Greg Jamison Wins Omaha High - Low Event at 2007 WSOP Circuit Grand Casino Tunica

2007 Grand Casino Tunica
World Series of Poker
(WSOP) Circuit Event
Event #4
$500 Omaha High-Low
Tournament Report

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2007 Grand Casino Tunica WSOP Circuit Event Report

Making the Best of a Bad Situation
After Losing “Real” Job, Man Turns to
Poker as his Profession

Greg Jamison

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After playing successfully in cash games for years, Greg Jamison wins
first major poker tournament and becomes Tunica’s WSOP Circuit Omaha
High-Low Champion

Tunica, MS – Greg Jamison lost his job a few years ago. That would normally
be a “bad” thing. But Mr. Jamison saw it as a unique opportunity to try
something new. He had grown up in the Midwest and played poker regularly
in casinos in Davenport, Iowa as well as in the legendary Rockford charity
poker games which ran in the western Chicago suburbs during the 1990s.
Mr. Jamison always did quite well. The question was – did he have what it
took to turn pro and play poker full-time for a living?

There was only one way to find out. Last June, Mr. Jamison – now aged 39 –
packed his bags and loved to Las Vegas. During the last eight months, Mr.
Jamison has been paying his dues inside the cardrooms of Las Vegas and
travels regularly to major tournaments. He circled early- to mid-January on
his calendar and made plans to attend the World Series of Poker Circuit in
Tunica, Mississippi.

The first major Omaha High-Low event of the new year attracted 214
entries. Each entrant put up $500 at the WSOP Circuit event held at the
Grand Casino-Resort in Tunica, Mississippi. The large field generated a total
prize pool of $103,790. After 205 players were eliminated on Day One, nine
finalists returned to the final table for Day Two. The early chip leader was
John “the Barber” Bouin. Tied for second place was Greg Jamison. The
seating positions and starting chip counts were as follows:

About 15 minutes into play, the first player was eliminated. That turned out
to be Nathan Wiesner, from Cincinnati, Ohio. The 24-year-old poker pro
collected $2,076 for ninth place.

The first female to make a final table appearance this year in Tunica was
Suzanne Matzura, from Prescott, Arizona. She was low on chips much of her
time on Day Two. However, the registered nurse survived for over an hour
before finally busting out. Eighth place paid $3,114.

It seemed that Ted Brooks might make a move and challenge for the chip
lead. But instead, Mr. Brooks ran card dead in the later stages of the
tournament and ended up going out in seventh place. The retired Texan,
who has finished in the money at several major tournaments in the last two
decades, received $4,152.

Sean McMahon showed that one can survive a long time on a short stack. He
arrived second-lowest in chips, which just 9,000. He won enough key hands
to stay in the game for nearly two hours. But the odds finally caught up to
the 31-year-old poker player from Tacoma, Washington. Mr. McMahon ended
up going out in sixth place – good for $5,190.

Reuben Nixon was the next player to be eliminated. The 48-year-old poker
player from Midland, Texas lost all of his chips and ended up in fifth place. He
collected $6,227.

Jason Stern might as well have been riding a roller coaster rather than
playing in a poker tournament. He arrived on Day Two with a paltry 5,000 in
chips. Incredibly, he managed to leap up six places on the pay scale. Mr.
Stern who has cashed big in previous major events (second at the Reno
Hilton championship last year) added $7,265 to his money winnings for fourth
place. The San Jose, California based poker player will be someone to watch
in future events.

Another player who has enjoyed success on the tournament trail has been
Thomas Witherspoon, a dentist from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He made final
tables at the World Poker Finals (Foxwoods, CT) and the Cherokee Classic
(Tulsa, OK) last year. In this tournament, Mr. Witherspoon finished in third
place, which paid $9,341.

When heads-up play began, John “the Barber” Bouin enjoyed a slight chip
lead over Greg Jaminson. The two finalists dueled back and forth for 90
minutes before Mr. Bouin won a key pot that seemed to foreshadow the end
of the tournament. But Mr. Jamison won a number of key pots late in the
tournament which reversed the chip lead.

At that point, with the betting limits being a significant size of both players’
stacks, all it took was a key hand or two for one player to be all-in which
would end the tournament. About five hours into play, the final hand of the
night was dealt when Mr. Bouin moved all-in with his last chips holding K-J-5-
2 versus Mr. Jamison’s 10-8-7-4. The final board showed 10-10-9-K-5 good
for trip tens for the new poker champion. Mr. Jamison’s 10 matched the two
tens on board as the winning hand.

The runner up was John “the Barber” Bouin from Gladstone, Michigan. The
65-year-old barber has been playing poker most of his life. His cut of the
prize money amounted to $18,267.

Meanwhile, this win was truly special for Greg Jamison as an aspiring poker
professional. “I really think (Stud) High-Low Split is my best game,” he said.
“But I play a lot of Omaha High-Low, too…..I play live, in tournaments, and on
the Internet.”

The $33,212 in prize money will certainly help Mr. Jamison to continue
pursuing his career as a poker professional. He also received a gold ring,
which is presented to all World Series of Poker Circuit event winners in
Tunica. As it turns out, maybe losing his “real” job was a blessing in disguise.

Report by Nolan Dalla

To view a complete listing of results for Event #4 of the 2007 Grand
Casino Tunica WSOP Circuit Event, click on the link below:

2007 Grand Casino Tunica WSOP Circuit Results - Event #4

Tournament Director – Janis Sexton

Grand Tunica Poker Room Manager – Karen Kaegin

Seat 1
Seat 2
Seat 3
Seat 4
Seat 5
Seat 6
Seat 7
Seat 8
Seat 9

Ted Brooks

69,000