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2009 Horseshoe Hammond WSOP Circuit Event

Event #1 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The buyin for the 1,187 players who entered was $345. This made a cash pool of $345,417 that went to the top 99 finishers.

1. Perry Ernest -- $70,597
2. David Lindquist -- $45,426
3. Matthew Dunn -- $27,562
4. Antonio Scott -- $23,138
5. Todd Huynh -- $18,885
6. David Kim -- $14,802
7. Florencio Acevedo -- $11,399
8. Jesse Nunez -- $8,847
9. Randy White -- $6,295

Event #2 -- No Limit Hold'Em

This two day event brought a total of 516 players to the tables, each paying $555 for the right to be there. Cash was paid out to the top 54 from prize pool of $250,260.

1. Frederic Winter -- $55,159
2. Matthew Sekeres -- $34,928
3. Scott Kahoun -- $21,447
4. Ronald Kruk -- $17,525
5. Leon Hamrick -- $14,339
6. Mike Mustafa -- $11,399
7. Ryan Julius -- $11,275
8. Alfredo Ceballos -- $6,986
9. Kenneth Norman -- $5,147

Event #3 -- No Limit Hold'Em

With 162 players entering, a prize pool of $157,140 was made and divided between the top 18 finalists. Entry fee was $1,100 per person.

1. Michael Foster -- $40,275
2. Christopher Gentile -- $24,318
3. Joel Nichols -- $15,579
4. Mike Parisi -- $12,159
5. Tom Macey -- $9,499
6. Michael Lutes -- $7,600
7. Robert Panich -- $6,080
8. William Fockelmann -- $4,040
9. James Kaputis Jr. -- $4,180

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

The ladies event drew 227 to the tables after paying a $225 entry fee. This created a $44,038 pool that went to the top 27 finishers. The results posted before Event 3 because this was a 1 day event. Here is how the final table fared:

1. Linda Tucker -- $10,196
2. Kelly Kiser -- $6,306
3. Leah Elizabeth Albritton -- $3,994
4. Allison Kaulen -- $3,258
5. Karen Hakimian -- $2,627
6. Nesli O'Hare -- $2,102
7. Carol Jacobson -- $1,682
8. Maria Dipaulo -- $1,366
9. Diane Pavlik -- $1,051

Event #5 -- No Limit Hold'Em w/ Rebuys

There were 262 people who paid $555 for the entry fee for the 5th tournament at the Horseshoe Hammond. Rebuys and other add-ons contributed another $127,070 to the pool. Money went to the top 24 finishers.

1. Justin Filtz -- $29,566
2. Patrick Heneghan -- $18,288
3. Aaron Steury -- $11,582
4. John Bravos -- $9,499
5. Harvey Bundy III -- $7,620
6. Curtis Vanglider -- $6,098
7. Maurice Nelson -- $4,877
8. Scott Rokita -- $3,962
9. Michael Book -- $3,048

Event #6 -- Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys

Event 6 had 142 players at the tables who each paid $235 for the entry fee. A total of 511 rebuys were made with each rebuy costing $100. The prize pool reached $78,648 and was split between the top 18 in the tournament.

1. Joel Casper -- $19,475
2. Alec Milam -- $11,760
3. Csaba Vicen -- $7,534
4. Karl Sederberg -- $5,880
5. Terry Harden -- $4,594
6. Edward O. Chana -- $3,675
7. Jason Rice -- $2,940
8. Va Shon Watkins -- $2,389
9. Brian Schwartz -- $2,021

Event #7 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The cash pool for Event #7 grew to $124,936 and was divided between the last 18 finishers out of the 184 entrants.

1. Eric Dam -- $31,774
2. Gary Allen -- $19,166
3. Steve Verrett -- $12,278
4. Geroge Dietz III -- $9,583
5. Shannon Fahey -- $7,487
6. Frank Berrettoni -- $5,989
7. Eric Eklund -- $4,791
8. Michael Kalinsky -- $3,893
9. Joseph Darnell -- $3,294

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

A comfortable sized field of 169 paid $345 for play in this event, which was far more reasonable than the $50,000 some paid this summer at the RIO for the H.O.R.S.E. event. But it resulted in a smaller pool of $49,179 which was split amongst the top 18 finishers.

1. Charles Bransford -- $13,029
2. Doug Lorgeree -- $7,869
3. Alan Durson -- $5,041
4. Desmond Portano -- $3,934
5. David Rogowski -- $3,074
6. Mark Provenzano -- $2,459
7. John Guarisco -- $1,967
8. Thomas Wilson -- $1,598
9. Michael Altman -- $1,352

Event #9 -- No Limit Hold'Em

As we move closer to the Main Event, the buyins get more expensive. Event #9 cost 102 players $2,100 each for a seat at the tables. Prize pool grew to $197,880 and went to the top 18 finishers. Samuel Oberlin who had a fantastic finish in the Circuit Tournament Main Event at Caesar's Indiana also made the final table here. This is why we say following the circuit tournaments lets you in on who the up and coming big names in poker are.

1. Marc Emond -- $51,072
2. Sung Hong -- $30,837
3. Robert Szewcyk -- $19,755
4. Stuart Marshak -- $15,418
5. Samuel Oberlin -- $12,046
6. Brian Brunner -- $9,637
7. Cary Bone -- $7,709
8. Joel Casper -- $6,264
9. David Kaminsky -- $5,300

Event #10 -- Omaha Eight or Better

The buyin for this event was just $345 for the 153 players who sat down at the tables. Cash pool reached $44,523 and went to the last surviving 18 finishers.

1. Anthony Marchese -- $11,799
2. Sung Hong -- $7,124
3. Richard Garrison -- $4,564
4. Bruce Dublin -- $3,562
5. Brett Nichols -- $2,783
6. Scott Bohlman -- $2,226
7. Kyle Schertz -- $1,781
8. Bill Rother -- $1,447
9. Tim Moran -- $1,224

Event #11 -- Main Event

There were 164 players that paid $5,150 for a chance to win this three day tournament. Size of the prize pool hit $820,250 and went to the top 18.

Play began at 4:30 pm in Chicago for the final table. Steve Billirakis was hot from the start, receiving pocket Aces twice in a row and collecting chips for his stack on top of that. First to leave in 9th place was Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf after his last stand with 10 9 lost to the Queen high straight of Thomas Koral. In 8th place was Jason Dewitt after his A Q lost to the pocket Q's of Steve Billirakis. The next hand resulted in Ravi Raghavan leaving in 7th when his pocket J's met the paired Aces of Koral. Sameer Al-Dbhany finished in 6th when his K 6 met the two pair (A's and K's) of Kyle Schertz. George Dietz lost to the set of 9's held by Kyle Schertz to finish in 5th.

After dinner break, Kyle Schertz pushed all his remaining chips to the middle holding A 7, but met with resistance in the form of pocket 9's held by Thomas Koral. Kyle Schertz went to the rail in 4th. Gary Leibovitz laid claim to 3rd when his all in move backed by a set of 6's, lost to the Ace high flush of Steve Billirakis.

Heads up only took three hands to declare a champion. It began with Steve Billirakis having 2,085,000 chips and Thomas Koral showing 1,215,000 in his stack. On the last hand Koral moved in with pocket 9's and was called by Billirakis holding Ad 8s. The dealer laid out Jd 8d 4d Qd 9s, giving Steve Billirakis an Ace high flush and the title of champion.

1. Steve Billirakis -- $208,885
2. Thomas Koral -- $126,120
3. Gary Leibovitz -- $80,796
4. Kyle Schertz -- $63,060
5. George Dietz -- $49,266
6. Sameer Al-Dbhany -- $39,413
7. Ravi Raghavan -- $31,530
8. Jason Dewitt -- $25,618
9. Dustin Woolf -- $21,677

Event #12 -- No Limit Hold'Em

This was a one day event for the 270 who entered. Buy in was $555 for each player and helped to create a $130,950 pool. The money went to the top 27 finishers.

1. Randy Freeman -- $31,749
2. Nguyen Tran -- $19,643
3. Zal Irani -- $12,440
4. Rick Burke -- $10,149
5. Mustak Vohra -- $8,184
6. Mike Mustafa -- $6,548
7. David Christlieb -- $5,238
8. Arlan Goldberg -- $4,256
9. Eric Eklund -- $3,274

Event #13 -- No Limit Hold'Em

The final event at the Horseshoe Hammond riverboat casino had 666 entrants pay an entry fee of $345 for a seat at the tables. Money went to the top 63 finishers who split a prize pool reaching $193,806 in size.

1. Neil Barnett -- $43,048
2. Michael Kroll -- $27,424
3. Bela Bartalis -- $16,667
4. Bob Dokhanchi -- $13,566
5. Athanasius Zoyganeles -- $11,144
6. Scott Dzierba -- $8,818
7. Edgar Karpats -- $6,880
8. Richard Ryu -- $5,427
9. Tim McCarthy -- $3,973