Bernard Lee Captures His 2nd WSOPC Gold Ring During Trip to Lake Tahoe
Over the past two weeks, Bernard Lee has chatted with two World Series of Poker Circuit ring winners on his Bernard Lee Poker Show right here on PokerNews. Over the weekend, Lee put aside podcasting and traveled to Lake Tahoe to try and win a ring of his own.
Lee, who rose to fame in the 2005 WSOP Main Event when he finished 13th for $400K, did just that by topping a 124-entry field to win the WSOP Circuit Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Event #3: $400 NLH Single Day for $11,456 and his second career ring.
“The first two days [of the series], I don’t feel like I played badly at all,” Lee said after the win. “To take a step back, when I was in Coconut Creek, which was my last WSOP event, I played four events. And I felt like I played well, but it just wasn’t going my way. I actually left early, and I rarely leave early. Went to RunGood in Council Bluffs and I played really well and actually chopped an event, so I was really looking forward to coming here.”
Lee, 48, got off to a rough start bricking the first two events of the series, but things turned around after he decided to take in some fresh air with a WSOP Circuit legend.
“Doug Carli and his wife Karen, we took a ride around the lake today, just to clear my head and just to enjoy the scenery,” Lee explained. “I just came in this afternoon really clear headed. Got off to a great start. I doubled up right away with a set of fives versus queen-deuce on a queen-five-deuce board. But otherwise, it was just slow and steady.”
Lee began the final table second in chips and waited patiently as his opponents battled it out. Eventually, Lee took over the chip lead by default when the chip leader, Mark Treadgill, doubled up Kevin Davis. From there, Lee grinded his way to heads-up play against Paul Miller.
“This was the goal,” Lee said. “The goal was to get a ring. I came here, and I said, I feel like I’m playing really well right now. Let’s go get this second ring. It happened.”
He continued: “The last time I won a ring, I dedicated it to my daughter, Maya. This time, I’ll dedicate this one to my son, Noah.”
Lee’s first WSOP Circuit gold ring came four years ago when he won the 2014 WSOPC Lodge Casino Event #9: $365 NLH Turbo for $14,500 in Black Hawk, Colorado. He came close to winning rings on two other occasions finishing runner-up in two events, including in the 2008 WSOPC Caesars Indiana Event #11: $1,060 NLH for $40,237.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bernard Lee | Wayland, MA | $11,456 |
| 2 | Paul Miller | Lemon Grove, CA | $7,082 |
| 3 | Michael Tomaselli | Discovery Bay, CA | $5,112 |
| 4 | Kevin Davis | Louisville, KY | $3,756 |
| 5 | Mark Threadgill | Hallettsville, TX | $2,808 |
| 6 | Jacob Dahl | Beaverton, OR | $2,135 |
| 7 | Paul Zedo | N/A | $1,650 |
| 8 | Joseph Mussat | San Jose, CA | $1,296 |
| 9 | Joe Grew | N/A | $1,035 |
The only other event to finish at the WSOP Harvey’s Lake Tahoe was Event #1: $250 NLH Re-Entry, which attracted 268 runners. One of them was Charles “Joe” Ambrogi, a 35-year-old poker pro who originally didn’t plan to play the tournament. Instead, he was going to play hockey but changed his mind last minute.
"I got back from Vietnam just a few days ago and I was really looking forward to skating,” he said. "I almost didn't play but I woke up and I thought, 'I feel like playing. I was just planning that if I ran deep, I was gonna skip the game basically.”
Ambrogi, who is primarily a cash game player, ended up as the last player standing, good for $13,132 and his first gold ring.
The WSOPC Harvey’s Lake Tahoe stop continues now through next weekend. Among the upcoming tournaments on the schedule are Event #8: $400 NLH Monster Stack, Event #10: $1,700 Main Event, and Event #13: $400 NLH Double Stack.
