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Players at tonight's final table weren't at all hesitant to push in all their chips, and with the shorter stack almost always losing, it took less than an hour to get heads-up. At that point, Fred Winter had a small lead over Matthew Sekeres. They made a deal, played a requisite show hand which Winter won, and he was declared the winner of event number two of the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Casino Hammond, $500 no-limit hold'em. Victory was worth an official $55,159, along with a gold-and-diamond trophy ring and a $5,150 seat into the main event here.

Winter, 34, is from LaGrange, Illinois and works as a controller for a writing instrument company. His nickname is K-5 because, he explained, that hand always seems to dominate him. "If Matt had K-5 instead of K-4 on the last hand, he would have won," he said with certainty.

Winter has been playing five years, teaching himself by watching TV, and until now had only two minor cashes this year at mega-stack tournaments at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He divides his poker time about 50-50 between cash games and tournaments, playing up to $5-$10 no-limit and $20-$40 limit. He said he doesn't have any particular style of play -- "any two cards" -- but tries to play position and get his money's worth when he plays a hand. Tonight he built up his chips early, came to the final table with close to the lead, and was never in trouble after that.

This event drew 516 poker enthusiasts who created a prize pool of $250,260. There were 21 left at the end of day one, and two hours after they returned the next day we were down to the final nine. With 10 left, Darrian Jackson moved in with Kh-7h and said "I have some out," when Winter called and turned up pocket 8s. He didn't have that many outs after an 8 flopped. Winter ended up with a full house and Jackson cashed 10th for $3,309.  Nearly tied for the lead at that point were Leon Hamrick with 720,000 chips and Winter with 700,000.

Here were the final table chip counts:

Final-table action started with blinds of 8,000-16,000 and 2,000 antes, 40 minutes left in the round. And action indeed it was, as players dropped out in rapid-fire fashion. First to go was Ken "Snake" Norman, a retired pro basketball player from Homewood, Illinois. He called all in with A-K after Ronald Kruk pushed in his chips with pocket jacks. A board of 2-3-4-9-6 didn't change anything, and Norman, finishing ninth, collected $5,147. Norman has been playing poker for five years. His poker highlight was playing in the WSOP the past two years. His hobby is building ponds and playing 12-inch softball.

The second player to leave was Alfredo "Aceball" Ceballos, a 31-year-old physician from Chicago. He was all in with pocket 4s against Winter's pocket kings and couldn't help when the board came 6-3-2-2-6. For eighth, he earned $6,986. Ceballos has played poker for 10 years now.

The third elimination hand caused a sensation at the table. This time it was Ryan "RJules" Julius who had pocket kings. He raised, Sekeres re-raised from the small blind with A-K and Julius moved in for 322,000. Sekeres called, and a flop of A-A-7 put him way in front with trip aces. A king turned to give Julius kings-full, but it also gave Sekeres ace-full, and Julius was drawing dead, since Sekeres held his fourth king. His consolation prize was $8,824 for seventh.

Julius, 22, is a student at Bradley University and lives in Peoria, Illinois. He has played four years, learning with friends, and also enjoys sports.

As action continued, Mike "Moose" Mustafa called all in with pocket 10s and couldn't improve, losing to Sekeres' pocket queens. For sixth, he collected $11,275. Mustafa, 32, is from Orland Park, Illinois and works in sales. He started playing poker 20 years ago in home games.

Blinds now went to 10,000-20,000 with 2,000 antes, but that didn't slow down the action. On a flop of J-9-5, Leon Hamrick, in the small blind, tried an all-in move with pocket 4s. His timing was pretty bad because Sekeres, with J-9, had flopped top two. Hamrick couldn't find another 4 to save him, and went out fifth, which paid $14,339. Hamrick is a consultant from Tulsa, Oklahoma who learned poker "just playing." He decided to play this Circuit event after noticing it on the Internet.

With four players left, Winter and Sekeres had pretty much all the chips between them. Kruk was next out after he moved in with Kd-9d and couldn't overcome Winter's pocket 10s after the board came Q-7-6-6-5. His payday for fourth was $17,525. Kruk is 54 and from Osceola, Indiana where he is self-employed. He's only been playing a year after learning it from TV.

Right after that the tournament got heads up after Scott Kahoun went out on a bad beat. He had the best of it after he moved in for 130,000 with K-4 and got a call from Winter, holding just 9-5. Kahoun was still alive when the board showed A-A-3-8, but then a 9 on the river gave Winter a winning pair. For third, Kahoun collected $21,447. Kahoun, 50, is a mortgage broker from La Grange Park, Illinois who has 30 years of poker under his belt.

The two close-to-even finalists now made their deal and played one hand for the record. Winter had 9-5 and Sekeres had K-10. Then a 9 flopped, and that was all it took to end the night. For second place, Sekeres took home an official $34,928.

Sekeres, 24, was an economics student before deciding to turn pro four years ago. He is from Madison, Wisconsin.

Oh, one final thing. Sam Rosengarten, who finished 17th, insisted on informing the poker world that he got there after making a miracle comeback when he was down to 200 chips with 122 players left. OK, Sam, now you're famous.