Stateline, Nev. (November 9, 2015) - Robert Georato is the official World Series of Poker Circuit Main
Event Winner of Harveys Lake Tahoe. Georato won the Main Event Monday
evening, earning his third WSOP Circuit ring and $153,505. This is the
biggest live tournament cash of Georato’s career.
Georato is a retired math teacher that now plays poker professionally.
Georato says his first WSOP Circuit ring that he earned in 2010 at
Council Bluffs, IA was special because it was his first. His second
ring was special because it was first six figure score, obtained in
Hammond, IN in 2013. Georato says this ring is special because it’s his
first ever Main Event ring.
Speaking of the power of threes, the seat into the Casino Global
Championship that he won playing this event will mark the third time he
will have played in the Championship event. He qualified once as a
Casino Champion, amassing the most points in a single casino series,
once as an at-large bid, and this time by winning the Main Event.
The final day of play started on Monday with 10 players remaining out of
a field of 476 entries. Georato started the day first in chips with
Steve Brecher in second, and Patrick Rhamey in third.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the final table is that
six of the final 10 players started out Day 2 with top 10 chip stacks.
Greg Guth came into Day 2 1st in chips with 340,500. Joey Brown came in
2nd with 302,000, Robert Georato came in 4th with 267,500, Phong “Turbo”
Nguyen came in 6th with 232,000, and George Saca came into Day 2 in 8th
with 216,000.
Greg Guth was the first to be eliminated after a very up and down start to Day 3. He chopped a pot
for his tournament life, and then a few hands later was left crippled
after flopping top pair holding when his opponent flopped the
nut flush draw and hit it on the river.
Later in the same level the last female standing, Janet Fitzgerald, was eliminated in 9th place.
Fitzgerald had been very quiet the first few orbits, telling the table
after she moved all in that it was the best cards she had seen all day.
She shoved with and was called by Robert Georato holding
. Fitzgerald was unable to improve and eliminated from play after Georato hit his set on the flop .
The next three levels each saw one player eliminated. George Saca was eliminated in 8th place
($17,900) by Phong “Turbo” Nguyen after he shoved and was
called by Nguyen’s , and failed to improve. Sean Drake was eliminated in 7th place
($22,812) after shoving all in pre-flop and getting called by
Jacob Dahl holding . The flop came ace high and Drake failed to
improve. The next level saw the elimination of Steve Brecher
in 6th place ($29,488) after he shoved pocket tens into an open-raise
from Patrick Rhamey, who held pocket kings. This cash pushed Brecher
over the $3 million lifetime career poker tournament earnings mark, a
very impressive feat to say the least.
WSOP Poker Dealer Joey Brown was eliminated in 5th place
($38,656). Robert Georato had open shoved on the button with pocket 3s
and Brown called with less than 10 big blinds holding . Brown
was unable to improve, and after he stood up from the table applause
erupted from his rail full of friends and fellow dealers.
Phong “Turbo” Nguyen was eliminated in 4th
after shoving all-in to a button raise by Jacob Dahl. Nguyen said that
he didn’t believe Dahl actually had a hand as he had been shoving on
Nguyen’s big blind for the last few rounds.
Jacob Dahl was sent home in 3rd place
after flopping a pair of aces, holding on a flop,
and Robert Georato turned the flush holding . It wasn’t until
the turn card was dealt that Dahl questioned if Georato had diamonds,
and indeed, the flush signaled the end of Dahl’s tournament life.
At that point, only Georato and Patrick Rhamey remained. And it only took a few hands until Georato held all the chips.
The tournament started with Day 1A on Friday, which garnered a total of
186 entries. Another 290 took their seats on Saturday for Day 1B. Only
90 survived their Day 1 flights to advance to Day 2.
The top 54 finishers out of the 476 entries made the money. The money
bubble burst early on Day 2. Those finishing in the money, include
Charles “Woody” Moore (50th place), Neil Scott (47th place), Ellen
Lambeth (18th place), and Kathy Stahl (12th place).
In addition to the first-place prize money and WSOP Circuit ring, Robert
Georato also earns his seat into the 2016 WSOP Global Casino
Championship. That invitation-only tournament has a minimum prize pool
of $1,000,000, and free seats are given to Circuit Main Event winners,
Casino Champion winners, and the top players on the season-long leaderboard.
Here are the final-table finishers. Click here for full results.
1 - Robert Georato - $153,505
2 - Patrick Rhamey - $94,912
3 - Jacob Dahl - $69,337
4 - Phong Nguyen - $51,401
5 - Joseph Brown - $38,656
6 - Steve Brecher - $29,488
7 - Sean Drake - $22,812
8 - George Saca - $17,900
9 - Janet Fitzgerald - $14,244