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DEVIN JACKSON GETS ACTION AT HARVEY'S LAKE TAHOE

22-Year-Old San Jose State University Student Wins H.O.R.S.E. Championship.

Nov 09 2010 02:12 AM EST

Devin Jackson Gets Action at Harveys Lake Tahoe

22-Year-Old San Jose State University Student Wins H.O.R.S.E. Championship and WSOP Circuit Gold Ring

Stateline, NV – The winner of the fourth World Series of Poker Circuit event held at Harveys Lake Tahoe is Devin Jackson, from Palo Alto, CA.

Jackson is a 22-year-old college student. He will soon transfer from a local community college to San Jose Sate University, where he plans to major in business with an emphasis in marketing. If his future as a businessman is anything like how things went in the most recent poker tournament held at Harveys Lake Tahoe, Jackson should have quite a successful career ahead, indeed.

Jackson, who plays poker during much of his free time, normally plays poker online. His screen name is “H0LDUP1TYME.” He has just started out playing in live tournaments. In fact, this was his first time to cash on the WSOP Circuit.

Jackson collected $7,124 in prize money for this victory. He was also presented with the gold ring, which is the ultimate token of achievement given for winning a WSOP Circuit event.

With his victory, Jackson joined three previous winners at Tahoe -- Phillip Hui (Event #1 champion), Manh Tran (Event #2 champion), and James Sparks (Event #3 champion). They are all among the leaders in the point race for the top player at this year’s Harveys Lake Tahoe series. The poker player who accumulates the most overall points receives a freeroll entry into the $1 million 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held next May in Las Vegas.

…………

The name of the game was H.O.R.S.E.

H.O.R.S.E. is a mix of games including HOLD’EM, OMAHA HIGH-LO SPLIT, RAZZ, SEVEN-CARD STUD, and SEVEN-CARD STUD EIGHT-OR-BETTER. In an effort to diversify the poker menu available to players, all WSOP Circuit stops this season hold at least one H.O.R.S.E. competition.

This $345 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament began on a Monday at noon and ended on Tuesday night. The tournament attracted a modest field size totaling 82 entrants, following two huge No-Limit Hold’em events held during the previous weekend. Through four gold ring events played at Harveys Lake Tahoe so far, combined attendance is 1,011 players. This number represents a small increase in attendance over the first four events last year.

The first day opened with 82 players playing down to eight survivors, which took about 12 hours. The final table began at 2 pm, with Devin Jackson enjoying the chip lead, which he never lost at any point during the four-hour duration of play.

When the nine finalists took their seats, the seating order and chip counts were as follows:

SEAT 1: James A. Ferrel (Phoenix, AZ) – 13,000 in chips
SEAT 2: John Muscat (Discovery Bay, CA) – 155,000 in chips
SEAT 3: Eddy Vataru (Hillsborough, CA) – 62,000 in chips
SEAT 4: Doug Englekirk (Zephyr Cove, NV) – 83,000 in chips
SEAT 5: Scott Thoma (South Lake Tahoe, CA) – 153,000 in chips
SEAT 6: Stuart Tuvey (Los Altos, CA) – 90,000 in chips
SEAT 7: Devin Jackson (Palo Alto, CA) – 226,000 in chips
SEAT 8: Andrew Barber (Sacramento, CA) – 39,000 in chips

Players were eliminated in the following order:

8th Place – James A. Ferrel, a 68-year-old physician from Phoenix, AZ, was diagnosed as the eighth-place finisher.

7th Place – Eddy Vataru, a 36-year-old fund manager from Hillsborough, CA, finished in seventh place.

6th Place – Scott Thoma, a 33-year-old photographer from nearby South Lake Tahoe, was the sixth-place finisher.

5th Place – Stuart Tuvey, a 21-year-old student and part-time semi-pro from Los Altos, CA, finished in fifth place. He was once one of the top 100 ranked online players by one of the major poker websites.

4th Place – John Muscat, a software specialist from Discovery Bay, CA was eliminated in fourth place. This marked his second time to make it to a WSOP Circuit

3rd Place – Doug Englekirk, a 48-year-old general contractor from nearby Zephyr Cove, NV nailed down third place. Englekirk was previously a world-class rock climber who has conquered many mountains all over the world. He still actively climbs in Yosemite National Park. Englekirk nearly topped this mountain as well, but came up just short in his attempt to win a WSOP Circuit gold ring.

2nd Place – Andrew Barber made a nice run at the final table, moving up the ladder from what was initially one of the shortest stacks, all the way to a second-place finish. Barber, a former civil engineer-turned-poker pro from Sacramento was making his second final table appearance in a major tournament, after coming in third place the previous time.

The final hand of the tournament was dealt about three hours into play. Devin Jackson was far ahead of Andrew Barber in chips. Jackson was dealt aces over tens -- good for two pair. His hand defeated Barber’s two pair – sevens and fours. Barber’s final chip went into the pot on sixth street, when he had only four outs to survive (he needed to catch a 7 or a 4 to make a full house). But Barber missed, leaving Jackson with all the chips.

1st Place – Devin Jackson, a 22-year-old college student from Palo Alto, CA, received $7,124 for his first WSOP-related victory. He also collected his first WSOP Circuit gold ring.

…………

The impressive attendance figures at Harveys Lake Tahoe are consistent with big turnouts at all WSOP Circuit stops, so far. All four WSOP Circuit events have experienced increases in both attendance and prize money. Numbers were up significantly at Council Bluffs, Hammond (Chicago), and Southern Indiana. A new addition to this year’s schedule held at the IP Casino-Resort and Spa in Biloxi also produced impressive numbers.

Several inches of snow on the ground and a winter wonderland atmosphere outdoors could not freeze the enthusiasm of hundreds of poker players who showed up this past weekend at Harveys Lake Tahoe. The casino-resort is located on the south shore of crystal blue Lake Tahoe, beneath a wall of snow-capped mountains, making for one of the most astounding views of any poker destination in the world.

Northern Nevada has a rich poker history. Few may remember that the WSOP had its origins, not in Las Vegas, but rather in Northern Nevada. The first WSOP-style tournament was played in Reno at the Holiday Casino in 1969. That first gathering of poker players was called the "Second Annual Gambling Fraternity Convention," and was won by Crandell Addington, later a Poker Hall of Fame inductee. Poker patriarch Benny Binion was so impressed with the concept that he held the first WSOP the following year at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas, in 1970.

Now some 41 years later, poker remains alive and well in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area. In addition to the ten scheduled gold ring events on this year’s schedule, there are nightly No-Limit Hold'em tournaments and plenty of mega-satellites. Cash games are going on inside the poker room around the clock.

Poker players can still come and join the action. Hotel reservations can be made by calling 1-800-HARRAHS. Ask for a special tournament player’s rate under the code: "WSOP1" Special hotel rates are $39 weekdays and $69 for Friday nights. Saturday nights are based on availability. Hotel reservations can also be made online at http://www.harveystahoe.com.

This year, all players on the WSOP Circuit can accumulate points which are used to qualify towards the WSOP Circuit National Championship tournament, to be held in May 2011 in Las Vegas. The $1 million freeroll tournament will be nationally televised and will be open to only 100 qualifiers. For the first time ever, a WSOP gold bracelet will be presented to the winner.

The 2010-2011 World Series of Poker Circuit schedule – which includes all upcoming tour stops and dates -- can be viewed here.

ABOUT HARVEYS LAKE TAHOE RESORT & CASINO

Harveys Resort & Casino is the largest resort casino property at Lake Tahoe. A wide variety of resort features include: 740 rooms and suites; nearly 75,000 square feet of casino space; five great restaurants including the stunning 19 Kitchen • Bar (overlooking beautiful Lake Tahoe), Hard Rock Cafe, Sammy Hagar’s famous Cabo Wabo Cantina and the elegant Sage Room Steakhouse (est. 1947); a full-service health club and pool; elaborate convention center services; Harveys Cabaret theatre (home of the Improv Comedy Club); race and sportsbook; poker room; wedding chapel; and family arcade. Harveys also presents the celebrated Lake Tahoe Summer Concert Series, which features superstar artists including Elton John, Eagles, Bob Dylan, Kenny Chesney and many more. In 2010, Harveys Resort & Casino was awarded 35 Casino Player Magazine Best of Gaming Awards including: Best Steakhouse (Sage Room); Best Headliners; Best Video and Reel Slots; Best Race/Sportsbook; Best Poker Room and Best Poker Tournaments. For more information and reservations, please visit: www.HarveysTahoe.com.

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