University of Louisiana-Lafayette M.B.A. Student Wins Event #7 at Harrah’s New Orleans
New Orleans, LA (December 16, 2009) – This is turning out to be quite an incredible month for Mike Silvas.  First, only a few weeks ago he won a poker tournament for the very first time, at a casino event held in Southwestern Louisiana.  Next week, he is scheduled to graduate with his M.B.A. degree from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.  And today, he just won his biggest poker prize ever, as the champion in the most recent Bayou Poker Challenge tournament held at Harrah’s New Orleans.

The $300 (+50) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament attracted 144 entries – a nice turnout for a Monday start, with a Tuesday ending.  This was the seventh event of 15 on this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge schedule.  The two-day tournament generated a prize pool totaling $41,897.  Silvas’ share of the prize money officially amounted to $11,104.

This marked Silvas’ second tournament victory.  But when he looks back upon this day, it won’t be the prize money or even the title he’ll remember.  What was most memorable was the way Silvas accomplished his victory.  It took more than nine hours to play down to the winner.

At one point when play was at four handed, Silvas was a distant fourth in chips and seemed destined to exit next.  But he managed to battle back and draw close to even with the player who turned out to be a most worthy adversary, Ruven Rivera, from Houston – who ended up finishing second.

Heads-up play between Silvas and Rivera lasted more than three hours, an eternity given the 40-minute levels and structures.  By contrast, most final tables last between 3-5 hours.  Heads-up matches that last beyond an hour are rare, except at mega-buy-in poker tournament such as the WSOP and WPT.

Silvas is a 24-year-old college student, soon to be out on the job market.  His undergraduate work was in electrical engineering.  The Rajun Cajun expects to play more tournament poker in his free time however, which he says he enjoys more than playing in cash games.

From a strategic point of view, this was unquestionably the most compelling final table of this year’s poker series.  The final table included a few notable comebacks and certainly the toughest heads-up battle seen in years at Harrah’s New Orleans.  Rivera had the chip lead when heads-up play started, but Silvas battled back – even though it took more than 100 hands to finally vanquish his final foe.  That came when Silvas’ A-5 held up to drag the final pot of the night, with ace-high.

Only the tournament’s top 18 finishers (last two tables) collected prize money.  This final table was noticeably different from the previous six tournaments, since there were two ladies were among the final nine – the first time this has taken place at the Bayou Poker Challenge for any open (non ladies) event.  Players were eliminated in the following order:

9th Place – Rusty Bodin, a 25-year-old part-time poker player from New Orleans, LA was the first player out, finishing ninth.  Bodin took an early beat and made a quick exit.  He ended up with a payout totaling $1,152.

8th Place – Chris Chevalier, a 24-year-old Federal Express supervisor from Shreveport, LA ended up being shipped off the final table in eighth-place finish.  This marked his second time to make it to a final player at this year’s Bayou Poker Challenge (one of only three players to do so).  Chevalier finished third in Event #4.  He also cashed three times at various WSOP Circuits this year.  Chevalier ended up with $1,361 in prize money.

7th Place – Pascal “Frenchy” Boutineau, a 47-year-old used car dealer from Houston, TX drove away as the seventh-place finisher.  Boutineau, who was born in France, started off play at the final table with the shortest stack.  He managed to jump two spots up the money ladder and ended up with a payout totaling $1,676.

6th Place – David Lee, a 34-year-old salesman from New Orleans, LA closed the deal in sixth-place.  He works full-time selling medical supplies.  Lee ended up with a nice commission totaling $2,065 in prize money.

5th Place – D.K. Flanagan, a 58-year-old retired part-time poker player from 9-Mile Point, LA finished in fifth place.  He picked up $2,619 in prize money.

4th Place – Donna Cole, a retiree from Sour Lake, TX came in fourth place.  Cole received a payout totaling $3,352.

3rd Place – Debbie Lee, a regional company vice president from Atlanta, GA finished in third place.  When play was at four-handed, Lee enjoyed the chip lead.  It speared that she might become the first woman ever to win an open Bayou Poker Challenge tournament.  But Lee ran cold at the worst stage of the competition, failing to win a decisive late hand that might have catapulted her to victory.  Lee’s payout for third place amounted to $4,295.

2nd Place – Ruven Rivera, a part-time poker pro from Houston , TX was the runner up.  He could certainly be proud of his showing, hanging tough versus a very determined Silvas for more than three hours before finally succumbing to defeat.  Rivera cashed twice in the 2008 Bayou Poker Challenge.  For this finish, he collected $6,704 in prize money for his best tournament performance, to date.

1st Place – Mike Silvas, a 24-year-old soon to be M.B.A. graduate from Youngsville, LA was the winner.  He collected $11,104 and earned his second major tournament victory.

The 2009 Bayou Poker Challenge, which is an official World Series of Poker Satellite location, is now half-way completed.  Events continue for five more days.  The tournament series will conclude on December 20th, with the Main Event championship – as well as two special tournaments, for ladies and Seniors (both of which are one-day events and conclude on Sunday).  There’s still time to make plans to come to Harrah’s New Orleans and join in the poker action.  For more information, please visit:  www.harrahsneworleans.com