This Week in Tournament Poker: August 15-21, 2010
There was plenty of action around the world this past week in poker with events wrapping up in Scotland, Brazil and across the United States. Massive prizepools were generated from buy-ins that weren’t so large, making for some very hefty paydays. There were plenty of notables name who made some deep runs including multiple bracelet winner Ryan Hughes, Danny Suied and Ylon Schwartz. All three of them made some big splashes at final tables.
First up, we have the Arizona State Poker Championships. The $1,000 buy-in event generated a whopping $975,000 in prize money after 975 players entered with the venue, Casino Arizona, kicking in an extra $100,000 of added money. That put the prizepool well over one million! Ted Goldstein was the big winner, taking home the title and over $336,000. He conquered a final table that included Hughes, who had over $1.3 million in career tournament earnings prior to this event.
Arizona State Poker Championship
| Buy-in: | $1,000 + $50 |
| Guarantee: | None |
| Prize Pool: | $1,0750,000 |
| Entrants: | 975 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ted Goldstein | $336,368 |
| 2 | Jon Alter | $167,700 |
| 3 | Manuel Luevano | $83,313 |
| 4 | Brian Fanzo | $49,988 |
| 5 | George Heide | $30,638 |
| 6 | Steven Doebler | $17,738 |
| 7 | Ryan Hughes | $12,900 |
| 8 | Derek Wolters | $10,750 |
| 9 | Sammy Wright | $8,869 |
| 10 | Brian Olsson | $7,364 |
Notable Finishes: Chris Amaral (15th - $6,316), Ryan Daut (25th - $5,456), Jim Bechtel (48th - $4,139)
A long ways away across the pond in Edinburgh, Scotland, Nick Risk took home the UKIPT Edinburgh title and £50,000 after he beat a field of just over 400 players. Risk qualified for the event online at PokerStars and was able to turn his ticket into the golden prize. Keith “The Camel” Hawkins and Neil Channing were among some of the player swho cashed in this event, but both fell well short of the final table.
UKIPT Edinburgh
| Buy-in: | £500 + £50 |
| Guarantee: | None |
| Prize Pool: | £200,600 |
| Entrants: | 401 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Risk | £50,000 |
| 2 | Mantas Puidokas | £27,700 |
| 3 | Luke Marsh | £17,600 |
| 4 | Joeri Zandvliet | £13,100 |
| 5 | Richard Chadwick | £10,300 |
| 6 | Max Silver | £8,200 |
| 7 | Suzanne Pyefinch | £6,300 |
| 8 | Mary Martin | £4,800 |
| 9 | Owen Robinson | £3,400 |
| 10 | Steve Lovett | £2,600 |
Notable Finishes: Keith “The Camel” Hawkins (37th - £1,000), Neil Channing (47th - £900)
From there, we head back across the pond again and much further south to Brazil. The Brazilian Series of Poker brought to you by Full Tilt held another event this past week and 363 hopefules came out to give it a shot on the felt. Angelo Frozzan was the man walking away with the top prize, R$ 85,000 richer.
Brazilian Series of Poker, Novo Hamburgo
| Buy-in: | R$ 1,000 + R$ 150 |
| Guarantee: | None |
| Prize Pool: | n/a |
| Entrants: | 363 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angelo Frozzan | R$ 85,000 |
| 2 | Cristiane Dias | R$ 54,200 |
| 3 | Marcelo Fonseca | R$ 39,000 |
| 4 | Kaue de Souza | R$ 30,900 |
| 5 | Helson Kupczak | R$ 22,850 |
| 6 | Carlos Maciel | R$ 15,400 |
| 7 | Roberto Tuba | R$ 11,800 |
| 8 | Thiago Ferreira | R$ 8,600 |
| 9 | Larissa Metran | R$ 6,200 |
Heading back to the States, the Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVII wrapped up with three large events coming to a close. Foxwoods held three different levels of buy-ins for this series while the trio Chris Money, Darvin Moon and Jonathan Duhamel showed up. All three players have a WSOP Main Event final table appearance on their resume with Money winning it all back in 2003. Duhamel is in the November Nine this year. All three of them were on hand to host the event, along with poker room spokesperson Bernard Lee.
The Main Event of the series drew 320 players with Suied taking the victory. Suied’s no stranger to the felt and certainly no stranger to Foxwoods. The venue is Suied’s stomping ground where he regularly plays in the largest tournaments and cash games within the casino walls. Back in October of 2009, Suied won a $260 No-Limit Shootout event at the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods for a cool $55,000, making this his second title at the Woods. Suied also has cashes in the PokerStars Carribean Adventure Main Event (58th), WSOP $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em (29th) and WSOP $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (175th) on his resume. This win worth $111,046 nearly doubles Suied’s career tournament earnings.
Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge
| Buy-in: | $1,500 + $150 |
| Guarantee: | None |
| Prize Pool: | $465,584 |
| Entrants: | 320 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Suied | $111,046 |
| 2 | Marc Podell | $64,253 |
| 3 | Mike Dentale | $40,973 |
| 4 | Ross Santos | $32,824 |
| 5 | Grant Lang | $25,608 |
| 6 | Sam Haddad | $20,704 |
| 7 | Ben Bianco | $17,227 |
| 8 | Rodney Legendre | $13,968 |
| 9 | Robert Koerber | $11,426 |
Notable Finishes: David Paredes (24th - $4,143)
The Detox Poker Series came to a close with its Main Event wrapping up. James Wheatley took home the win and $38,111. Over 430 players showed up for this Matt Savage run tournament and a prizepool of $216,500 was generated.
Wheatley had nearly $220,000 in career tournament winnings prior to this victory. He’s made two WSOP final tables in his career and cashed there six times. Not only did Wheatley win the Main Event at the Hard Rock, he also won the $350 7-Game Mixed event for $4,620. Two titles in one series isn’t too shabby at all.
Detox Poker Series Main Event
| Buy-in: | $500 + $50 |
| Guarantee: | None |
| Prize Pool: | $216,500 |
| Entrants: | 433 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| *1 | James Wheatley | $38,111 |
| *2 | Brian Watkins | $32,994 |
| *3 | Jon Kim | $25,461 |
| *4 | Bona Sar | $18,039 |
| *5 | George Meyer | $20,808 |
| 6 | Al Carmosino | $9,030 |
| 7 | Julian Herrecht | $7,220 |
| 8 | Stefen Starner | $5,420 |
| 9 | Ylon Schwartz | $3,610 |
Notable Finishes: Anthony Yeh (12th - $2,700), Alex Outhred (29th - $1,200), David Chicotsky (46th - $800), Jeff Sluzinski (51st - $800)
* - Denotes a chop
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Photo courtesy of Foxwoods Live.
