Eric “Slick Ric” Chang has won the biggest $1,700 WSOP Circuit Main Event ever held, turning a comeback from a single big blind into a $433,670 payday at TCH Social Austin.
Chang beat 2,090 entries in Texas to claim his second WSOP Circuit ring and the largest score of his career. The field created a $3,166,350 prize pool, smashing the $2 million guarantee and adding a champion to the record-setting tournament Poker Type covered after the starting flights.
The result is more than a neat ending to a big attendance story. Chang began Day 2 in 259th place out of 267 returning players, twice fell as low as a single big blind during the tournament, and still found a route to the title. For anyone who has ever looked at one lonely stack of chips and mentally started planning the drive home, it is a useful reminder not to collect the coat too early.
Chang Survives From One Big Blind to $433,670
Chang was not the player carrying most of the attention into the final day. Reigning world champion Lucas Jumalon started with 11.2 million chips and the lead, raising the possibility of a second WSOP-branded Main Event title only weeks after his $10 million victory in Las Vegas. Chang began fifth with 6.3 million.
Jumalon’s run ended much earlier than expected in 14th place for $19,030. It was still another deep result for the 22-year-old, whose rise from relative obscurity to 2026 WSOP Main Event finalist became one of the stories of the summer, but Austin ultimately belonged to another player with a growing audience around his game.
Chang had already endured the difficult part before reaching the final table. He later said he had been down to one big blind twice and had returned for Day 2 almost at the bottom of the counts. Rather than treating the comeback as permission to splash around, he described the win as the product of simply executing what he had been studying after a year containing plenty of painful punts.
A Five-to-One Deficit Does Not Finish Chang
The late stages provided one more test. With four players left, Chang had climbed into the chip lead before running the second-nut flush into Anil Jivani’s nut flush. The cooler left Jivani with close to a five-to-one advantage over Chang and put the eventual champion back into survival mode.
Chang rebuilt again. By the start of heads-up play he had pulled almost level, and a contest that could have been a quick finish instead lasted more than an hour. Chang eventually opened a clear advantage before the final confrontation.
On the last hand, Chang raised to two million at blinds of 400,000/800,000 and Jivani shoved for 25.4 million. Chang took his time before calling with the dominating hand. Jivani picked up a flush draw on the flop, giving Chang’s rail one last sweat, but the turn and river failed to rescue the runner-up.
Jivani collected $289,110 for second, while Venkat Chivukula took $211,440 in third. Ryan Brown finished fourth for $156,455, Eric Tang earned $116,580 in fifth and Taylor Fortini took $87,200 for sixth.
WSOP Circuit Austin Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Eric Chang | $433,670 |
| 2nd | Anil Jivani | $289,110 |
| 3rd | Venkat Chivukula | $211,440 |
| 4th | Ryan Brown | $156,455 |
| 5th | Eric Tang | $116,580 |
| 6th | Taylor Fortini | $87,200 |
| 7th | Simon Britton | $66,960 |
| 8th | Kimberly Stone | $51,540 |
| 9th | Brant Jolly | $40,100 |
Second Ring Changes Chang’s Tournament Resume
The victory is Chang’s second WSOP Circuit ring. His first came at Choctaw in 2023, when he won a 1,186-entry $250 Gargantuan event for $37,687. Until this week, his recorded live tournament results were built from a collection of solid cashes rather than one defining six-figure result.
Austin changes that in one shot. The $433,670 prize more than doubles the live tournament earnings Chang had accumulated before the event and gives the Texas-based player a result that matches the profile he has been building as a poker creator and grinder.
Chang said after the win that he plans to make content around the series, but he is not treating the payday as an excuse to abandon his existing bankroll challenge. His intention is to return to the $2/$5 streets and continue the challenge separately, effectively treating the biggest tournament win of his career as outside the experiment.
That is a suitably grinder-ish response to winning nearly half a million dollars. The trophy may be bigger, but the next session is still the next session.
Texas Circuit Stop Delivers on Its Record Field
The numbers behind Chang’s victory underline how quickly the WSOP Circuit has grown in Texas. The spring Main Event at the same venue attracted 1,709 entries and produced a $2,589,135 prize pool. September added another 381 entries, lifting the field to 2,090 and the prize pool beyond $3.16 million.
Every ring winner at the stop also receives a $5,000 package for the WSOP Circuit Championship at WSOP Paradise, subject to the tour’s package rules. That gives Chang another major tournament opportunity later this year after a week in which he went from near elimination to champion of a record-breaking Main Event.
The Circuit now moves on with a difficult benchmark to beat. Texas Card House did not merely clear its guarantee or improve on its spring turnout. It produced the largest $1,700 Circuit Main Event on record, and Chang somehow found a way to be the last player with chips after twice being one blind from the door.
