2009 Caesar's Palace WSOP Circuit Event

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2009 Caesars Palace WSOP Circuit Event

Caesar's Palace
Las Vegas, Nevada
April 12 -- April 29, 2009

Event #1 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The first event at Caesar's in Las Vegas had 157 players pony up $1,060 each to create a pool of $152,290. Cash went to the top 18 finishers.

Maurice Hawkins -- $40,355
Craig Crivello -- $24,366
Allie Prescott -- $15,610
Michael Bridwell -- $12,183
Motoyuki Mabuchi -- $9,518
Johnny Johnson -- $7,615
Bryan Devonshire -- $6,092
Richard McGraw -- $4,949
Dwyte Pilgrim -- $4,188

Event #2 -- No Limit Hold'Em

A total of 194 players took seats after paying $550 for this two day event. Pool size grew to $94,000 and went to the top 18 survivors.

James Lopushinsky -- $24,932
John Lively -- $15,054
Paul Spitzberg -- $9,644
Avi Indik -- $7,572
Michel Dumas -- $5,881
Jack Ranallo -- $4,705
Alan Winston -- $3,764
Paul "Eskimo" Clark -- $3,058
Mark Poe -- $2,587

Event #3 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The poker gods sought balance as there were 340 players who paid $340 each for the entry fee. Cash pool amount of $98,940 went to the top 36.

Dong Xu -- $23,738
Aaron Parenteau -- $14,594
Tommy Tran -- $9,152
Joe Chang -- $7,421
Jesus Vergara -- $5,936
Steven Morgan -- $4,700
Nhut Tran -- $3,710
Christian Sabio -- $2,968
Phillip Dagger -- $2,226

Event #4 -- 6 Handed No Limit Hold'Em

The event buyin was $550 for the 247 entrants. Prize pool reached $119,795 and went to the top 24 finishers.

Joseph Perrin -- $33,248
James Crow -- $20,964
Gioi Luong -- $13,477
Rocky Boustani -- $8,985
Lisa Adams -- $6,289
Allie Prescott -- $4,492
Greg Aversa -- $3,294
Joseph Gottlieb -- $3,294
James Rumptz -- $2,695

Event #5 -- Limit Hold'Em

This one day event brought them in and threw them out. A total of 124 players paid the $340 entry fee. It helped to create a $36,084 pool that went to the top 18 places.

Craig Crevello -- $9,563
Chris Hughes -- $5,773
Edelman Carey -- $3,699
Otto Baumgartner -- $2,887
Klein Bach -- $2,255
Gholam "Shawn" Fakhimi -- $1,804
Michelle Lau -- $1,443
Elgie Morris -- $1,173
Martin Butler -- $992

Event #6 -- No Limit Hold'Em

For the next two days, 190 poker players sat down to see who would become the winner of this event. A $550 buyin contributed to a $92,150 pool that went to the top 18.

Joseph McGuire -- $24,420
Ann Mong -- $14,744
Sean Westra -- $9,445
James Winfield -- $7,372
Bob Miller -- $5,759
Craig Fishman -- $4,608
Nhut Tran -- $3,686
Frank Rusnak -- $2,995
Thao Theim -- $2,534

Event #7 -- No Limit Hold'Em

As it gets closer to the WPT championships, big names come to these events. There were 151 players each paying $1,050 for a seat. Cash pool went up to $146,470, going to the top 18 finishers.

James Lopushinsky -- $38,815
Joe Awada -- $23,435
Men "The Master" Nguyen -- $15,013
Gary Do -- $11,718
Brad Hood -- $9,154
Blake Dennison -- $7,324
Ben Mintz -- $5,859
Andrew Pierz -- $4,760
Carlos Zambrano -- $4,028

Event #8 -- No Limit Hold'Em

This tiny two day event had 74 players that paid $550 each for a seat. Pool grew to $35,890 and went to the top 9 finishers.

Robert Lauria -- $11,485
Benjamin Zamani -- $7,178
Russ Floyd -- $4,576
David Donohue -- $3,230
Randy Holland -- $2,602
Edward Gleason -- $2,153
Donald Veltman -- $1,795
Jonathan McMichael -- $1,525
Allie Prescott -- $1,346

Event #9 -- No Limit Hold'Em

A total of 225 players took to the tables after paying an entry fee of $550. Pool jumped up to $109,125 and went to the top 27 in the results.

Suzanne Carrillo -- $28,464
Christian Toboc -- $16,396
Tam Nguyen -- $10,367
Wayne Harvey -- $8,457
Anders Taylor -- $6,820
Than Nguyen -- $5,456
Brian Burney -- $4,365
David James -- $3,547
Ricky Green -- $2,728

Event #10 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The buyin for this event was stepped up to $1,620 for the 116 who entered. Pool size reached $168,780 and went to the last remaining 18 players.

George Lusby -- $44,724
Brad Hood -- $27,005
Jason B. Goldman -- $17,300
Gary Hagland -- $13,502
Kyle Bowker -- $10,549
Todd Terry -- $8,439
Chad Maness -- $6,751
John White -- $5,485
Steve Hiltz -- $4,691

Event #11 -- Double Stack Turbo No Limit Hold'Em

We have no description of how "Double Stack Turbo No Limit Hold'Em" is played, but it had to be fun as 310 signed up to take part in this event. The top 36 received part of the $95,739 pool.

Gary Brand -- $22,979
Roberto Alberro -- $14,122
Jason Ginsbach -- $8,856
David Taylor -- $7,180
Albert Gerard -- $5,744
Todd Roney -- $4,548
Dallas Wottlin -- $3,590
Jeffrey Barber -- $2,872
Ira Friedman -- $2,154

Event #12 -- No Limit Hold'Em

In all 111 players paid $1,060 each for a seat to play No Limit Hold'em. Pool size grew to $106,670 and went to the top 18.

Blake Buffington -- $28,533
Francisco Navarro -- $17,227
Randy Dishongh -- $11,036
Gioi Luong -- $8,614
Joaquin Sosa -- $6,729
Faye Sonntag -- $5,384
Thomas Troughton -- $4,307
Mike Allis -- $3,499
Ricky Chow -- $2,961

Event #13 -- No Limit Hold'Em

Buyin for this event was $550 and it drew a total of 199 players. Cash pool was $96,515 and went to the top 18 competitors.

Christopher Amaral -- $25,576
Anthony Degreef -- $15,442
Lauren King -- $9,893
Jonathan Yee -- $7,721
Mike Leah -- $6,032
Dwyte Pilgrim -- $4,826
Nick Hall -- $3,861
Adam Lippert -- $3,137
J.T. Anderson -- $2,654

Event #14 -- Omaha 8 or Better

A total of 112 players paid $340 to have a seat at the tables. The top 18 split a pool of $32,592.

Scott Auerbach -- $8,638
James Markley -- $5,215
Richard Tatalovich -- $3,341
Jason Stern -- $2,607
Kirk Loberman -- $2,037
Bob Slezak -- $1,630
Guy Lawrence -- $1,304
Ben Landowski -- $1,059
Dennis Burke -- $896

Event #15 -- No Limit Hold'Em

This event had 231 players in it. Buy in was $340 and helped to make a pool of $67,221 that went to the top 27.

Juan Jaramillo -- $16,305
Jarno Laupman -- $10,083
Andy Rose -- $6,386
Leonid Vernik -- $5,210
Tommy Tran -- $4,201
Frank Rusnak -- $3,361
Rickey Townsend -- $2,689
Steward Yancik -- $2,185
Isreal Elias -- $1,681

Event #16 -- Heads Up No Limit Hold'Em

In one of the more tiny gatherings, this event attracted 64 players who paid $1,050 each for a seat. The $62,080 pool went to the top 8 finishers.

Alan Engel -- $22,353
Adam White -- $13,657
John Racener -- $7,449
Scott Darin -- $7,449
Motoyuki Mabushi -- $2,793
Doug Lee -- $2,793
Danilo Drauio -- $2,793
Ian Palomo -- $2,793

Event #17 -- No Limit Hold'Em

A buy in of $550 was paid by the 227 entrants to this event. Pool size reached $110,095 and went to the top 27 in the field.

Max Katz -- $26,699
Joseph Guerra -- $16,514
Joe Wasylean -- $10,459
Zal Irani -- $8,532
Matt Vance -- $6,881
Brent Carter -- $5,505
Allan Jacobi -- $4,404
Chris Michael -- $3,578
Lee Brooke-Pierce -- $2,752

Event #18 -- No Limit Hold'Em

A lot of players decided to play in this event as 378 paid $340 for a seat in this two day event. This created a pool of $109,998 that went to the top 36. Because of the WPT championship tournament and the upcoming World Series of Poker, more big names are showing up than normal. Here are the final table results:

"Hollywood" Dave Stann -- $26,398
Jack Andelman -- $16,225
Paul "Eskimo" Clark -- $10,175
Steven Mckoy -- $8,250
Richard Cresiski -- $6,600
Gary Martin -- $5,225
Pascal Choquet -- $4,125
Lou Merwick -- $3,300
John Chadwick -- $2,475

Event #19 -- No Limit Hold'Em

Here the players at the tables numbered 336, and with an entry fee of $550 there was a pool of $162,690. Cash went to the top 36 finishers.

Shan Jing -- $39,103
Brian Johnson -- $24,037
Ron Miller -- $15,074
James Ryan -- $12,222
Dwyte Pilgrim -- $9,778
Richard Ziskind -- $7,741
Antone Bueno -- $6,111
Joaquin Sosa -- $4,889
Jerry Treglile -- $3,667

Event #20 -- No Limit Hold'Em

Okay, here is a big money event with a buyin of $2,000. There were 134 players who signed up, creating a pool of $259,960 that went to the top 18.

Jeremiah Degreef -- $69,890
Vinny Pahuja -- $41,594
Men "The Master" Nguyen -- $26,646
James Lopushinsky -- $20,797
Jon Eaton -- $16,248
Soheil Shamseddin -- $12,998
Bernard Lubitz -- $10,398
Wayne Boich -- $8,449
Brian Taylor -- $7,149

Event #21 -- Ladies Championship No Limit Hold'Em

Just before the Championship event, 115 ladies competed to see who would be the winner and earn the gold ring and trophy given to the winner. Buy in was $340, pool was $33,465 which went to the top 18.

Courtney Wulfe -- $8,868
Kathryn Meeks -- $5,354
Christina Bui -- $3,430
Garilyn Nelson -- $2,677
Deb Snead -- $2,092
Laura Kallen Wakeland -- $1,673
Dorianne May -- $1,339
Siriwan Sukmekerd -- $1,088
Lisa Bartlett -- $920

Event #22 -- $5000 Buyin Championship Event (3 day event)

Day 1

Well this Championship event did not have as many players as last year. A total of 187 signed up to play compared to the 334 in 2008. Buy in was $5,150 per person, creating a pool of $896,950 that went to the surviving 18 finishers. Goal for the first day was for all players to have $25,000 in chips and last for 7 levels of play, each 75 minutes long. Lots of big names like Kathy Liebert, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Gavin Smith, Justin Young, Johnny Chan, Scotty Nguyen, Paul Magriel, Erick Lindgren, Mark Seif and David "The Dragon" Pham were in the field. Here is the list of payouts for the final table players:

$237,692
$143,512
$91,937
$71,756
$56,059
$44,848
$35,878
$29,151
$24,666

Bustouts did occur with fine examples leaving such as Ester Taylor after her pocket 7's were put to sleep from another player who paired his Ace card, Johnny Chan was so frustrated in his hand against Kathy Liebert that he got up and walked away before Kathy could turn over her cards to show. They were joined by Erick Lindgren who by his own admission had terrible luck, David Singer and Justin Young. By the time the day was finished, there were 88 left to move on to Day 2.

Day 2

One of the first busts of the day was Jimmy Tran who moved in with pocket 10's after the flop, only to find out his opponent had pocket 8's gained an additional 8 for a set on the flop. Tony Dunst went to the rail after his pocket Q's were outdone by the pocket A's of another player. Even though Tony gained another Q on the turn, the river card came up an Ace. Steve Billirakis busted out after his move with pocket 9's was put to sleep with another player holding A K having A K come up again on the flop. Steve Wong with pocket J's lost to the pocket K's of Matt Lagarde. Pocket J's were also bad for Kathy Liebert after her opponent showed pocket K's, sending Kathy to the sidelines.

David "The Dragon" Pham lost to the pocket 10's of Eric Hershler and walked to the rail. Tony Cousineau had his last chips taken after his move with 7c 8c were silenced by the paired A's of Ian Woodley. Eric Hershler also went out, but in 18th place he at least saw money for his efforts ($15,697). Just short of midnight, tournament officials had the remaning 16 bag their chips and come back for Day 3 action.

Day 3 -- Final Table

This was the day to battle it out to see who will become champion for the 16 that made it this far. First to go was Matt LaGarde in 16th place ($15,697) followed by Ian Woodley in 15th ($17,939), Jeff Sluzinski in 14th ($17,939), Matt Brady in 13th ($17,939), Manuel Adel in 12th ($20,181), Robert Cheung in 11th ($20,181) and Bert Fujisaki in 10th ($20,181).

So now we have an official final table. From this point on all levels will be 90 minutes long instead of 75. Our 9th place finisher was Evgeny Serebryakov after taking the remainder of his chips and going allin with 2 3 offsuit did not work. Nashaat Antonious left in 8th place courtesy of the pocket J's of Jack Schanbacher. The victory dance was short for Jack Schanbacher as his bid with pocket 7's lost to the pocket K's of Justin Bonomo, resulting in a 7th place finish for Jack. Dwyte Pilgrim who has been hot on the WSOPC tour this year lost to the pocket J's of Justin Bonomo to end up leaving in 6th. Matt Graham was eliminated in 5th after losing to the King kicker of Michael Mizrachi. The very next hand Jeremiah DeGreef was gone in 4th losing to the Ace high hand of Mizrachi. Then on the following hand, Men "The Master" Nguyen walked away in 3rd, losing to the Queen kicker of Justin Bonomo.

Now it is time for the heads up! Justin had 2,500,000 chips verses 2,020,000 belonging to Michael Mizrachi. Things started slow, but soon picked up to where each player was winning huge pots with the potential for the championship win going either way. After 4 hours of action, the winning hand went as follows. Mizrachi pushed everything to the middle preflop holding Jd 9s and was called by Bonomo holding Ks Qd. The table showed Kc 10d 9d Ad 3d. Both players made flush hands, but Bonomo by virtue of his Queen of diamonds held the bigger flush and was declared champion.

Justin Bonomo -- $237,692
Michael Mizrachi -- $143,512
Men "The Master" Nguyen -- $91,937
Jeremiah DeGreef -- $71,756
Matt Graham -- $56,059
Dwyte Pilgrim -- $44,848
Jack Schanbacher -- $35,878
Nashaat Antonious -- $29,151
Evgeny Serebryakov -- $24,666