Competing against 577 other entrants at the $1,675 Main Event in Tunica, MS, Gaviao managed to leave his mark on the game and walk away from the table with $181,757 of the $865,500 prize pool. Gaviao will also make his way to the 2014 National Championship after winning a seat in the Tunica event.

The first big play of the nine-man final table came from Cord Garcia, who went all-in from the button against Brad Lipsey’s 50,000 with 632,000 in chips. With blinds folding, only the two remained in the hand with K/6 and A/9 respectively. Straight away Lipsey earned trip 9’s on the flop which held up against Garcia’s K/K to the bitter end. Garcia would cash out in 7^th, while Lipsey would go on to day 3 and take 4^th overall.

Day three left only six players remaining at the final table. Things took five hours to finish up as David Lee fell in 6^th and Houston’s Jackson White went down in 5^th as Lipsey’s second victim.

After Charles Hopkins fell from competition in 3^rd, it was just Carter Myers and Jonathan Gaviao vying for the big money.  With Gaviao sporting a slight chip lead, the two went head’s up in what would be a quick to finish game.

Both players were dedicated to going big after a check-raise from Hopkins sparked a back-and-forth that led to all-ins on the final hand. The flop of Qc/3d/2c didn’t help Gaviao much with his Kh/3c, while Myers chased a flush with his 6c/7c. Well, he got it when the river came through, but it wasn’t enough to beat the turn, Kd, and river, Kc, that fell in favor of Gaviao who held the winning full house.