For all of the highly noted poker players that trekked their way to the Mecca in the mountains outside of San Diego, you knew that one of them was going to win the latest WSOP circuit event at Harrah's Rincon Casino and Resort. The big-time professionals especially had to be due after amateur player Brett Faustman took the last event in Tunica.
With players like current world poker champion Jerry Yang, WSOP gold bracelet holders Lee Watkinson, Tom Schneider, Layne Flack, Brandon Cantu, Bill Edler, Jeff Madsen, and other big pros like Erick Lindgren, Gavin Smith, and Vanessa Rousso, there was no way a small timer was going to sneak in and grab another major event.
But this logic went out the window as the tournament unfolded and yet another unseasoned winner took first place. Most of the major professionals didn't even make so much as a splash in the $5000 buy-in event.
Yang, who was playing in his backyard since he's from nearby Temecula, California, had great things to say about the tournament beforehand such as, "It's really a great feeling to come back to Rincon as the world poker champion. I am so overwhelmed with how nice people have been to me and am so pleased to see Harrah's Rincon host another World Series Circuit tournament."
But he may have been singing a different tune after quickly being ousted on Day 1 along with 121 of the original 148 entries in the main event. Others who went down on the first day included Tom Schneider, Layne Flack, Erick Lindgren, Brandon Cantu, Jeff Madsen, Bill Edler, Chad Brown, and Los Angeles Lakers owners Dr. Jerry Buss and Frank Mariani. After a marathon-like 12 hour day, the field was finally whittled down to 27 with Kenny Bedoya holding a sizeable chip lead over the rest of the players.
Luckily for the Day 2 participants, there was no 12-hour session in waiting this time as the day went relatively quick. And so were the eliminations as "all-in" was heard quite frequently with Vanessa Rousso knocking out Michael Katz and Theo Tran right away. Peter Neff, who had hopes of winning the event after being second in chips going into the day, saw his stack dwindle quickly as he was eliminated into 17th place.
Rousso was next to go as she took a shot in the dark with a off-suited J,7 and came up with nothing on the board against Scott Reese's A,Q. Speaking of Reese, he ran smack into chip leader Edward Sabat as the ninth and final spot at the table was up for grabs. With a strong flop of Q,Q,6 sitting on the board, Reese pushed his stack in against the 21 year-old USC student as he held trips with A,Q. But Sabat had two 6's giving him a full house and the head-to-head win as the board ran out at J,4. With Reese gone, the final table of nine was set and Day 2 was at a close.
Stealing the chip lead from Bedoya, Sabat now had an 850,000 to 701,500 chip lead over Bedoya going into the third day with no one else in sight. David Peters, Lee Watkinson, Gavin Smith, Damien "Damo" Osbourne, Michael Pickett, Christian Avendano, and Jon Eaton rounded out the final table in order of chips. Being the only WSOP final table veterans at the table, Smith and Watkinson had their work cut out for them.
Jon Eaton made an interesting move after going all-in with a A,J on a flop of Q,8,5 against the K,J combo of David Peters. But Peters caught a 10 and an ace on the river giving him the straight and knocking Eaton out first.
Unfortunately, the next to go had to be the best story of the tournament in "Damo" Osbourne who came to America via Australia to watch the Super Bowl. Inspired by the Giants victory, he decided to make the trip to San Diego for the Harrah's event. He can't be all that disappointed with his decision in netting $21,204 after being ousted by Peters in eighth place.
Next, the two veterans went head-to-head as Watkinson and Smith were all-in against each other. Watkinson, the only gold bracelet holder left, had his dreams of adding another one crushed when his pocket 4's were no match for Smith's pocket 10's on an unfavorable board.
Smith wasn't in long afterwards though as, with his stack diminishing, called Kenny Bedoya and couldn't connect on his Q,10 straight bid. Bedoya also eliminated Christian Avendano next taking the former military officer out of the tourney when his pocket eights were slightly better than Avendano's pocket sevens.
With just four players left, things got really interesting in a big hand involving Bedoya and Mickey Pickett. Bedoya pushed 100,000 chips into the pile with a A,Q and the community cards showing Q,7,6,5. Pickett, who'd slipped under the radar the entire event and had only 121,000 chips coming into the final table, raised Bedoya 100,000, prompting Bedoya to go all-in. Pickett flipped over a 4,8 combination which made a straight and finished Bedoya. This hand also gave Pickett the chip lead.
The previous chip leader coming into the table, Sabat, decided that it was time to try to get his lead back by going all-in with his A,9 before the flop. Not intimidated, David Peters called and showed pocket 8's. The board did nothing for either hand which meant Sabat had nothing. Well, not quite "nothing" as the USC accounting major now has $70,680 to add in the books.
Despite taking the rest of Sabat's chips, Peters was still at a 2 to 1 disadvantage going into heads-up play against Pickett. However, even though he had a big lead, this battle would not be easy for Pickett. Peters was able to take hand after hand against Mickey and even held the chip lead for a while.
His good fortune would soon run out though as Pickett weathered the storm and began to take control. Eventually, the whole tournament came down to a hand where Peters went all-in holding J,9 with the board reading A,9,3,7,J as he held a two-pair. Surprisingly though, Pickett called and showed 8,10 giving him the straight and the miraculous victory. The 23 year-old from Little Canada, Minnesota netted the $229,000 top prize and an $11,000 bonus after what seemed like an improbable journey.
Pickett seemed very poised throughout the final day saying, "I knew coming in that (Watkinson and Smith) were the two players everyone was concerned about. I also knew that (the other players) thought I would play cautiously and just try to move up the money ladder and hang on because the money seemed to matter more to me. After all, no one here has seen me play in tournaments. So, I was able to use that and push some of the other players around by playing weaker hands at key moments, and that's how I accumulated my chips."
But, despite his strategy and confidence, it still seems amazing that this player who had only played in one minor WSOP event in his life and had learned most of his poker in small cardrooms outside of Minneapolis would be sitting in the winner's circle at Harrah's. But who knows, maybe this small town Minnesota man will be in top form again when he goes to the Rio in Vegas for the biggest event of them all.
