October 08 2012, Paul Oresteen

Action wrapped up at the 2012-2013 World Series of Poker Circuit presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof Horseshoe Southern Indiana Main Event on Monday evening. After three long days of play, Dan Heimiller bested the field to win the WSOPC gold ring, $117,300, and seat to the National Championship.

To begin Day 3, 21 players returned and after only two levels of crazy action the field was trimmed to an unofficial final table of 10 players. Kathy Liebert, Jason Stanford, Kenny Nguyen, and Aaron Kerns missed the final table but still earned decent payouts.

Kevin Davis was the first player eliminated from the official final table. Davis moved all of his chips in the middle on a board reading against Jonathan Taylor, who called. Davis, holding , was behind Taylor’s . Davis needed help on the river, but didn’t get it because an ace fell, giving Taylor two pair and the knockout.

Nearly a whole level passed before Charles Furey exited in eighth place. He shoved preflop with and was called by Taylor who was holding pocket eights. The board ran out and Furey was sent to the payout desk.

Less than an orbit later, Taylor earned another elimination by taking out Joseph Worth in seventh place. Worth open-shoved with and Taylor, who held the better , made the call. Taylor flopped an insurmountable lead when it came . The turn and river fell and Worth was eliminated.

Sixty minutes ticked off the clock before Dan Heimiller eliminated Ki Kim sixth place. Kim was short stacked and moved in preflop with . Heimiller called and tabled . The board ran out , sending Kim away from the tournament area.

During most of five-handed play, Taylor held half of the chips in play and looked to be on cruise control to a heads-up match. Heimiller took the lead from Taylor after a hand with Sean Winter.

Winter opened for a min-raise on the button, then Heimiller, in the small blind, bumped it up to 120,000. Winter called and the flop came . Heimiller led out for 150,000 and Winter flat-called. The turn brought the and Heimiller bet 250,000. Winter called and the fell on the river. Heimiller checked and Winter moved all in for just over 700,000. Heimiller took a few minutes before he made the call. Heimiller flipped over and Winter slumped in his seat then flashed before chucking his cards in the muck.

Shortly after the dinner break, Tim Chang was eliminated in fourth place. It happened after Chad Eveslage opened for a min-raise and Tim Chang moved all in from the big blind. Eveslage called and tabled . He was up against Chang’s pocket nines, but an ace hit the flop giving Eveslage the lead. Chang didn’t find any help on the subsequent streets and was eliminated in fourth place.

Two hands later, action folded to Eveslage who opened from the small blind. Heimiller called from the big blind and the flop fell . Eveslage bet, Heimiller raised, and Eveslage three-bet shoved. Heimiller called with and Eveslage tabled . The board completed with the on the turn and the on the river, eliminating Eveslage in third place.

Heimiller and Taylor began heads-up play with 3.7 million in chips and 3.1 million in chips respectively. Heimiller drew first blood within the first three hands to take a near 2-1 chip lead. They played heads up for just over a half hour before the final hand came down to a preflop raising war.

Taylor min-raised on the button, Heimiller raised to 180,000, and Taylor slid out 500,000. Heimiller shoved and Taylor called with . Heimiller was ahead with and kept the lead as the board ran out , giving him the win and his first WSOPC gold ring.

2012-2013 World Series of Poker Circuit Final Table Results

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October 08 2012, Chad Holloway

On Sunday night, the World Poker Tour Season X continued on Fox Sports Network with Part I of the $25,000 WPT World Championship, which took place at the Bellagio in Las Vegas from May 19 to 26, 2012. The tournament attracted 152 of the world’s best players and created a prize pool of $3,660,500, of which $1,196,858 was reserved for the eventual winner.

This week’s episode, the first of three, began with a look back at the tournament’s early days. That included a look at past Season X winners from around the world, each of whom earned a seat in the WPT World Championship by winning their respective events. They included Tommy Vedes (Seminole Hard Rock Showdown), Moon Kim (Bay 101 Shooting Star), Sean Jazayeri (L.A. Poker Classic), and Edouardo Alescio (Venice), just to name a few.

Player of the Year: The WPT Season X Player of the Year Race was a heated affair entering the event. Will “The Thrill” Failla sat atop the leaderboard with 2,050 points, but several players were still in contention including, but not limited to, James Dempsey (1,400 POY Points), Bobby Oboodi (1,400 POY Points), Darren Elias (1,600 POY Points), Daniel Buzgon (1,750 POY Points) and Joe Serock (1,800 POY Points).

Early Action: The aforementioned Sean Jazayeri was an early exit, as were Erik Seidel and Phil Laak. In the end, only 98 players made it through Day 1 with Steve O’Dwyer and his stack of 231,500 leading the way. However, registration was open until the start of Day 3, so plenty of other notables entered the fray on Day 2 such as Jake Cody, Sam Trickett and Dave Shallow; in addition, former WPT World Champs Martin De Knijff (Season 2), David Williams (Season 8) and the reigning champ, Scott Seiver, all registered for the event.

James Dempsey, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Selbst and Morten Christensen all hit the rail on Day 2. At the end of the day, two-time WPT champ Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi led the final 94 with 428,200.

Will Failla’s exit early on Day 3 meant he was no longer in control of his fate in the POY race. “I’m sweating profusely right now, there are 13 people that could still pass me for Player of the Year. I’m really hoping they don’t, but you know, it is what it is, let it land where it’s supposed to, I absolutely did everything I could do to win it,” Failla said after his elimination.

“The Thrill” was soon joined on the rail by Dave Shallow, Scott Seiver, Martin De Knijff, Edouardo Alescio, John Juanda, Joseph Cheong and Vanessa Rousso, but they were replaced by late registrants like Jason Mercier, David “Doc” Sands, Mohsin Charania, Antonio Esfandiari, Faraz Jaka and Phil Hellmuth. Although many failed to make anything happen on Day 3. In fact, only 44 players made it through the day, including Curt Kohlberg who bagged up 918,300 for the chip lead.

The Money Bubble: Only 18 players were slated to get paid, but that didn’t slow the action. With 21 players remaining, three two-time WPT champs built a three-way all-in pot. Both Antonio Esfandiari and Jonathan Little were all-in and at risk against Michael Mizrachi.

The flop gave Mizrachi a gut-shot straight draw, but it was the on the turn that gave him the lead. The on the river was of no consequence and Mizrachi scored the double elimination. Day 4 ended with 19 players left, meaning just one more needed to go on Day 5 to reach the money.

Marvin Rettenmaier

It happened when Josh Arieh got his short stack all in under the gun with and received a call from Marvin Rettenmaier, who woke up with in the big blind. The board ran out and Arieh became the bubble boy. Not long after, players began to hit the rail including Guillaume Darcourt (18th – $40,266), Faraz Bonyadi (17th – $40,266) and Rinat Bogdanov (16th – $40,266). It was at that point that Joe Serock retook the lead in the POY race; however, Moon Kim and Matt Juttelstad still had a chance of passing him.

Juttelstad (13th – $43,926) was actually busted by Kim a short time later, and then Serock hit the rail in 10th place after his was outdrawn by Retteinmaier’s after the board ran out , bringing about the end of Day 4 with nine players remaining.

A Short Day 6: With only six seats at the final table, three players needed to hit the rail on Day 6. The first to go was Hafiz Khan (9th – $58,568), and he was followed out the door a short time later by Wil Wilkinson (8th – $82,361). On the TV final table bubble, Moon Kim got his stack all in preflop with and was up against the of Marvin Rettenmaier. The board ran out and Kim was sent to the rail in seventh place, good for $118,966. What’s more, his elimination ensured that Joe Serock would become the WPT Season X Player of the Year.

Here’s how things stacked up at the start of the final table:

WPT Season X $25,000 World Championship Final Table

The Pope: Without a doubt, the man with the best rail was Wisconsin’s Trevor Pope, who had a friend in the crowd dressed as the Pope. Actually, the Pope conjures up images on an elderly man donned in white, but Pope’s friend looked to be about 21 and had a red robe and hat, something more reminiscent of either a bishop or cardinal. Nonetheless, watching him clap and celebrate in the background at the Royal Flush Bar alongside the Royal Flush Girls – well let’s just say it’s not something you see every day.

Sands is the One to Watch: Through Season X, seven up-and-coming poker pros were featured as Ones to Watch. The players finished the season with mixed results, but it was David “Doc” Sands who finished with the best results by quite a margin:

Ones to Watch Season X Winnings

Trevor Pope

Nope for Pope: Action folded to Trevor Pope on the button and he moved all in for 1.46 million holding . Philippe Ktorza then moved all in for 1.7 million from the small blind with , which pushed Michael Mizrachi out from the big blind. Pope was a 3-1 dog and was up out of his seat even before the flop fell flop, which gave him a gut-shot draw to a wheel. The turn gave Ktorza a set, but it also gave Pope an added flush draw. Unfortunately for him, the river was not what he needed and Pope finished in sixth place for $155,571.

“I don’t have any complaints, this is obviously a good finish [in the tournament],” Pope said in his post-elimination interview with Jessica Welman. “A final table is a final table, I don’t expect it to be the last one I make, but sometimes things go in your favor and sometimes they don’t.”

Who will be the next to join this prestigious list:

Tune in Next Week: Part II of the WPT World Championship is set to air on Sunday, Oct. 14, on FSN, so be sure to check your local listings. If by chance you miss it, check back next week for the latest recap of all the action here on PokerNews.

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*Pictures courtesy of World Poker Tour.

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