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2009 Harvey's Lake Tahoe WSOP Circuit Event

Event #1 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The first event at Harvey's Lake Tahoe got off to a great start with 505 players paying $340 to enter. This helped to make the $146,955 cash pool, which went to the top 54 finishers.

1. Freddy Podesta -- $36,290
2. Charlie Melton -- $22,340
3. Kieng Lieng -- $14,696
4. Bradford Jensen -- $9,773
5. Craig Hutchison -- $7,127
6. Dustin Espindula -- $5,584
7. Armando Bechtold -- $4,188
8. Kevin Tastard -- $3,086
9. Unknown -- $2,204

Event #2 -- No Limit Hold'Em

This two day event drew 314 people, each paying $550 to enter. $152,290 was the prize pool amount, and it went to the last 36 players standing.

1. Shoaib Makani -- $39,677
2. J.T. Anderson -- $23,986
3. Tooraj Agahi -- $16,067
4. Ray Eberlin -- $10,813
5. Roger Byrne -- $8,071
6. Merle Avila -- $6,396
7. George Cook -- $4,797
8. Rob Pinney -- $3,597
9. Anthony Winters -- $2,589

Event #3 -- No Limit Hold'Em

Jonathan "Jon" Schwartz came out the champion out of a field of 146 players. Buyin was $550 which created a pool of $70,810 that was split between the top 18 finishers.

1. Jonathan "Jon" Schwartz -- $21,277
2. Joe Fernandez -- $12,463
3. Baron Weller -- $8,568
4. Galen Peiskee -- $5,948
5. Kenneth Fitzgerald -- $4,496
6. Chad Vitale -- $5,584
7. Tom DeJong -- $2,762
8. Bill Haynes -- $2,053
9. Nelson Chew -- $1,487

Event #4 -- No Limit Hold'Em (Ladies Only)

This 1 day event had 145 women pay $230 each to sit at the tables. Size of the pool grew to $28,130 and was split between the top 18.

1. Michelle Murillo -- $8,453
2. Lisa Darling -- $4,951
3. Sheryl Nicholls -- $3,404
4. Joline Burnside -- $2,363
5. Marlo Snyder -- $1,786
6. Ida Siconolfi -- $1,378
7. Betty Sue Bass -- $1,097
8. Deb Corrandi -- $816
9. Beth Hoffman -- $591

Event #5 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The 106 participants each paid $550 as a buyin for Event #5. A pool of $51,410 was made and divided amongst the last 18 finishers.

1. David Costain -- $15,448
2. Vineet Shamra -- $9,048
3. Lance Greenberg -- $6,221
4. Ryan Thomas -- $5,584
5. Ernest Hernandez -- $4,318
6. Charlie Fiorella -- $3,265
7. Glen Chileski -- $2,005
8. Paul Damany -- $1,491
9. Neal Cooke -- $1,080

Event #6 -- Limit Omaha Hi/Lo (8 or Better)

The buyin was $330 for the 114 players who sat at the tables. Size of the cash pool reached $33,174 and went to the top 18 in the event.

1. Alec Martin -- $9,966
2. Woody Malin -- $5,839
3. Jason Stern -- $4,014
4. James Palmer -- $2,787
5. Nai sae Fong -- $2,107
6. Glenn Garrod -- $1,626
7. Jason Newitt -- $1,294
8. Tracey Graham -- $962
9. Monte Young -- $697

Event #7 -- No Limit Hold'Em

There were 107 players in Event #7, with each paying $550 for the entry fee. The amount of the cash pool for the players reached $51,895. This was split between the top 18 finishers.

1. Aaron Kanter -- $15,594
2. Vic Campena -- $9,134
3. Steve Lewis -- $6,279
4. Gino Cavallini -- $4,359
5. Kent Washington -- $3,295
6. Clint Baskin -- $2,543
7. Django Bloomfield -- $2,024
8. Frank Lindsay -- $1,505
9. Grant Schmidt -- $1,090

Event #8 -- H.O.R.S.E.

This popular version of poker for experienced players had 88 sign up, with the entry fee being $340 per player. Pool reached $29,920 for the top 8 who managed to make the final table.

1. Tim Vance -- $9,348
2. Zak Gilbert -- $5,045
3. Chris Dombrowski -- $3,431
4. Bill Bostick -- $2,433
5. Phil Hawkins -- $1,869
6. Robert Torres -- $1,485
7. Gregory McClelland -- $1,152
8. George Geros -- $845

Event #9 -- No Limit Hold'Em

Player count was 125, pool size reached $60,525 and went to the last 18 in Event #9. The buyin for the event was $550 per player.

1. Dominic Terreri -- $18,218
2. Lance Oliver -- $10,670
3. Gholam "Shawn" Fakhimi -- $7,336
4. Kyle Orvis -- $5,093
5. Andy Duke -- $3,850
6. Neal Cooke -- $2,971
7. Scott Moskalik -- $2,364
8. Bobby Moore -- $1,758
9. Rex Tetgen -- $1,273

Event #10 -- No Limit Hold'Em (Six Handed)

It was just 87 players that gathered for six handed no limit hold'em. They paid $550 for the right to do so and helped to create a $42,195 prize pool. Cash went to the top 12 finishers, here are the final table results:

1. Loc Hoang -- $13,290
2. Gleen Uchibori -- $8,288
3. Mark Bonsack -- $5,274
4. Monte Gilley -- $3,587
5. Matt Needham -- $2,426
6. Gigi Dong -- $1,794

Event #11 -- Circuit Championship Event

Day 1
This Main Event had 132 players shell out the $5,150 for a seat in this tournament. A resulting pool of $640,200 was shared between the top 18 finishers. Seen were 2007 WSOP Main Event champ Jerry Yang, Chris Ferguson, Kathy Liebert, Allen Kessler, Michael Binger, Aaron Kanter, Jeff Madsen, Johnny Chan and Sabyl Cohen-Landrum. Also former NBA player Ken Norman was also in the field. At the end of the day, there were 55 left to move on to Day 2.

Day 2
The field played down to the nine for the final table. Eliminations that took place include Aaron Kanter when his pocket 6's could not hold up to his opponents pocket A's. Kathy Liebert got the unfortunate title of bubble girl, when she busted out in 19th position, just out of the money. Her pocket 9's were overcome by the paired Queens of another player and Kathy became the bubble girl with no glamourous photos, no big soapy bubbles...and no money. And Chris Ferguson fell short of the final table, busting in 11th place after losing to the Queen kicker of Mike McClain. By 11:30 pm, play was stopped to be continued tomorrow.

Day 3
First to go was Scott Clements in 9th after he lost to the Broadway straight of Ty Stewart. Next was Bill Bostick in 8th who went to the sidelines courtesy of Michael Binger with two pair (A's and 3's). Travis Erdman went in 7th due to the meeting with the 9 high flush of Ty Stewart. And in a bad beat, Allen Kessler was crushed in 6th after his all-in with pocket A's lost to the set of 7's made on the river also belonging to Stewart. Tay Nguyen fell in 5th place to the pocket A's of Michael McClain, that turned into two pair (A's and 9's). But then McClain was sent home in 4th from the Jack high straight of Stewart. Then Jake Solis left the table in 3rd when he lost in a 3-way hand with Binger and Stewart.

When it came time for the heads up, Michael Binger had 824,000 and Ty Stewart had 1,156,000. The battle for the title went for almost 3 hours before the winning hand came. On the last hand, after raising and calling, both Michael and Ty saw a flop of 4 8 9. Michael raised and Ty (A 8) said he was all-in which was called by Michael (Q 9). The turn card was an 10 and the river another Queen, giving Michael two pair (Q's and 9's). And with that Michael Binger became the new champion and has the big gold ring to prove it! He also received a buy-in seat to the 2009 WSOP Main Event on top of a six figure payday.

1. Michael Binger -- $181,379
2. Ty Stewart -- $112,675
3. Jake Solis -- $77,464
4. Michael McClain -- $53,777
5. Tay Nguyen -- $40,653
6. Allen Kessler -- $31,370
7. Travis Erdman -- $24,968
8. Bill Bostick -- $18,566
9. Scott Clements -- $13,444

Event #12 -- No Limit Hold'Em

This event had 144 entrants that paid $550 for the entry fee. The top 18 split a pool of $69,840.

1. Ed Yang -- $20,985
2. Chad Vitale -- $12,292
3. Stuart Spear -- $8,451
4. Steve Knapp -- $5,867
5. Michael Hanson -- $4,435
6. Tae Kim -- $3,422
7. Richie Gass -- $2,724
8. Max Pescatori -- $2,025
9. Anthony Thorpe -- $1,467

Event #13 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The last event at Harveys' Lake Tahoe had 150 players paying $340 for the right to sit down at a table. Money went to the top 18 who divided a pool of $43,650.

1. David Adams -- $13,117
2. Andy Miller -- $7,682
3. Jeff Rubic -- $5,282
4. Zak Gilbert -- $3,667
5. Roman Canepa -- $2,772
6. Stephen Baxter -- $2,139
7. Richard Herrera -- $1,702
8. Cathy Hiatt -- $1,266
9. Jason Adler -- $917