Steve Schlesinger is Victorious at Foxwoods World Poker Finals

UltimatePokerForum.com
The Ultimate Poker Site

Steve Schlesinger is Victorious at
Foxwoods World Poker Finals!

2006 World Poker Finals
World Poker Tour Season 5
Tournament Report
Event #6
$530 + $70
Seniors No Limit Hold'em

The 2006 Seniors Championship event had another record breaking number
of participants as 508 players competed for a prize pool of $263,103.

Steve Schlesinger began the final table as the chip leader with Chris Bjorin in
second place and that was the order of finish at the top of the standings.
Steve, who won the Limit Hold'em event at the 2005 NEPC, will return to his
home in Syosset, NY with the First Place Prize of $83,009!

The first to leave the final table was Tom Cope of Westport, CT. Tom and Paul
D'Ambrosia tangled early on; both were all-in, Tom with 6's and Paul with A-K.
Paul caught a K on the river to leave Tom with $2500. Tom came back to win
a few hands but finally lost to Bruce O'Bert. Tom collected $4,078 for 10th.

Cranston, RI, resident, John Palumbo, was all-in for $30K with A-10. Chris
called with K-7; a 10 on the turn gave hope to John but a K on the river left
John in 9th place with $5,262. The 8th place finisher was Len Greer of Rye,
NY, who never came to the table as he had an engagement that could be
avoided. He was chipped off and will collect $6,577. John McGowan chose to
go all-in with pocket K's and his chances looked good when Steve turned
over 9-7. A flop of A-9-9 gave Steve a set and John, a resident of Madison,
CT, was in 7th place good for $7,893.

One remarkable story of the final table was the resilience of Everett Carlson.
Everett, who finished in 13th place in this event in 2005, early on lost a large
pot that left him with less than $10K. He built his stack back to over $100K
over the next hour. Bruce O'Bert went all-in with pocket 4's, Everett called
with A-K, and Steve called with pocket K's. A board of 2-6-7-7-Q helped only
Steve and Everett of St Paul, MN, with more chips than Bruce finished 5th for
$11,840.

Bruce, down from Norridgewock, ME, would return home with $9,209 for 6th.
With four players remaining the chip count favored Steve and Chris with
Hamdy Abdalla and Paul D'Ambrosia of East Haven, CT, as the short stacks.
Paul, with A-10, lost a large pot to Hamdy who had K-J; an A-J-7 gave the
advantage to Paul but a J on the river left Paul on the ropes. He went all-in
with A-7 but Chris turned over pocket A's to leave Paul in 4th with $15,786.

Local player Hamdy Abdalla of Waterbury, CT, won several all-ins as he
struggled to stay at the table; after being down to under $25K he built his
position up to over $200K only to see it erode as the blinds rose. He went
all-in with J-10 but got no help from the board and Steve's A-9 was the
winner; Hamdy finished 3rd for $23,679.

International player Chris Bjorin, who now lives in London, England, improved
on his 37th place finish in last year's Seniors event with his 2nd place finish.
Steve had built an insurmountable chip advantage and when Chris went all-in
with J-10, Steve turned over pocket A's for the victory. Chris took home
$42,097.

Steve Schlesinger returns to tournament play to claim the first place crystal
trophy, commemorative leather jacket and $83,009!

Reported by Jeffrey A Toth for Foxwoods Resort Casino