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2010 Harrah's New Orleans
Event 2 - $500 Buy-in No Limit Holdem Final Results. 2010 Harrah's New Orleans WSOP Circuit Events.

2010 Harrah's New Orleans
World Series of Poker Circuit Events
Official Results
World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Results
2010 Harrah's New Orleans Event #2 Results
2009/2010 World Series of Poker Circuit
Harrah’s New Orleans
Event #2
No Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $500 (+50)
Total Entries:  314
Total Prize Pool:  $147,140
May 8-9, 2010
Christopher Gamboa
Final Results:
Place
Name
Hometown
Prize
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Christopher Gamboa
David Moyer
Shawn Quillin
Vien Le
Mark Gallagher
John Honeycutt
Brian Gabrielle
Paul Distefano
Richard Langdon
John Dudley
Bradley Soshea
Do Shin Choung
Kenneth Ibarra
John White
Andrew Moon
Joseph Phelps
Yousri Ali
Richard Toth
Smith Collins
Christopher Daigle
George Loukatos
Pyke Babin
Richard Cresiski
Ricky Green
Walter Wright
Maurizio Bellia
Christopher Walton
Kenneth Cotie
Christopher Walton
Richard Chevalier
John Nowak
John Iemolo
Ronald Jeandron
Scott Hiett
Randy Landry
Spivey Conwill
Houston, TX
Luling, LA
Charlotte, NC
Baton Rouge, LA
Kingwood, TX
Houston, TX
Edina, MN
Plaquemine, LA
Charlotte, NC
NA
NA
Baton Rouge, LA
Houston, TX
Houston, TX
Austin, TX
Las Vegas, NV
Diamond Head, MS
NA
New Orleans, LA
Baton Rouge, LA
Madison, MS
Gonzalez, LA
Las Vegas, NV
Austin, TX
Las Vegas, NV
NA
New Orleans, LA
Houston, TX
Gulfport, MS
Shreveport, LA
Fairview, TX
Lake Mary, FL
Austin, TX
Pegram, TN
Las Vegas, NV
Austin, TX
$35,313
$21,703
$13,610
$11,035
$8,828
$6,989
$5,517
$4,414
$3,310
$2,207
$2,207
$2,207
$1,839
$1,839
$1,839
$1,471
$1,471
$1,471
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,177
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
$1,029
Chris Gamboa Wins First Major Tournament Victory at
Harrah’s New Orleans

Houston Poker Pro Tops Field of 314 Players and Collects $35,313


New Orleans, LA – Sometimes a tournament winner comes out of nowhere.  That’s what
happened today in the most recent World Series of Poker Circuit tournament, held at
Harrah’s New Orleans.  Chris Gamboa, in his first recorded tournament cash ever, made it
all look too easy.  He outplayed several opponents with far more cashes and final table
appearances en route to a commanding victory in the $500 No-Limit Hold’em tournament,
which attracted 314 entries.

Gamboa is a 30-year-old professional poker player from Houston, TX.  He previously worked
as a shipping agent before taking up poker full time.  This was only Gamboa’s second
WSOP-related tournament.  It was quite a showing for someone who concentrates most of
his time on cash games and possible indication of things to come for the player who
expects to play in more tournaments in the future.  Gamboa was rewarded handsomely, to
the tune of $35,313 for first place.  He was also presented with his first gold ring, the
ultimate achievement for winning a WSOP Circuit tournament.

This was the second gold ring event (out of 19 tournaments) on this year’s WSOP Circuit
schedule at Harrah’s New Orleans.  The tournament was played over two consecutive days
during May 9th and 10th.  The top 36 finishers divided a prize pool totaling $147,140.  After
most of the field was eliminated on the first day, final table play began on a Sunday
afternoon.  There were no prior WSOP Circuit gold ring event winners among the final nine
players, which guaranteed a first-time champion.  Little did anyone know at the time when
play began that not only would the top prize be won by a first-time winner, it would also be
his first time to cash in a major poker tournament of any kind.

David Moyer, who ended up as the second-place finisher, arrived at the Final Table with a
slight chip advantage over Shawn “Doc” Quillin and Brian Gabrielle.  But the wide
distribution of chips and low blinds and antes meant everyone was within striking distance
of the chip lead.

When Final Table play began at 4:00 pm, the nine finalists and their starting chip counts
were as follows:

Seat     Player                            Hometown            Chip Count
1           Chris Gamboa                 Houston, TX           360,000
2           Mark Gallagher               Kingwood, TX         408,000
3           Vien Le                           Baton Rouge, LA     266,000
4           David Moyer                    Luling, LA               498,000
5           Paul Distefano                Plaquemine, LA       143,000
6           Shawn “Doc” Quillin        Charlotte, NC         490,000
7           Brian Gabrielle                 Edina, MN              408,000
8           Richard Langdon             Charlotte, NC         368,000
9           John Eric Honeycutt        Houston, TX            239,000

Final Table play lasted nearly six hours and ended at 9:30 pm.  Players were jazzed up from
the start, but were trumpeted away from the final table in the following order:

Ninth Place:  Langdon moves “In and Out”
Richard Langdon, a CEO from Charlotte, NC was eliminated about ten minutes into the
finale.  His played his final note with AQ, which was drummed down by pocket tens.  
Langdon failed to improve his hand, resulting in a ninth place finish and a payout totaling
$3,310.  This was Langdon’s second time to cash in a WSOP Circuit tournament.  He
previously made the money once at Harrah’s Tunica.

Eighth Place:  “Round Midnight” for Distefano
Paul Distefano, the owner of Mike Club in Plaquemine, LA was eliminated about 20 minutes
into play.  He moved all in with JJ.  Unfortunately, Distefano picked up a big pocket pair at
the worst possible moment since he was called in one spot by an opponent holding pocket
aces.  Distefano failed to improve and the aces won, which resulted in an eighth place finish
worth $4,414.  Distefano had previously made several cashes elsewhere.  He played poker
professionally for two years.  He was also a former high school and basketball coach who
still serves on the Iberville Parish School Board, a post he has held for 16 years.

Seventh Place:  Gabrielle Goes “Up a Lazy River”
Brian Gabrielle, a former sports handicapper and oddsmaker turned poker pro from
Minnesota, suffered some bad luck at the final table.  He lasted about an hour during which
he gradually lost his stack to the point where he had to take some risks.  Gabrielle moved
all in on what turned out to be his final hand, hoping to steal a round of blinds and antes
with a weak hand.  Unfortunately, his opponent picked up AK which caught an ace on the
flop.  Gabrielle made a small pair, but exited in seventh place, worth $5,517.  Gabrielle was
featured on the Fox Sports reality poker show called “Wild Card Poker,” which ran a few
years ago.  He has cashed in WSOP events, in addition to tournaments on the World Poker
Tour and Canadian Poker Tour.

Sixth Place:  “Descent into the Maelstrom” for Honeycutt
John Eric Honeycutt, a.k.a. “281 not 713” finished in the middle of the pack, taking down
sixth place.  The IT Director from Houston received a payout totaling $6,989.  This was only
the third WSOP Circuit Honeycutt had entered.  He is now 2 out of 3 in cashes, after
finishing in third place a few weeks ago at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Fifth Place:  Gallagher “Takes Five”
Mark Gallagher, a 24-year-old poker pro from the Houston area, was the fifth place finisher.  
He was getting low on chips and moved all in with AJ.  He got called by AK, and failed to
improve.  This marked his third time to cash in a WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s New
Orleans, and was his second-final table appearance.  He now has nearly $100,000 in live
tournament winnings.  His prize totaled $8,828.

Fourth Place:  “Vien Le the Moocher”
Vien Le, an accountant from Baton Rouge, LA became short stacked when play reached four-
handed.  He found pocket deuces on his final hand, which got a call from A9.  A nine
flopped, ending Le’s hopes of making a comeback.  This marked Le’s first time to cash in a
WSOP-related tournament.  He received a nice payout totaling $11,035.

Third Place:  “Doc” Quillin is “Out of the Night”
Shawn “Doc” Quillin started out second in chips, but found himself playing catch up in the
late stages of the tournament when he became outchipped by the two other players.  
Quillin moved all in on his final hand holding pocket 6s.  He was called by an opponent with
AK.  The board got very ugly for Quillin as the flopped cards were 8 9 T 8 9.  That meant the
ace played as the higher kicker with two pair on board, while Quillin’s pocket 6s hit the
muck.  The diagnostic radiologist from Charlotte, NC picked up a nice score, with $13,610 as
the prize for third place.  Quillin previously had several impressive cashes, including 11th
place in the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Caesars Indiana last year.  He also took fifth place
in this same tournament here in New Orleans last year.

Second Place:  David Moyer takes “Giant Steps”
David Moyer, an attorney from Luling, LA finished as the runner up.  This was his second
final table appearance at Harrah’s New Orleans after coming in fourth in an event last year.  
Moyer also previously cashed in an Omaha High/Low event at the WSOP in Las Vegas.  For
second place, Moyer received a nice settlement which amounted to $21,703.

Moyer was down by more than 2 to 1 during the heads up match against Chris Gamboa.  
Moyer was not able to catch the crucial hand which might have enabled him to double up.  
He finally had enough of Gamboa’s aggression and decided to make his final stand when he
was down by about a 4 to 1 margin.  Moyer was dealt Ah 3d.  He hit a pair of 3s on the
flop.  On the turn, Gamboa moved all in on a semi-bluff and tabled Qh 8h – which gave him
a flush draw and two overcards versus Moyer’s pair of threes.  Moyer called with what was
the best hand at the time.  But a third heart fell on the river, giving Gamboa a flush.  The
final board showed:  6c 5h 3s 9h 2h.

The final hand of the tournament can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnPAWU_lb9c

First Place:  Gamboa is “Mister Magic”
Chris Gamboa, a 30-year-old professional poker player from Houston, TX won his first major
poker tournament victory.  He collected $35,313 for first place and the WSOP Circuit gold
ring.

The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s New Orleans continues through May 20th.  This year’s
schedule includes 19 gold ring events, along with multiple second-chance tournaments,
single table and mega satellites, in addition to cash games going around the clock inside
the Harrah’s New Orleans Poker Room.  This marks the sixth straight year Harrah’s New
Orleans has been a part of the WSOP Circuit.  This is the 11th and final WSOP Circuit stop
of the 2009-2010 season following previous tournaments held in Chicago, Southern
Indiana, Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Tunica, Council Bluffs, Caesars Atlantic City,
Harrah’s Rincon, Harrah’s St. Louis, and Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Executive Staff, World Series of Poker Circuit – Harrah’s New Orleans

Tournament Director – Steve Frezer

General Manager of Harrah’s New Orleans -- Jim Hoskins
Vice President of Marketing – Sandie McNamara
Director of Table Games – Tosha Skipper
Shift Manager of Harrah’s New Orleans – Larry Barrett
Special Events Coordinator – Gretchen Holzhauser
To view the complete schedule and results for the 2010 Harrah's New Orleans WSOP Circuit Events, click on the link below:

2010 WSOP Circuit Harrah's New Orleans Schedule and Results
Poker Stars
2010 Harrah's New Orleans WSOP Circuit Event #2 Winner Christopher Gamboa