| DECEMBER 16, 2009 - 1:10:12 PM PST |
Second Time Around |
by: WSOP Staff
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Atlantic City, NJ (December 16, 2009) – Chris Klodnicki, whose pedigree includes 2nd and 3rd place finishes at WSOP events in 2008 and 2009 and a deep run in the 2008 Main Event, added a major accomplishment to his resume when he took down the 2009/2010 Harrah’s Atlantic City Circuit Main Event Championship on Tuesday.
The 24-year old poker professional from nearby Voorhees, NJ made it to his second Harrah’s Resort AC Circuit Main Event final table in as many years, but faced a tough group of competitors, including WSOP bracelet winner, Farzad Rouhani; Kyle Bowker who finished 37th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event and Grayson Ramage, who finished 35th in the 2009 WSOP Main Event.
| NAME |
HOMETOWN |
SEAT |
CHIP COUNT |
| Grayson Ramage |
Red Hook, NY |
1 |
1,552,000 |
| Chris Klodnicki |
Voorhees, NJ |
2 |
927,000 |
| Farzad Rouhani |
Germantown, MD |
3 |
1,776,000 |
| Eugene Fouksman |
Brooklyn, NY |
4 |
327,000 |
| Mukul Pahuja |
Hicksville, NY |
5 |
652,000 |
| Kyle Bowker |
Walton, NY |
6 |
240,000 |
| Charles Furey |
Bridgewater, NJ |
7 |
570,000 |
| Ryan Karp |
West Chester, PA |
8 |
770,000 |
| Wayne Lewis |
Galloway, NJ |
9 |
260,000 |
The final table of the Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Circuit Main Event began play at precisely 3:00 pm with blinds and antes at 4,000/15,000/30,000.
Ninth Place- $27,505
Eugene Fouksman was the first elimination of the day after moving all-in preflop with   . Ryan Karp made the call, turning over pocket queens. A board of      was of no help to Fouksman who was escorted to the payout table.
Eighth Place- $36,673
2008 WSOP mixed 7-card stud/Omaha Hi-low bracelet winner Farzad Rouhani found himself in a quarter million dollar pot on a board of     against 21-year old Grayson Ramage. Rouhani moved all-in and after tanking a bit, Ramage made the call. Rouhani turned over  for flopped middle pair and a gut shot straight while Ramage showed for top pair. Rouhani missed his six remaining outs and was eliminated.
Seventh Place- $45,842
Kyle Bowker saw a flop from the big blind of   along with Wayne Lewis, who limped from early position. Both players moved all-in with Bowker showing   and Lewis turning over   for top pair. Lewis’ lead increased after a  , but a stunning  on the river gave Bowker the over million chip pot and sent Lewis to the rail.
Sixth Place- $55,010
The next player to be eliminated was Charles Furey. Furey, who final tabled the no-limit hold’em six handed event at the 2009 WSOP, ran his pocket nines into Chris Klodnicki’s rockets. There was no help on the board for Furey and his Main Event run was through.
Fifth Place- $64,178
Ryan Kopp was the fifth place finisher. Short stacked, Kopp moved his remaining chips all-in with  against Klodnicki’s A-7 off. An ace on the turn sent Kopp to the rail. The former medical sales rep turned online pro, added a live cash of $64,178 to his over million dollars in lifetime online tournament earnings.
The remaining players went to dinner break and returned with the following chip counts:
Grayson Ramage 2.7 million
Chris Klodnicki 1.5 million
Mukul Pahuja 550,000
Kyle Bowker 1.2 million
Fourth Place- $73,347
Mukul Pahuja was eliminated not long after the players returned from dinner break. Short-stacked, Pahuja had it in with  against Kyle Bowker’s pocket 7’s. Pahuja bricked the board and the 23-year old financial analyst was out.
Third Place- $100,852
Grayson Ramage was the third place finisher. Having come into the final table the chip leader, Ramage saw his stack down to just over a million in chips. All-in with  , Klodnicki made the call with pocket 8’s and the race was on. The flop came . A  on the turn and  on the river both missed Ramage and he was eliminated
Second Place- $128,357
Heads up saw Klodnicki with over an 8-1 chip lead over Kyle Bowker. The one-on-one match-up did not last very long. The final hand had Bowker all-in with 5-7 off, dominating Klodnicki’s 4-7, however a four on the flop and another on the river sealed Bowker’s fate as the runner-up and Klodnicki was crowned Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City’s WSOP Circuit Main Event champion for 2009.
First Place - $215,915
Klodnicki earned $215,915 for first, a $10,000 buy-in into the 2010 WSOP Main Event, as well as the diamond-encrusted WSOP Circuit Main Event championship ring.
Klodnicki, who finished 12th in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, commented on the lessons he took with him from that experience going into the Main Event at Harrah’s AC.
“You gotta forget about what happened before, any bad beats, because you’re gonna get them in a big tournament like that,” he said. “Be patient, be ready to make the big lay downs and get information on your opponents, it’s not like internet poker.”
On how he felt to win the Harrah’s AC main event. “I feel great, I was having a pretty off year and this ended the year on a great note. I was starting to lose my confidence and this picked it up a lot.”
“I’m definitely open to it,” said Klodnicki regarding any possible future sponsorships. “Maybe this win would help with that.”
Still to come are 7 more events and 12 nightly (single-day) satellites which begin at 3 pm and 7pm.
The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City continues through December 20th.
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