World Series of Poker Articles and News

Elizabeth, IN -- He’s only 21 and already a pro. He didn’t take down the most money in tonight’s tournament. But after a three-way money deal and five furious hands playing for the title and the gold and diamond trophy ring, Kevin Stammen had all the chips and was declared the winner of the second event of the WSOP Circuit tour at Caesars Indiana, $500 no-limit hold’em.

As the 4,000-8,000 level ended, Stammen had 216,000 chips versus 296,000 for Steve Miller and 100,000 for Dan Quade. Stammen proposed a deal, and after some lengthy negotiations, Miller accepted an unofficial $33,000 versus $30,000 for Stammen and $17,000 for Quade. The three finalists then played five more-or-less showdown hands. Quade busted out on the fourth deal when he moved in for 200,000 with A-9 and lost to Stammen’s A-Q, and on the next hand, Miller bet his last 70,000 blind, losing with K-10 when Stammen’s A-6 held up.

Stammen, an animated and outgoing young man who plays an aggressive game, is nicknamed "Stamdog g," lives in Coldwater, Ohio, is single and taught himself poker five years ago. Before playing full time he had a job installing concrete basements. He’s had a couple of cashes at the Bellagio and a second in a local event in Mississippi. Although he’s been playing both tournaments and live games, he said he decided to play tournaments exclusively after tonight. His one regret is that his iPod broke and he couldn’t listen to music. His official second-place payout was $22,766,

As happened yesterday, this event was played through in one day, with the final table again starting at about 11:30 p.m. It was a more lively table than last night, though, with plenty of action and a lot more all-in moves. The all-in shorter stacks also tended to escape much more frequently than yesterday, so that it took about two hours to lose the first three players.

Only one hand was played before blinds moved up to 1,500-3,000 with 500 antes. James Whitley Jr. led with 130,000 chips, with Quade and Stammen close behind. There were five pros at the table, unusual for a local event, as Quade, Robert Briggs, James Williams and Andrew Wade also listed poker as their occupation.

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Posted by sange at 09:56 PM | Permalink

Caesars Indiana Riverboat Sets Sail With Full Boat in WSOP Circuit Launch

Elizabeth, IN — We’re rolling on the river again, the Ohio river. After a highly successful 2006-2007 WSOP Circuit event in October, action returned here at Caesars Indiana, the world’s largest riverboat casino. Event #1, $300 no-limit hold’em, attracted an over-capacity crowd of 714 players generating a prize pool of $219,050.

The winner was Bill Latta, a 37-year-old industrial manager from Mt. Zion, Illinois, whose only prior tournament cash-in of any note was a second-chance seventh-place finish in a Circuit event at Tunica. First place tonight paid him $54,708, a handsome gold and diamond trophy ring and a seat in the $5,000 championship event.

Latta is married with two children, has been playing poker for 20 years, learning from his father, and likes football, auto racing and heavy-metal music. He favors tournaments, but also likes $1-$2 and $2-$5 no-limit cash games. He describes his play as "selective-aggressive," and said when it got down to 24 players his strategy was to take down pots while avoiding confrontations. He also said he had a good take on the final table, whose players he felt had a wide range in abilities, and was able to predict who would be the final two or three opponents he ended up facing.

The key hand for him came with four players left. There was four-way action after a 28,000 raise. On the flop, he and Brad Sturgeon both were chasing flushes Sturgeon moved in with the higher draw, but lost and was knocked out when Latta paired a 7. After that, Lattta had about 600,000 of the million-plus chips in play and was unstoppable.

This tournament, which runs from March 26 through April 6, was opened by World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, who welcomed the players to "the best poker room in the Midwest." He praised table games VP Joe Barnett, marketing VP Marc Oppenheimer, and lauded Jimmie Allen as one of the best and most enthusiastic poker room managers in the business. He also informed the players that Harrah’s Entertainment will be launching WSOP Europe, starting on Sept. 6 at three locations in London.

Caesars Indiana is the final stop in the current 11-event Circuit tour, which makes the excitement of World Series action available not only to top pros, but also to local players around the country. Along with the Circuit events, each day also features 3 p.m. cash tournaments.

Action went so fast on day one that there was no day two. By 11:30 p.m. we were down to nine players, and the event was played through. Starting as chip leader at the final table was Latta with 231,500, closely followed by Michael Egy with 220,500, with a number of chip-lead changes to come.

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Posted by sange at 10:02 PM | Permalink