Ante Up Magazine

Where to Play Poker: June 2012

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Here is our monthly look at featured tournaments around the country, brought to you by TourneyTracks.com.

Let the wild rumpus begin! It’s early summer, and that means the Las Vegas tournament season is kicking into high gear. And no, we can’t just call it the World Series of Poker anymore. While the WSOP is the crown jewel of the summer, there are so many other series happening that it has become a citywide event, with tournaments running all over town. Before we get too far into this summer in Las Vegas, let’s look at the few brave poker rooms that have chosen to have local events.

California
The San Francisco Bay area is one of the few parts of the country where residents won’t need to go to Vegas to play tournaments in June. Lucky Chances in San Francisco will host the Battle of the Bay series June 3-10. With soft fields and low house fees, this could be a profitable series, though the 9:30 a.m. start times may put off a few late sleepers.

As the Battle of the Bay ends, the Bay 101 Summer Madness series begins (June 12-16). The Bay 101 is a great place to play poker, a beautiful room, and the action is always good, so this series should be excellent. Most events are $345, with a $550 final event, and blind structures look promising.

Florida
The Stax Poker Lounge at the Coconut Creek Seminole Casino is hosting the Stax Summer Slam (May 30-June 10). Most of the events have large guarantees, and this is a World Poker Tour Regional event so we expect large fields.

The WPT returns to the Tampa Bay area with another regional stop (June 1-11) at Hard Rock Tampa. See Page 22 for a preview.

Connecticut
The Mohegan Sun hosts its Spring Showdown series May 30-June 3. Each day features a higher buy-in event at 11 a.m., the smaller event at 6 p.m., and step qualifiers to the $1,100 main event at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The structures look good, and most events have guarantees, so we expect many of the East Coast players who aren’t in Nevada to turn out for this one.

Las Vegas
This should be the biggest month in the history of tournament poker. With the usual huge fields at the WSOP, and big series in at least four other places, Vegas will be buzzing. And every room in town has its regular daily events as well. Some days there will be 50 poker tournaments in Vegas, even without counting the hundreds of single-table tournaments running daily at the Rio.

The WSOP will have bracelet events starting at noon and 5 p.m. most days, as well as deepstack tournaments at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. that often draw massive fields. The WSOP starts May 27 and runs through the middle of July for those players lucky enough to have a deep run in the main event. While this is a long series, it isn’t the longest series of the summer.

That title belongs to the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza (May 24-July 15) with at least three tournaments every day.

For smaller buy-in events on the Strip, the Caesars Mega Stacks will feature five tournaments per day throughout the series. Most smaller buy-in events will happen on Fremont Street, with the Golden Nugget hosting its popular Grand series and Binion’s running the Binion’s Poker Classic.

After the well-run Wynn Classic series in the spring, the Wynn has brought the Classic series back for an encore this summer with mid-range events every day on top of its daily tournament schedule.

Most events extend well into July so we’ll be back next month with a nice schedule of Vegas events and the upcoming schedules for many popular series around the country.

World Series of Poker Circuit wraps up at Council Bluffs

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:21:00 +0000

Here are the winners of the World Series of Poker Circuit events at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa on March 29-April 10.

Event 1 • $350 NLHE
Entries: 355 • Pool: $103,305
Brent Glantz, $23,764
Event 2 • $350 NLHE
Entries: 585 • Pool: $170,235
Stephen Kats, $35,745
Event 3 • $350 NLHE
Entries: 211 • Pool: $61,401
Patrick Kellogg, $15,348
Event 4 • $350 H.O.R.S.E.
Entries: 119 • Pool: $34,629
Dave Kerrigan, $10,390
Event 5 $350 • 6-Max
Entries: 197 • Pool: $57,327
Jonathan Hanner, $15,765
Event 6 • $350 Omaha/8
Entries: 128 • Pool: $37,248
Duane Gerleman, $10,428
Event 7 • $350 NLHE
Entries: 255 • Pool: $74,205
Brian Boyanovsky, $18,178
Event 8 • $350 NLHE
Entries: 178 • Pool: $51,798
Aaron Ruppert, $13,983
Event 9 • $1,080 NLHE
Entries: 147 • Pool: $142,590
Darrell Prevail, $39,925
Event 10 • $350 PLO w/rb
Entries: 58 • Pool: $56,357
Brent Carter, $21,135
$1,600 Main Event
Entries: 290 • Pool: $421,950
Scott Stanko, $101,266
Event 12 • $350 NLHE
Entries: 116 • Pool: $33,756
Jeffrey Fielder, $10,128

November Niner Collins takes down Palms HPT event

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:07:00 +0000

November Niner Phil Collins took home top honors at the Heartland Poker Tour’s $1,500 main event at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas on April 12. It was the first live victory of his career, if you don’t count the $40 22-player nightly tournament at Harrah’s he won shortly after moving to Sin City, that is.

This time around, Collins bested 195 players and a strong final table that featured Matt Marafioti, Steve “gboro780” Gross, poker commentator Dan O’Brien and World Series of Poker bracelet-winner Leo Wolpert. Terry Presley, who won a HPT event in February and leads the POY race, was the only amateur.

One of the top tournament players of the past five years (he’s amassed more than $1.5 million in online earnings), USCPhildo saw Black Friday as an opportunity. “I’m very happy in Vegas. My wife has a job; she works as a physical therapist here, so moving out of the country to play online was never really an option. One of my first and immediate takes was: It’s time to get good at live poker. Black Friday helped me find the motivation to put in hours at the casino.”

Collins received $71,556 for the win, his second largest live cash, eclipsed only by the $2.2 million he earned for finishing fifth in the 2011 WSOP main event. — Todd Lamansky

Venetian Spring Big Bounty Poker Festival wraps

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Here are the results of the Venetian's Spring Big Bounty Festival, which was April 12-22 in Las Vegas.

Event 1 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 282 • Pool: $63,591
Brandon Poe, $15,257
Event 2 • $500 NLHE
Entries: 73 • Pool: $23,725
Anthony Dunne, $7,591
Event 3 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 96 • Pool: $21,648
David Lu Yu, $6,926
Event 4 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 78 • Pool: $17,589
Michael Corson, $5,630
Event 5 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 91 • Pool: $20,520
Casey Stewart, $6,567
Event 6 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 105 • Pool: $23,678
Jason Everett, $7,103
Event 7 • $500 NLHE
Entries: 92 • Pool: $29,900
Peter Smurfit, $9,567
$2,200 Main Event
Entries: 86 • Pool: $130,118
Mark Schmid, $41,639
Event 9 • $500 NLHE
Entries: 58 • Pool: $18,850
Terry Fleischer, $6,596
Event 10 • $300 NLHE
Entries: 73 • Pool: $16,461
Jimmy Kim, $5,268

Del Vecchio Wins MGM Grand Challenge

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:03:00 +0000

By Todd Lamansky

The MGM Grand continued its foray into the tournament game by hosting the second installment of its Grand Challenge Series (April 19-May 6) in Las Vegas. With the help of famed tournament director Matt Savage, poker room manager Rob Moore made a number of improvements to the inaugural series.

“Our first series in October of last year offered only no-limit hold’em events and most of the buy-ins were $340 or higher,” Moore said. “This time around we created a schedule with a variety of tournaments and a wider range of buy-ins, starting at $150.”

Players could choose from Omaha/8, H.O.R.S.E., stud/8, PLO, even Chinese Poker, in addition to several NLHE variations, including a bounty knockout, a mix-max format, and an all-in-or-fold event.

“We had great feedback from the customers regarding the variety of the schedule and we saw about a 50 percent increase in overall attendance.”

Local pro Mike Del Vecchio, who moved to Las Vegas last year from New York, bested 106 players to win the $1,600 main event for $51,377 the day before his 24th birthday. He was on fire from the get-go, ending Days 1 and 2 as the chipleader.

“Everything went great,” Del Vecchio said. “I flopped well, just what you need to do to win tournaments. I was fortunate to run as good as I did, but I also played great.”

Though he came to the final table as chipleader, Del Vecchio entered heads-up play with 900K to runner-up John Zentner’s 1.2 million. Del Vecchio assaulted his opponent with the aggression that had served him so well, managing to chip away at an overly tight Zentner for the next two or three hours, winning 70-75 percent of all the pots, and delivered the knockout punch after gaining a 3-to-1 chip lead.

With blinds at 6K-12K, Del Vecchio made his standard raise to 28K from the button with 9-5. Zentner called then check-called Del Vecchio’s 38K c-bet on a 9-8-5 rainbow flop. The turn brought the , putting two hearts on board. Zentner checked-raised Del Vecchio’s 82K turn bet all-in for 500K with , but found himself drawing dead to Del Vecchio’s full house. “I didn’t even have to fade a river card,” the champ said.
Del Vecchio fell in love with NLHE the first time he saw it on TV in 2003, when Chris Moneymaker won the world championship.

“A friend of mine (and I) immediately ran into my room and played for one cent-two cent and I won a dollar off of him and I’ve never looked back.”

He started playing online and eventually dropped out of Penn State to pursue poker full time. He has since made the transition to live poker because he enjoys the social interaction (and is now old enough to be in a casino). You can usually find him at Bellagio playing $10-$20, though he sometimes plays $5-$10 at the Wynn.

Almost exclusively a cash-game player, he entered the Grand Challenge on a whim. It was the first tournament he’d played in four months. Will this win inspire him to play more?

“I’m going to play several WSOP events. Tournaments are where the glory’s at; I wouldn’t be talking to you if I had a good cash-game session, but cash games are still my bread and butter.”

So what’s next for MGM?

“Matt Savage and Karina Jett (MGM’s new poker ambassador) did a great job promoting the series,” Moore said. “I think once Matt and I have a chance to discuss some minor adjustments, the Grand Challenge series will be even more successful next time around.”

Grand Challenge

MGM Grand, Las Vegas, April 19-May 6
Event 1 • $230 NLHE
Entries: 305 • Pool: $58,560
Neil Tran, $9K
Event 2 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 52 • Pool: $6,240
Saint Hung, $2,309
Event 3 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 69 • Pool: $8,280
Phil Olbrechts, $2,898
Event 4 • $230 Omaha/8
Entries: 73 • Pool: $14,016
Darryl Mann, $4,976
Event 5 • $340 Bounty
Entries: 100 • Pool: $28,800
Nedelcho Karakolev, $5,640
Event 6 • $150 PLO w/rbs
Entries: 37 • Pool: $13,848
Rebecca Wagner, $4,078
Event 7 • $340 NLHE
Entries: 113 • Pool: $32,544
Michael Greco, $10,738
Event 8 • $230 Stud/8
Entries: 78 • Pool: $14,976
Tim Frazin, $5,317
Event 9 • $340 NLHE
Entries: 37 • Pool: $10,656
Daniel Dizenzo, $4,795
Event 10 • $230 H.O.R.S.E.
Entries: 97 • Pool: $18,624
Tom McEvoy, $2,892
Event 11 • $340 NLHE
Entries: 102 • Pool: $29,682
Stepan Dzhigarkhanyan, $6,897
Event 12 • $230 6-Max
Entries: 69 • Pool: $13,248
Glenn Weiner, $3,617
Event 13 • $340 NLHE
Entries: 202 • Pool: $58,176
Paul Lui, $17,300
Event 14 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 91 • Pool: $10,920
Donna Houle, $3,394
Event 15 • $150 AIOF
Entries: 63 • Pool: $7,875
Flaminio Malguti, $1,253
Event 16 • $150 PLO/8 w/rbs
Entries: 53 • Pool: $15,960
Chip Jett, $6,224
Event 17 • $550 Mix-Max
Entries: 19 • Pool: $9,215
J.J. Liu, $4,715
Event 18 • $1,090 2-7
Entries: 16 • Pool: $15,520
Steve Billirakis, $5,432
Event 19 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 41 • Pool: $19,885
Ali Fazeli, $7,358
$1,600 Main Event
Entries: 107 • Pool: $155,685
Mike Del Vecchio, $51,377
Event 21 • $230 H.O.R.S.E.
Entries: 69 • Pool: $13,248
Hani Awad, $,4901
Event 22 • $150 PLO w/rbs
Entries: 22 • Pool: $11,472
Rebecca Wagner, $3,868
Event 23 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 22 • Pool: $10,670
Jeff Blenkarn, $5,335
Event 24 • $230 Omaha/8
Entries: 36 • Pool: $6,912
Joe Weinberger, $2,558
Event 25 • $230 Ladies
Entries: 21 • Pool: $4,032
Rae Rocco, $1,900
Event 26 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 41 • Pool: $4,920
Lavonne Joyce, $1,584
Event 27 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 30 • Pool: $3,600
Daniel Smith, $1,800
Event 28 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 9 • Pool: $1,080
Mike Franco, $540
Event 29 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 35 • Pool: $4,200
Larry Lewis, $1,890
Event 30 • $150 NLHE
Entries: 39 • Pool: $4,680
Daniel Orr, $1,644

WPT lands at Jax for bestbet Open on April 27

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:25:00 +0000

The World Poker Tour heads to North Florida for the debut of the televised WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open. As the first major event held in the brand new bestbet Jacksonville complex, this WPT Main Event is set to attract a diverse field of amateurs and professionals to the largest poker room in the state of Florida.

The penultimate WPT Main Event of Season X features a $5,000 buy-in, is open to anyone 18 years or older, and includes a re-entry option on Day 1B. Not only will the entire WPT team be filming throughout the week, but WPT stars Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten and Tony Dunst will be competing together on the felt for the first time in an open WPT Main Event. Pending deep runs, Mike and Vince will call the final table action on May 2 while Dunst hosts WPT live streaming on WPT.com starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.

WPT Main Event participants will be welcomed on April 27th with a VIP Party at bestbet Jacksonville at the close of the day’s action. Later in the week on May 1, the Royal Flush Girls will be competing in a special live Sit ‘n’ Go with a few lucky players. Additional activities for WPT Champions Club members include a golfing excursion with WPT talent, a night of racing at bestbet’s Orange Park Kennel Club and a special WPT hosted dinner. All these off-the-felt events will be filmed by WPT TV crew for the World Poker Tour broadcast.

In the tight race for WPT Player of the Year, Will “The Thrill” Failla has been bumped from the top spot for the first time during Season X. Joe Serock now holds pole position following back-to-back third place finishes in televised Season X tournaments. However, the prestigious honor is still up for grabs as many of the world’s top professionals are within one deep WPT Main Event run of the title.

Bestbet Jacksonville is the largest poker room in the state of Florida with 70 tables. The originative facility contains an expansive sports and racing simulcast center that features 120” TV screens. For the upcoming WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open, a custom commemorative surfboard will be awarded to the last player standing under 21.

Early confirmations for the event have been numerous and illustrious. Among the players slated to participate are WPT Season X champions Matt Giannetti, Matt Waxman, James Dempsey and Anthony Ruberto, WPT Players of the Year Jonathan Little (Ante Up strategy columnist) and Andy Frankenberger, past and current WPT Ones to Watch Maria Ho, William Reynolds, Matt Marafioti, Lauren Kling, Matt Affleck, and Jason Mercier, and leading female WPT career-earner Kathy Liebert.

Where to Play: May 2012

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:29:00 +0000

Welcome to the first edition of the Tourney Tracks Tournament Guide, a monthly preview of the best upcoming tournaments in North America. In every issue we’ll be covering the best values and biggest tournament series for you. For more detailed information, please visit TourneyTracks.com.

May is traditionally a lull in the tournament poker world as players rest up and spend a little time with their families before the World Series of Poker starts, but the live tournament scene has grown so much over the past year that even the slowest months are filled with value.

East Coast

The World Series of Poker Circuit wraps up at Harrah’s Chester (Pa.), on May 7. Poker is growing in the Philadelphia area, so we expect large fields and large prize pools. The schedule is typical of the circuit, featuring multiple tournaments every day. Most events are $345 or $555, and a $1,080 buy-in event will run near the end of the series, followed by the $1,600 main event with a huge field.

Every stop on the circuit is a little different, and Chester features two events that should prove popular. The $230 seniors event is always a ton of fun. Also, the WSOP main event satellite on May 7 should draw well, giving players a chance to turn a $550 satellite into millions.

South

Harrah’s New Orleans will host the final WSOPC event of the season, with a number of $355 events and smaller satellites. Unique features include a seniors event, a High Heels Poker Tour tournament for the ladies, and two $355 satellites for the million-dollar buy-in One Drop event at the WSOP. If you win your way into the One Drop event you can spend the next month selling off action and still have 90 percent of yourself in the highest buy-in poker tournament in history.

•The Palm Beach Deep Stack Challenge starts May 12 at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida and runs through May 21. Buy-ins are $130-$500 and all events have large starting stacks. Nearly every event has a significant guarantee, and fields should be large.

• Ebro (Fla.) Greyhound Park debuts its Emerald Coast Spring Classic from May 3-13. Buy-ins range from $55 to $550 for the main event, which begins May 12 at 2 p.m.

• The Stax Poker Lounge’s Summer Slam at Seminole Coconut Creek runs May 30-June 10 and is part of the WPT series.

Midwest

The Heartland Poker Tour will be at the Majestic Star in Gary, Ind., starting May 4 for nearly two weeks, and fields in the area are historically large, with a recent WSOPC event in nearby Hammond drawing more than 1,600 players for its main event.

The Mid-States Poker Tour will be at the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, Minn., with a $100,000 guarantee for its $1,100 buy-in event.

The South Dakota State Championship will be at the Silverado-Franklin in Deadwood on May 9. Three starting days and a $1,100 buy-in indicates South Dakota is looking to get serious about tournament poker.

Nevada

The World Poker Tour finishes up Season 10 with a bang at the WPT World Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on May 4. The WPT Championship is one of the biggest events of the year, and with 23 days of tournaments, this year it’s huge. Multiple events per day and a wide range of buy-ins and games should provide something for everyone.

The buy-ins range from $330 to the $100,000 Super High Roller, including three $5,000 events and the $25,000 championship. The Bellagio and the WPT always do a great job with this event, and this year should be no different.
Unique events include a $1,000 seniors event, a $500 Position Poker event where the winner of the last pot gets the button every hand, and multiple Combine ‘Em events where players play three Day 1 flights and their total chip stacks are combined for Day 2. We’re looking forward to the ultra deep-stacked play on Day 2.

Caesars Las Vegas is running a WSOP Warm Up event (May 4-20), with smaller buy-ins than the concurrent WPT Championship. WSOP prelim-event seats will be added to every event.

Many events are only $130, with large guarantees and deep stacks. This series should be a great value for a smaller bankroll.

West Coast

The West Coast is usually a great place to find a poker tournament, but the pre WSOP lull hits hard in California. If you’re looking for great weather, skip California this month (unless you had your heart set on playing in the Commerce Casino’s California State Championship (begins May 2) and head to the Westin Hotel in Aruba for the Players Poker Challenge on May 3.

The end of May signals the beginning of the WSOP, and it will be a big job getting everything happening in Vegas packed into one article for the month of June, but we’ll have every major series and some recommendations about where to play this summer in Sin City.

Star-studded lineup for Deep Stack Charity Poker Classic

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:58:00 +0000

By Scott Long

Poker is an every-player-for-himself kind of game, so it’s a rare treat when a player can win a trip and can bring a guest. But that’s exactly what 10 skillful players will be able to do when they make the final table of this month’s Deep Stack Charity Classic.

“In addition to our signature features, such as Rolex watches for the tournament champion and the first royal flush and an opportunity to win a $40,000 car, we really upped the ante,” Scott Frank, creator of the tournament, said about the May 20 event at Daytona Beach (Fla.) Kennel Club. “The prize pool will exceed $60,000 in value, and most important, the entire final table and their guests will win all-inclusive trips to Las Vegas’ premier five-diamond poker tournament.”

That five-diamond event is again the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza in Las Vegas, which has blossomed into a can’t-miss series in Nevada, just as the Deep Stack Charity Classic has blossomed into one of the most value-packed charity tournaments in the country.

For the $175 advance buy-in, players are treated to a catered brunch and dinner and have a chance to win $10,000 worth of raffle prizes and $5,000 worth of door prizes (all provided by sponsors and not taken from the prize pool). With a field of more than 600 last year, a substantial cash prize pool can be counted on in addition to the sponsored-added prizes.

“Our goal this year, as it is every year, is to make the Deep Stack Charity Classic the very best and most enjoyable tournament in the entire state,” Frank said. “It is challenging, but we are constantly striving to provide an even greater experience for poker players. The challenge of making the tournament even better each year is what really excites us. And, I believe this year’s tournament will be truly phenomenal.”

The tournament will feature a roster of poker celebrities, headlined by former world champion Chris Moneymaker and Annie Duke. Also playing will be World Series of Poker TV funnyman Norman Chad and Poker After Dark host Ali Nejad.

“We are very fortunate to have so many poker stars and legends joining us this year,” Frank said. “Everyone will have the opportunity to meet, chat with and, perhaps, even play with a poker icon.”
Pre-registration is strongly recommended, as the past two events have sold out well in advance. Players can register by calling (386) 872-8787.

Nick David wins Foxwoods Poker Classic, $106K

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Here are the winners and statistics from the Foxwoods Poker Classic, which ran March 17 to April 1. The $2,500 main event had a prize pool of $663,042 after 294 entered. Nick David took the title and $106,329 for first place.

Event 1 • $600 NLHE
Pool: $249,853 • Entries: 486
David Grandieri, $58,516
Event 2 • $400 NLHE
Pool: $97,775 • Entries: 288
Anthony Campagna, $23,466
Event 3 • $400 Omaha/8
Pool: $45,832 • Entries: 135
Ming Lee, $6,597
Event 4 • $230 Bounty
Pool: $47,846 • Entries: 509
Paul Darden, $11,086
Event 5 • $300 NLHE
Pool: $93,314 • Entries: 370
James Rode, $17,520
Event 6 • $400 Stud
Pool: $29,536 • Entries: 87
Andrew Frizen, $9,600
Event 7 • $400 NLHE
Pool: $113,393 • Entries: 334
Dorian Godin, Rob Johnston, $18,836
Event 8 • $300 NLHE
Pool: $70,868 • Entries: 281
Nikola Curanovic, $11,624
Event 9 • $400 Stud/8
Pool: $26,481 • Entries: 78
Cletus Schuler, $5,399
Event 10 • $300 Bounty
Pool: $51,358 • Entries: 254
Concetta Rinaldi, $12,326
Event 11 • $300 Ladies
Pool: $44,387 • Entries: 176
Barbara Rogers, $4,658
Event 12 • $1,500 NLHE
Pool: $202,730 • Entries: 152
Mark Bramley, $55,244
Event 13 • $400 NLHE
Pool: $98,455 • Entries: 290
Nicholas Palma, $23,630
Event 14 • $400 LHE
Pool: $23,425 • Entries: 69
Nicholas Muraca, $5,350
Event 15 • $230 Bounty
Pool: $31,208 • Entries: 332
Soukha Kachittavong, $4,832
Event 16 • $300 NLHE
Pool: $65,572 • Entries: 260
Michael Mundy, $13,083
Event 17 • $400 H.O.S.E.
Pool: $25,123 • Entries: 74
George Fotiadis, $6,156
Event 18 • $1K NLHE
Pool: $165,945 • Entries: 188
Bobby Ferdinand, $38,606
Event 19 • $500 6-Max
Pool: $87,495 • Entries: 205
Gary Lucci, $16,098
$2,500 Main Event
Pool: $663,042 • Entries: 294
Nick David, $106,329
Event 21 • $230 Bounty
Pool: $35,814 • Entries: 381
Nikola Curanovic, $4,773

Wynn Classic $5K main goes to Baron

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:44:00 +0000

By Todd Lamansky

Though a number of well-known professionals enjoyed great runs, the 2012 Wynn Classic helped make March the month of the up-and-comer.

Isaac Baron topped a field of 190 players, taking home top honors and $240,512 in the $5K main event, bringing his career total to more than $2.5 million. Heads-up, Baron defeated Wayne Boich, who received $161,263 for his second-place finish, the largest payday and best finish of his career (and his first cash since December 2010), bringing his lifetime earnings to $474,530.

Local pro Cary Katz, who won twice in Venetian’s latest Deep Stack Extravaganza, took home $32,253 for seventh, bringing his lifetime total to $602,857. Rodger Johnson, of Grand Forks, N.D., continued his recent run of good form with three cashes, including a 15th-place finish in the main event as well as runner-up in Event 13 ($1K NLHE) for a combined total of $49,137, bringing his lifetime total to $301,937. Johnson also won the Mid-States Poker Tour $1K main event at Running Aces Harness Park in Minnesota in February.

Two more up-and-comers had the pleasure of triple-cashing: Joseph Kuether of Elm Grove, Wis., and Patrick Atchinson from Ft. Worth, Texas. Kuether shipped two $500 NLHE events and finished seventh in another, then followed that performance by winning his first WSOPC ring in the main event at Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego three weeks later. Atchinson won Event 9 ($500 NLHE), the first championship of his career, and took home $17,628 from three events.

Canadian Chris Back of Vancouver, who cashed twice in the WSOPC at Caesars Palace in January and four times in February’s DSE, added two more at the Wynn Classic, and then followed that performance with three more at the WSOPC Rincon, bringing his lifetime earnings to $369,498.

The $18,144 Andreas Adolfsson earned for his third-place finish in Event 13 marked the largest score of his career. He also finished ninth in Event 9 ($500 NLHE). He added two more cashes at the Hoops and Hold’em Spring Classic, a series Caesars hosted to capitalize on the influx of Vegas visitors during March Madness.

WSOP bracelet-holder Daniel Kelly won Event 13 and finished 10th in Event 15 ($2K NLHE), while Internet sensation Annette Obrestad shipped Event 2 ($1K NLHE) and finished third in Event 8 ($1K NLHE). Several established pros had multiple cashes, including 1998 world champion Scotty Nguyen, Red Rock Challenge champion Benjamin Yu, mixed-game specialist Chip Jett, Justin Young and Andrew Lichtenberger, who was fourth in the main event.

Wynn Classic, Feb. 23-March 6

Event 1 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 560 • Pool: $271,600
Ting Ting Ho, $51,871
Event 2• $1,070 NLHE
Entries: 49 • Pool: $47,530
Annette Obrestad, $18,204
Event 3 • $550 O/8
Entries: 84 • Pool: $40,740
Martin Corpuz, $12,711
Event 4 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 117 • Pool:$56,745
Adam Taskinsoy, $16,260
Event 5 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 110 • Pool: $53,530
Paul Nguyen, $15,632
Event 6 • $550 PLO
Entries: 110 • Pool: $53,350
Ken Lennaard, $15,632
Event 7 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 167 • Pool: $80,995
Joseph Kuether, $21,139
Event 8 • $1,070 NLHE
Entries: 135 • Pool: $130,950
David Singer, $36,402
Event 9 • $550 NLHE
Entries: 109 • Pool: $52,865
Patrick Atchinson, $15,204
Event 10 • $550 Mixed
Entries: 109 • Pool: $52,865
David Funkhouser, $15,491
Event 11 • $550 NLHE
Entries:153 • Pool: $74,205
Joseph Kuether, $19,367
$5K Main Event
Entries:190 • Pool: $921,500
Isaac Baron, $240,512