Seriously big winnings at various tournament final tables were recorded in the online poker sector this weekend, with six figure numbers commonplace even among runners up.
Rodel Tuazon became an instant millionaire when he took down the Mansion Poker.net Poker Dome title….and a million dollars….in Las Vegas.
The long-running tournament (the first quarterfinal was played in May last year) has seen more than 200 competitors playing in the hi-tech atmosphere of the Poker Dome, competing for a final seat table and a crack at the standalone million dollar winner’s prize – no consolation prizes here for the runner-ups!
Players on the final table that assembled over the weekend had all won two separate six player matches to earn their seats, and the all-or-nothing nature of the big game clearly added to the tension of the encounter. Eyeing each other around the table were:
Andrew Rogers – Montgomery, MN – Poker tournament host
Dennis Waterman – Sedona, AZ – Professional poker player and respected poker columnist
Ben Ludwig – Philadelphia, PA – Investment banker
Jerry Schrader – Woodbridge, VA – Locksmith
Rob Sherwood – Manchester, U.K. – Professional poker player
Rodel Tuazon – Des Moines, IA – Mortgage professional
Jerry Schrader was first to the rail in a clash with Dennis Waterman, putting on a brave face with the throway line, “I guess I have to go to work Monday after all!”
It was all Waterman for the next hour, too as the columnist played a tough and skilful game, building his stack and eventually ousting Andrew Rogers in 5th place. Ben Ludwig ran into trouble several hands later in a confrontation with Manchester player Rob Sherwood that led to his downfall, leaving Waterman, Sherwood and Tuazon to battle it out, with the former significantly ahead in chips and dominating the game.
UK player Sherwood headed for the exit thanks to some bold play by Tuazon, which left the mortgage exec facing Waterman in the heads up, with Waterman holding almost double the amount of chips as his rival and a million dollars with no runner up prize on the table. It didn’t take long, and after catching up on chip count Rodel Tuazon managed to outplay Waterman to take the big money, which will certainly make a great wedding present – he married the next day!
There were more chances for big money in the European Poker Tour Polish Open competition, the first such event on Polish soil and one that attracted massive interest in the Eastern European country.
The final table at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Casino in Warsaw was decided following Day 2 of the contest, which whittled the 94 player field down to 8 finalists as follows:
Frederik Pederson chipcount $288 000
Peter Jepsen ($498 000)
Marius Torbergsen ($434 000)
Andrew O’Flaherty ($467 000)
Farid Meraghni ($971 000)
Katja Thater ($105 000)
Patric Martensson ($305 000)
John Conroy ($73 000)
Danish cash game specialist Peter Jepson’s significant chip stack, second only to that of Farid Meraghni put him in a strong position for much of the game and he ultimately ended up in the lengthy and tension filled heads up clash with that player. It was Jepson who truimphed to take the Euro 325 633 main prize and a crack at the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo later this month, leaving a disconsolate Meraghni with Euro 182 063 for his trouble.
The big money extended down to third placed John Conroy, who picked up a Euro 109 238 pay check.
Finally, the World Poker Tour’s Bay 101 Shooting Star event wrapped this weekend with five-time WSOP bracelet winner Ted Forrest firmly in charge and a thriller of a heads up with mother-to-be J.J. Liu, who became the highest-finishing woman ever in a WPT event.
Over 260 hands and nine hours of play were needed to get down to the final confrontation between Liu and Forrest, with Forrest’s pocket sevens finally doing the trick against Liu’s A-8 to boost his bank account with the $1.1 million first prize.
JJ took home $600 000 which will no doubt help with her new addition to the family, and her reputation grows as the survivor of a formidable contestant list of top poker stars in the event.
Six figure payouts extended all the way down to the sixth final table contestant, Bill Edler who walked away with $160 000. Other final tablers with solid rewards were third placed Amir Shayesteh ($314 500) James Van Alstyne ($200 000) and Vincent Shaw ($200 000)