Atlantic City, NJ – For the fifth straight year, Caesars Atlantic City is hosting a World Series of Poker Circuit. This is the seventh WSOP Circuit stop of the 2009-2010 season following previous tournaments held in Chicago, Southern Indiana, Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Tunica, and Council Bluffs.
Given the popular venue and its close proximity to huge markets including New York and Philadelphia, Caesars Atlantic City has traditionally attracted some of the largest turnouts of any WSOP Circuit held around the country.
This year was no exception as the popular tournament series played just steps from the world-famous Boardwalk began with a $340 buy in No Limit Hold’em event which attracted 682 entrants.
To see a video interview with Cheng, click here.
A midweek start and several inches of snow still on the ground from recent snowstorms failed to dampen the enthusiasm of many of the East Coast’s best poker players who made the trek to the Jersey Shore at Caesars Atlantic City.
The first champion of the Caesars series is Yat “Tony” Cheng, from Atlanta, GA. He is a 32-year-old poker pro who mostly plays cash games in and around the Atlantic City area. The Chinese-born pro overcame a big chip advantage at the final table and ended up coasting to his first major tournament victory.
He collected the top cash prize totaling $55,569. Cheng also was awarded his first WSOP Circuit gold ring, which is the ultimate token of achievement presented to all tournament champions.
The tournament was originally intended as a two-day affair, which stretched out to a three-day marathon by virtue of skillful play and new tournament structures first introduced at Harrah’s Atlantic City’s WSOP Circuit event, which concluded three months earlier. The player-friendly structure and generous number of starting chips gave participants a charitable amount of play.
After 90 percent of the field was eliminated on Day One, which clocked in at 14 hours, seven tables of survivors returned on Day Two and played an all-night finale. Day Two went another 17 hours. The top 63 poker insomniacs collected prize money from a $198,462 prize pool.
Final table play began on a Thursday evening inside a jam-packed Palladium Arena. By the time the grueling poker session mercifully ended the next morning at 7 am, only a handful of blurry-eyed supporters and the remaining finalists populated the vacated room.
Philadelphia’s own Chris “Ratboy” Manogue began play with the chip lead. But he lasted just 90 minutes. In fact, the table’s shorter stacks outperformed the early chip leaders as three lower stack sizes at the start ended up taking down the top three money spots. The nine finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:
|
Name |
Hometown |
Seat |
Chip Count |
|
Pete White (Pedro Vicente) |
Jersey City, NJ |
1 |
327,000 |
|
Peter Bogdanowicz |
Morganville, NJ |
2 |
538,000 |
|
Ian Tuason |
Toronto, Canada |
3 |
616,000 |
|
Jim DiCarlo |
White Lake, NY |
4 |
290,000 |
|
Frankie Sepko |
West Pittston |
5 |
515,000 |
|
Chris "RatBoy" Manogue |
Philadelphia, PA |
6 |
717,000 |
|
Yat Cheng |
Atlanta, GA |
7 |
399,000 |
|
Adam Teasdale |
Marinette, WI |
8 |
393,000 |
|
Chris McCabe |
Bear, DE |
9 |
350,000 |
Ninth Place: Teasdale Teased
Adam Teasdale, a professional poker player from Marinette, WI was the first finalist to be eliminated. He went bust with pocket 4’s versus AK, after an ace flopped. Teasdale has previously cashed in a few online tournaments. He collected $3,969 for ninth place.
Eighth Place: Frankie’s Deuces No Good
Frankie Sepko, a commercial account manager from West Pittston, PA went out in eighth place when his small pocket pair (2’s) was crushed by AK, which ended up rivering a flush. Sepko, who is mostly a cash game player, was paid out $5,954.
Seventh Place: RatBoy Ratted Out
Chris “RatBoy” Manogue, an Internet manager from Philadelphia, PA was the next player disconnected when his AK was steamrolled by pocket A’s. Oddly enough, RatBoy stated that he had previously survived five all in situations with AK. But the sixth tempt of fate turned out to be a disaster. RatBoy rat holed $7,938 out of the prize pool.
Sixth Place: Doctor Unplugged
Peter Bogdanowicz, a PhD student from Morganville, NJ flunked his final test on what turned out to be one of the tournament’s most exciting hands. Bogdanowicz started the fateful hand in serious trouble, holding AK suited versus pocket A’s. To make matters much worse, the pocket A’s flopped a set. But Bogdanowicz caught a club on the turn to make a flush.
Then, just as it appeared he might double up on a monster hand, the board paired on the river giving rival Pete White a full house. Bogdanowicz had to settle for $9,923.
Fifth Place: White Goes Dark
Pedro Vicente (a.k.a. Pete White) a pro poker player from Jersey City, NJ was eliminated two hours later after he gradually became short-stacked. He moved all in with KQ on what turned out to be his final hand, which slammed into pocket A’s. The end result went as predicted, kicking White to the rail.
White, a three-time tournament winner who says he plans to play in the 2010 WSOP in Las Vegas, ended up with a nice payout totaling $11,908.
Fourth Place: Canadian Clubbed
Ian Tuason, a copywriter from Toronto, ON (Canada) began final table play ranked second in chips. But he went out late in the event holding pocket 6’s. The smaller pair was dominated by Jim DiCarlo’s pocket 10’s, which ended up scooping the large pot. Tuason, playing in his first WSOP Circuit event ever, collected a most impressive payout amounting to $13,892.
Third Place: Chris Cracked
Chris McCabe, a part-time poker player from Bear, DE outlasted all but the final two players, when his AJ was chopped down by Yat Cheng’s pocket 7’s. McCabe caught a jack on flop and took a temporary lead, but a 7 on turn gave his opponent a set, leaving McCabe in the unenviable circumstance of drawing dead. Third place officially paid $15,877.
Second Place: Restaurant Owner 86’d
Jim DiCarlo, a restaurant owner from White Lake, NY came within a razor-thin margin of winning his first major tournament victory. But he ran out of momentum late and ended as the runner up. DiCarlo, who lives just a short distance from where the Woodstock Music Festival took place 40 years ago, rocked his way to a $28,777 payout.
DiCarlo was eliminated on the tournament’s final hand when he flopped top pair with 9’s, which ended up losing to Yat Cheng’s AK. Cheng caught a king on the turn to make a higher pair and then ultimately won the tournament when he rivered a flush. That put the final nail in DiCarlo’s coffin and gave Cheng the victory.
First Place: Cheng the Champ
Yat “Tony” Cheng, a 32-year-old poker pro from Atlanta, GA who spends much of the year playing poker in Atlantic City casinos, won first-prize totaling $55,569 plus his first WSOP Circuit gold ring. Runner up DiCarlo and Assistant Tournament Director Jake Devries both offered their congratulations as the battle-weary survivors of the poker marathon made their way toward the cashier for the final reward.
When asked what he plans immediately following the victory which came at 7:05 am after two lengthy playing days, Cheng had a one-word answer.
“Sleep,” Cheng replied.
The WSOP Circuit at Caesars Atlantic City continues through March 14. This year’s schedule includes 12 gold ring events, along with multiple second-chance tournaments, single table and mega satellites, plus cash games going around the clock inside the Caesars Poker Room.