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POKER ON THE JERSEY SHORE
The final event on the Caesars Atlantic City schedule is the $1,500 buy-in Main Event Championship. The three-day No-Limit Hold’em tournament began on Friday. Competition concludes Sunday with the final table.
The tournament attracted 442 entries, surpassing even the most optimistic of projections about tournament attendance in what is one of the gaming industry’s most challenged markets. Main Event participation was way up not only from last year’s number (there were 174 players), but was significantly ahead of the championship event which took place at Harrah’s Atlantic City, last December. That tournament attracted 352 entries.
The Caesars Atlantic City prize pool amounted to $633,110. The top 46 finishers were paid. Here is a list of players who have finished in-the-money, so far:
10 Adam Lippert BROOKLYN, NY $10,661
11 Leo Whitt LOUISVILLE, KY $10,661
12 Timothy Begley FREEHOLD, NJ $10,661
13 Edward Pham LANSDALE, PA $8,749
14 Scott Carpenter FAIRFAX STATION, VA $8,749
15 Kevin Wilkie OCEANSIDE, CA $8,749
16 Michael Kosowski STATEN ISLAND, NY $7,280
17 Angel Modica ASTORIA, NY $7,280
18 Mukul Pahuja HICKSVILLE, NY $7,280
19 Lynne Mitchnick NORTH BERGEN, NJ $6,134
20 Pratyush Buddiga CO. SPRINGS, CO $6,134
21 Peter Lee N/A $6,134
22 Dylan Drazen ASTORIA, NY $5,235
23 Jeffrey Vanchiro BROOKLYN, NY $5,235
24 Russell Crane HOWELL, NJ $5,235
25 Frank Argano MIAMI BEACH, FL $4,526
26 David Zeitlin BROOKLYN, NY $4,526
27 Sefula Seji OAK RIDGE, NJ $4,526
28 David Fruchter MONTCLAIR, NJ $3,963
29 Randy Humphries OXFORD, NC $3,963
30 Alex Smith HIGHLAND PARK, NJ $3,963
31 Robert Johnson BRIDGEWATER, NJ $3,513
32 Daniel Buzgon MARLTON, NJ $3,513
33 Michael Leah INNISFIL, ON, CANADA $3,513
34 Richard Austin LANSDALE, PA $3,152
35 David Fox CORAM, NY $3,152
36 Ariel Albilia SYOSSET, NY $3,152
37 John Lecato BELLE HAVEN, VA $2,861
38 Joseph Udine VOORHEES, NJ $2,861
39 Robert W. Carter FUQUAY MARINA, NC $2,861
40 Robert Pfeister MIDDLE VALLEY, NY $2,861
41 Mark Dambrosio NUTLEY, NJ $2,861
42 Donald Durey VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, $2,861
43 David Cubeta FALLS CHURCH, VA $2,861
44 Wooyang Lin MORRISTOWN, NJ $2,861
45 Vasilious Hrisafini BRONX, NY $1,431
46 Vincent Moscati VERPLANCK, NY $1,430
After more than 75 percent of the starting field was eliminated on Day One, just 82 survivors returned for Day Two action. Those players played down to the final table during Day Two. Play will commence with Day Three starting at 2 pm Sunday afternoon inside the Palladium Ballroom, located on the second floor at Caesars Atlantic City.
The nine finalists and their starting chip counts are as follows:
Seat 1: A. G. Winchester
Falls Church, VA 1,034,000 in chips
Seat 2: E. Jeff Frazier Troy, VA 956,000 in chips
Seat 3: Roland Israelashvili New York, NY 645,000 in chips
Seat 4: Brian Ali Brooklyn, NY 1,380,000 in chips
Seat 5: Joe Caffrey Silverton, NJ 759,000 in chips
Seat 6: Patrick Houchins Annapolis, MD 1,621,000 in chips
Seat 7: John Andress Doylestown, PA 808,000 in chips
Seat 8: Jerry Van Strydonck Arlington, VA 1,177,000 in chips
Seat 9: Jeff Rowland Indianapolis, IN 438,000 in chips
Among the most notable players among the final nine is Roland Israelashvili, who is the defending champion of this event. Should he win, Israelashvili would become the first-ever WSOP Circuit Main Event champion to repeat in the seven-year history of the national tournament series.
The current chip leader is Patrick Houchins, from Annapolis, MD. He is a 26-year-old professional poker player. Houchins is known online as “Cake Jones.”
The winner receives $139,284 for first place. He also receives the coveted gold ring, the token prize for winning a WSOP Circuit event. The champion will also gain an automatic seat into the season-end National Championship finale, which is to be televised from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
This final tournament caps yet another successful tournament series at Caesars Atlantic City. The following players won the first nine events:
Event 1 – Thung “Patrick” Lu defeated 742 players and won $43,184 ($350 NLHE)
Event 2 – Peter Ippolito defeated 254 players and won $30,181 ($570 NLHE)
Event 3 – Mike Summers defeated 158 players and won $12,414 ($350 LHE)
Event 4 – Paul Lambrakis defeated 386 players and won $41,186 ($570 NLHE)
Event 5 – Jaeik Cho defeated 477 players and won $138,807 ($350 NLHE)
Event 6 – Travell “T” Thomas defeated 155 players and won $30,445 ($750 NLHE)
Event 7 – Mun Nguyen defeated 90 players and won ($350 OM-HIGH)
Event 8 – Gregg Fishberg defeated 185 players and won $46,657 ($1,100 NLHE)
Event 9 – Vincent Basilicata defeated 288 players and won $20,113 ($350 TURBO NLHE)
