Former WSOP Main Event Finalist Aaron Kanter Wins at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe

Veteran’s Day Poker Tournament Awards More than $50,000 in Prize Money

Stateline, NV (Nov. 12) -- The World Series of Poker Circuit at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe continued today with a Veteran’s Day poker tournament. The No-Limit Hold’em competition attracted 107 players. The top 18 finishers collected their share of the $51,895 prize pool.

The winner was Aaron Kanter, a 30-year-old professional poker player from Lodi, CA. Prior to this win, Kanter is best remembered as the fourth-place finisher in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, won by Australian Joe Hachem. Kanter’s prize amounted to $2,000,000. For all his accolades as a pro, Kanter had not won on the tournament circuit since October 2008. So this victory was especially gratifying.

The tournament was played over two days. It has become an annual tradition on this special holiday at Harvey’s for WSOP tournament official Sue Phillips to sing the National Anthem. Phillips’ rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner prior to the start of the competition brought the entire room to their feet with applause. A short time later, cards were in the air.

Players battled over the next 12 hours. Players reached the prize money late on day one, and nine players collected amounts ranging from $571 to $778. After 98 players had been eliminated, the final table of nine was set with Kanter holding a decisive chip lead.

When final table play began on day two, it didn’t take long to eliminate the lowest stacked players. Grant Schmidt went out in ninth-place, which paid $1,090. Schmidt has worked as an emergency room doctor for the last 16 years, so he was certainly prepared for the pressure of a tournament final table.

A few hands later, Frank Lindsay hit the rail in eighth place. Lindsay is currently writing a poker book titled “Money For Nothing: Your Chips For Free.” He earned $1,505 in prize money.

Seventh place went to Jango Broomfield, a local poker pro from South Lake Tahoe. He already has a number of in-the-money finishes on his poker resume, including cashes at the World Poker Challenge and World Poker Tour.

Clint Baskin won the 2006 WSOP Circuit Main Event championship at Lake Tahoe. However, he arrived at this final table low on chips and failed to generate the momentum necessary to make a serious run. Baskin, a 33-year-old plumbing contractor from Linden, CA cashed out in sixth place for $2,543.

Kent Washington, from Oakland, CA made several previous final table appearances, two of which happened at the WSOP, where he finished third and ninth on those occasions. Washington, who works as a poker dealer in the Bay Area when he’s not playing ended up as the fifth place finisher in this tournament. He collected $3,295.

The fourth-place finisher was Gino Cavallini, from Saratoga, CA. The former Silicon Valley businessman had an average chip stack when final table play began. He ultimately settled for a payout of $4,359. Cavallini has an impressive tournament record of accomplishment, with 12 wins at various tournaments throughout Northern California.

Third place went to Steve Lewis, a.k.a. “ARZCARDS2FAN.” The 48-year-old from Illinois is enjoying a rare good season by his NFL Cardinals. Lewis made a nice run in this tournament and ended up with $6,279 in prize money.

When heads-up play began, Vic Campana and Aaron Kanter were very close to even in chips. It took about 30 minutes for the all-in moment, when Kanter’s two pair bested Campana’s pair of aces. On the final hand, Kanter had ace-eight, which matched an ace and an eight on board – good for two pair. Campana had ace-ten, good for a pair of aces. All the money went in on the turn, and Kanter scooped the last pot of the night.

With his victory, Kanter has now accumulated more than $2.4 million in career tournament earnings. This was his ninth time to cash in a WSOP-related event. He cashed twice at last year’s WSOP Circuit tournament series at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe.

--Max Shapiro

World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack

Director of Poker Operations for Harrah’s Entertainment – Jack Effel

Harveys Lake Tahoe Poker Room Manager - Vince Contaxis

Harveys Lake Tahoe Full Services Games Manager - Steve Schorr

Harveys Lake Tahoe Tournament Director - Janis Sexton

To view a complete list of results for Event 7 of the 2008 World Series of Poker Circuit Event at Harvey's Lake Tahoe, click on the link below:

2008 Harvey's Lake Tahoe WSOP Circuit Event #7 Results