doubled through the Midwest crusher at the final table before he bowed out in third ahead of Lin's defeat of runner-up Robert Moldovan.

"From one hour into this event, I just kept saying I'm going to win this event and have my first five-figure score," Lin said. "And I did it, and I'm quite happy with that."

WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond Event #17 Final Table Results

Chasing a Bracelet

After winning her second ring, Lin is setting her eyes on a WSOP bracelet. She plans on spending a month in Las Vegas this summer grinding the World Series and other poker festivals around town.

"So I'm saving up all my PTO for the summer and trying to play about a month at WSOP," said Lin.

If you run into Lin at the tables this summer, don't be surprised if she tries to get in your head with some table talk.

"I'm just trying to make it fun," Lin said about her table presence. "Make everyone have a good time, get people to laugh and smile. Because poker players are notoriously a miserable crowd. We all are kind of masochists. We love pain and can't get enough of it, so we play tournaments. But I want to try to change that and make it a positive experience."

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_{*Photos courtesy WSOPC}