Steven Reuther Wins Event #11 of Harrah’s AC Circuit
Atlantic City, NJ (December 15, 2009) – Steven Reuther is the winner of event #11 of the Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City World Series of Poker Circuit Event. The $230 buy-in event was a one-day turbo with 8,000 starting chips and 25 minute blind levels. The event started with 485 entrants and came down to nine at about 1:15 am.                  

The final table began with blinds and antes at 5,000/20,000/40,000. The ninth place finisher was Kevin Ma.

Ma learned the hard way that you should never celebrate a hand until after the river.

All-in with A-K against the pocket 10’s of Joe Gillies, Ma yelled out a “Yes!” after the flop came      .

“Don’t celebrate yet man, hand’s not over!”  Jason “Class” Spence told Ma.

Spence’s forewarning soon came to fruition after a queen hit the turn and a river nine gave Gillies the runner runner straight, sending Ma to the rail with $2,823.

After Dominick Succardi busted in 8th, Gillies moved all-in, hoping for redemption from a bad deal that stripped him of Event #4’s first place distinction.

Although Gillies outdrew Wright for the ring, the two agreed that Wright would sign for first place. Tournament director and poker room manager, John Arthur ruled that Wright was the official winner of event #4.

“You sign for first, you’re first,” said Arthur regarding the incident.

Disgruntled by the turn of events, Gillies played his way to his second final table of the Harrah’s AC circuit, where he was determined to win Event #11 outright.  Unfortunately for Gilles, he moved all-in with K-10 and was outflopped by the J-Q of Steve Reuther.

“I don’t think it was fair,” said Gilles of the Event #4 outcome.

“If I knew what I know now, I probably would have played it out.”

Sixth place went to Will “The Thrill” Failla. Failla is professional poker player with over a million dollars in lifetime poker earnings and has taken down major tournaments at Foxwoods, The Borgata and Caesars Palace. Regardless, he sees the value in playing in the $230 buy-in one-day turbo events offered at the Harrah’s Resort AC Circuit Events

 “No more big ones!” Failla joked. “I’m gonna micro it all over the country!”

Failla’s tournament run ended however after running ace high all-in into the slow-played pocket aces of Michael Huckedy. Failla earned $5,645 for sixth.

“Hey not bad huh, for a couple hundred and a few hours?!”  Failla remarked on his way to the collect his cash.

Huckedy, the short-stack going into the final table, doubled up earlier at the final table through Steve Reuther. The additional chips he got from Failla put him near the top of the leaderboard.

Jason Spence was the next player eliminated. After trying to make a move in position on James Tankersley pre-flop, Spence found himself all-in against his opponent with 10 high vs Tankersley’s A-J. The board missed both players and Spence was out in 5th. Spence earned $6,586.

 After short-stacked Matthew Levy moved his remaining chips all-in, James Tankersley decided to call with    . Levy was in the lead with K-8 suited, but a flopped jack and blanks on the turn and river ended his run. Levy, a surgeon from Cherry Hill, NJ earned $7,527 for fourth.

Having secured at least third place money after coming into the final table last, Huckedy was put to a huge decision by Tankersley after he moved all-in.

“I hate pocket pairs,” said Huckedy before making the call with    .

Tankersley turned over     for the coin flip. The flop came       and Huckedy’s fours held after a   turn and   river. Tankersley busted in third for $9,409.

At exactly 3:00 am with blinds and antes at 10,000/40,000/80,000, heads up saw Huckedy with comparable chip stacks. The final hand of the night had each player in pre-flop for a quarter million in chips. After the flop came      , Reuther fired out 200k and Huckedy moved all-in.

Reuther stood up while his mind frantically tried to go over all of Huckedy’s possible hand’s.

“If you have a king or an ace, you’re brilliant,” he told Huckedy.

After a few minutes in the tank, Reuther said, “I call,” and turned over    . Huckedy revealed     for the flush draw.

While it was an outstanding call on Reuther’s part, he wasn’t far ahead of Huckedy, who had 13 outs with flush and overpair draws. The turn came   and the river was an   to give Reuther the win. Huckedy earned $11,291 while Reuther took home $20,182 and the WSOP Circuit Event ring.

“Heads up from the small blind, if you have Ace or King, you almost have to raise the big blind,” said Reuther about his call during the final hand.  “He didn’t do that so I decided to make the call all-in.”

Reuther, who regularly plays in the WSOP in Las Vegas and Circuit Events, had just recovered from surgery and got a tattoo and a Rolex to commemorate his first big poker trip in a while.

He says such trips aren’t about partying and having fun. “You know it’s funny, if you’re serious about it, it’s not about partying,” said Reuther

 “If you want to party, party. AC is a great partying town, but if you’re serious about the poker, you gotta stay rested and focused.”

Still to come are 6 more events and 10 nightly (single-day) satellites which begin at 3 pm and 7pm.

The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City continues through December 20th.