2009/2010 World Series of Poker Circuit
Caesars Atlantic City
Event #5
No Limit Hold’em
Buy-In: $300 (+40)
Total Entries: 451
Total Prize Pool: $131,241
March 7-8, 2010
Final Results:
1 Alexandru Masek San Diego, CA $39,372
2 Pietro Maniscalco Mount Olive, NJ $21,130
3 Kerry Small Ventnor, NJ $10,499
4 Marc Wilson St. Clairsville, OH $9,187
5 Brian Grodofsky Merrick, NY $7,874
6 Jack Sumner St. Augustine, FL $6,562
7 Stan Kayafas Flushing, NY $5,250
8 Kevin Murray Olney, MD $3,937
9 Florentino Deleon Manila, Philippines $2,625
10 Michael Boehme $1,444
11 James Myers $1,444
12 Naoki Takiguchi $1,444
13 Nectalier Gonzalez $1,181
14 Robert Blake $1,181
15 Richard Marchese $1,181
16 Cuong Phung $919
17 Hakima Mohammad $919
18 Gregory Graham $919
19 Mark Schoonmaker $656
20 Kevin Adler $656
21 Danny Alvarez $656
22 Brian Powers $656
23 Kevin Adler $656
24 Daniele Eocarelli $656
25 Arnold Carnevale $656
26 Evan Wallack $656
27 Robert Patterson $656
28 Charles Levin $525
29 Sreenivasa Kaki $525
30 Douglas Pitchford $525
31 Lana Miller $525
32 Yun Pham $525
33 Donald Miller $525
34 James Crouse $525
35 Adam Jacoby $525
36 Chris Reslock $525
37 John Panza $394
38 Nikolas Vlahos $394
39 Ralph Vanormer $394
40 Patrick Rush $394
41 Rizziero Osso $394
42 Eunice Arias $394
43 Thomas Levy $394
44 Paul Cheung $394
45 Thomas Bassing $394
Alexandru Masek Wins WSOP Circuit Event on Spring Break
San Diego Law Student Wins Gold Ring Number Two at Caesars Atlantic City
2010 Caesars Atlantic City WSOP Circuit Event #5 Winner Alexandru Masek
Atlantic City, NJ – Alexandru Masek is making poker look too easy. He just won his second World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring within a year’s time, and has future plans to accomplish much more. Eleven months after winning his first WSOP Circuit gold ring at Harrah’s Rincon in California, Masek traveled to the East Coast for the first time and pulled off an encore. With another major tournament in Los Angeles in February added to the mix, Masek now has three major wins on his resume since March 2009, an enviable record any poker player would crave.
Masek is a 25 year old college student. He is currently attending law school at the University of San Diego. Masek came to the WSOP Circuit event being held at Caesars Atlantic City during his Spring Break. While his peers populated the beaches and bars of Florida and elsewhere, Masek chose to pursue his poker passion instead and profited to the tune of nearly 40 grand. Not too many college kids in Daytona Beach can claim they pocketed enough money to pay tuition in just a week’s vacation.
Masek won the $340 buy in No-Limit Hold’em tournament and collected the top cash prize, which officially totaled $39,372. He was also presented with his second gold ring, which is the ultimate token of achievement given out to all tournament champions who win WSOP Circuit events held around the country. Masek’s previous victory took place in a $230 No-Limit Hold’em event held at Rincon. This was his fifth time to cash in a WSOP Circuit tournament.
This marked the fifth of 12 WSOP Circuit events on this year’s Caesars schedule. The two-day tournament attracted 451 entrants. Most of the field was eliminated on day one, which clocked in at 14 hours. Four tables of survivors returned for day two which played until a deal was reached when play became five handed. The top 45 finishers divided up prize money from a $131,241 prize pool.
Final table play began on a Monday night and was held inside the Palladium Arena at Caesars. The only previous WSOP Circuit winner among the final nine was Alexandru Masek. Masek arrived as the chip leader and was in a comfortable position throughout the competition. The low blinds (5,000-10,000) and average chip stack of nearly 300,000 from the start gave competitors plenty of play. The nine finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:
Seat Player Hometown Chip Count
1 Jun DeLeon Joppa, Philippines 211,000
2 Alexandru Masek San Diego, CA 503,000
3 Pete Maniscalco Mount Olive, NJ 491,000
4 Marc Wilson St. Clairsville, OH 194,000
5 Stan Kayafas Flushing, NY 87,000
6 Kevin J. Murray Olney, MD 372,000
7 Kerry Small Ventnor, NJ 103,000
8 Brian Grodofsky Merrick, NY 424,000
9 Jack “Yellow Jacket” Sumner St. Augustine, FL 300,000
Final table player introductions can be seen here: http://www.twitvid.com/FB0E6
Players were eliminated in the following order:
Ninth Place: DeLeon Exits Early
Jun DeLeon, who is originally from The Philippines, went out quickly. He took pocket J’s up against K Q suited and lost his entire stack when his opponent made a spade flush. DeLeon had to settle for a payout totaling $2,625.
Eighth Place: Murray Dances Away
Kevin J. Murray, a professional poker player from Olney, MD took two wicked bad beats at the final table and lasted just 20 minutes. Murray’s fateful hand occurred when he was dealt A A and raised all in pre flop. He got a call from an opponent who held J J. When a J flopped, an exasperated Murray stood up, rolled his eyes, and staggered away from the table in disbelief. Murray, who has won several online tournaments, added $3,937 to his poker bankroll.
Seventh Place: Stan the Man
Stan Kayafas, a contractor from Flushing NY was playing in his first poker tournament ever. He managed to make it all the way to seventh place. Kayafas was severely short stacked during most of day two. In fact, he began the day with only a few blinds yet managed to move well into the money and made it to the final table. Kayafas’ good fortune finally ran out when he tried to make a move with a subpar hand, which was called by an opponent who made two pair. Kayafas could certainly be proud of his performance in his first and only live tournament, worth $5,250 in prize money.
Sixth Place: “Yellow Jacket” Gets Stung
Jack “Yellow Jacket” Sumner, an IT consultant from St. Augustine, FL was tortured most of the day by A Q. Sumner later said that he was dealt the marginal hand a dozen times at the final table, losing far more chips with the hand than he gained. Sumner lost most of his stack about midway into the finale when he moved all in with A Q pre flop and ran into pocket A’s. A short time later, Sumner was dealt A Q again, moved all in, and was called by an opponent with pocket 9’s. The pocket pair held up, which was the final stinger for “Yellow Jacket.” The Georgia Tech graduate, who now has two WSOP cashes and two WSOP Circuit cashes, collected $6,562.
Fifth Place: Grodofsky Takes the Fifth
After a deal was made between the final five players, Brian Grodofsky, a business analyst from Merrick, NY took fifth place and $7,874.
Fourth Place: Wilson Fourth
Marc Wilson, a factory worker from St. Clairsville, OH took fourth place and $9,187.
Third Place: Small Comes Up Big
Kerry Small, a real estate appraiser from nearby Ventnor, NJ was the third place finisher, worth $10,499.
Second Place: Big Brown is Runner Up
Pete Maniscalco, a UPS driver from Mount Olive, NJ drove away with second place prize money totaling $21,130. He previously took second place in another WSOP Circuit event.
First Place: Masek’s Second Victory
Alexandru Masek, from San Diego, CA earned his second WSOP Circuit gold ring. The law school student began playing poker in 2003. He has future plans to play in many major poker tournaments, including the WSOP in Las Vegas.
An interview with Alexandru Masek near tableside just moments after his win can be seen here: http://www.twitvid.com/58DFE
The WSOP Circuit at Caesars Atlantic City continues through March 14. This year’s schedule includes 12 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 Caesars Poker Room. This marks the fifth straight year that Caesars Atlantic City has been a part of the WSOP Circuit. This is the seventh WSOP Circuit stop of the 2009-2010 season following previous tournaments held in Chicago, Southern Indiana, Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Tunica, and Council Bluffs.
2010 Caesars Atlantic City WSOP Circuit – Event #5 Final Results
2010 Caesars Atlantic City WSOP Circuit Events Schedule and Events
Executive Staff, World Series of Poker Circuit – Caesars Atlantic City
Joe Domenico – Senior Vice President and General Manager
Vice President of Table Games – Fred Niceta
Public Relations Specialist – Christopher Jonic
Table Games Manager (Poker) – Thomas McDonough III
Poker Pit Manager – Jake Devries
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