Dan Livingston Wins Chicago’s WSOP Circuit Championship

Event #11 Headlines

  1. Dan Livingston Wins Chicago’s WSOP Circuit Championship
  2. Livingston Freerolls His Way into WSOP Circuit Championship and Walks Away with $291,749 Top Prize
  3. “Chicago, My Kind of Town,” -- Attendance Up 12 Percent, Prize Money Up 20 Percent from Last Year
  4. Top Two Finishers in Chicago’s WSOP Circuit Championship Win Free Seats at Horseshoe Casino Poker Room – Take Home a Combined Nearly Half-Million in Winnings!
  5. WSOP Circuit Ends Completing Biggest Poker Event Ever Held in Chicago

 

Main Event Champion (Dan Livingston)

  • The 2009 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event champion at the Horseshoe Casino (Chicagoland) is Dan Livingston, from Oak Forest, IL.
  • Livingston is a 22-year-old part-time poker player who is currently between jobs. He recently left his job working at an auto-detailing shop.
  • Livingston mostly plays low- to middle-limit buy-in tournaments, usually at the Horseshoe Casino. His typical tournament is a weekly $100 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event. Livingston’s best run took place recently when he played three consecutive $100 buy-in tournaments and finished 3rd, 3rd, and 1st respectively. This victory, worth far more in prestige and prize money, validate that the victories in smaller buy-in tournaments were no fluke.
  • Livingston won first prize totaling $291,749. He was also presented with his first ever gold ring, the ultimate token of achievement for winning a WSOP Circuit event.
  • Incredibly, Livingston was on a complete freeroll for this tournament. He gained his entry, which was valued at $5,200, by playing one afternoon inside the Horseshoe Casino Poker Room. As part of a special promotion, the Horseshoe gave away as many as four Main Event seats daily – which is probably one of the very best freeroll opportunities to play in a major tournament anywhere in the world. Each day, on four different occasions for two full weeks prior to the start of this year’s Chicago series, one poker table was randomly selected. Then, one player at the table was high carded and received an entry into the Main Event championship. Livingston was high carded about two weeks ago, and was pleasantly surprised to play in his biggest poker tournament ever. He then managed to defeat a large field of 248 players and win over a quarter of a million dollars. Amazing story.
  • Livingston has not played in any WSOP events (in Las Vegas). But he plans to attend in 2010.

Winner Quotes (Dan Livingston)

  • On his feelings immediately after the victory: “I feel really good. What was it? Forty hours of work for nearly $300,000? I’ll take it.”
  • On how he thinks he played in the Main Event: “I think my game worked fine.”
  • On his plans for the future: “It’s going to make me consider giving poker a shot. I am going to see if I can play for a living.”
  • On how this victory compares to some other tournament successes: “My biggest cash playing online was for $4,000. So, this was a big jump.”
  • On when he began thinking about the possibility of victory: “When we got to the final table, I had about 900,000 in chips. Then, I won a few early pots and I was up to 2,000,000. Then I said to myself, ‘wow, I might win this – I have about a fourth of the chips in play. I have a really good chance. And, I did it.”
  • On taking a massive chip lead late when play became four-handed: “Everybody else as the table was around a million and I was up to four-million at that point. So, I could pretty much do what I wanted.”
  • On his poker goals: “I have always wanted to really win a gold bracelet. But I must say that the gold ring will really do for now. This win was a big confidence booster.”

 

The Final Table / In-the-Money Finishers

  • When final table began, the chip leader was Tom G. Floros (with 1,410,000). He enjoyed a slight lead over Tao Mosele (with 1,340,000). But four players were with within striking distance, at around 1 million in chips. Three of the finalists began play with short stacks and needed help to move into contention.
  • The WSOP Circuit “unofficial” Player of the Year from last season was the highly-personable Dwyte Pilgrim, from Brooklyn, NY. He won two WSOP gold rings, including the Main Event held at Harrah’s Rincon in March 2009. Pilgrim cashed in this championship event, finishing in 19th place. This means Pilgrim has now cashed in five of the last six WSOP Circuit Main Events – a most impressive feat.
  • There were no former WSOP Circuit gold ring winners in the final group of nine, which guaranteed a first-time champion.
  • The ninth-place finisher was Mike Parisi, a 35-year-old poker player who received $35,533.
  • The eighth-place finisher was Jacob Bazeley, a 26-year-old poker pro from Cincinnati, OH who earned $38,082.
  • The seventh-place finisher was Joshua Goldstein, a 25-year-old pro poker player from Northbrook, IL who earned $42,881. The Emory University graduate was the chip leader after the completion of Day Two.
  • The sixth-place finisher was William Miner, a 23-year-old pro poker player from Chicago, IL who earned $50,871.
  • The fifth-place finisher was William Schweinebraten, from Rolling Meadows, IL. He is a 45-year-old insurance saleman. Schweinebraten had previously made it to a final table at the Deep Stack Venetian series. But this was his best tournament cash to date, worth $63,744.
  • The fourth-place finisher was Tad Mosele, from Round Lake, IL. He is the 46-year-old owner of a construction business. He earned $84,594 for fourth place.
  • The third-place finisher was Chris Gentile, from Plainfield, IL. The 35-year-old poker player collected $119,556 in prize money.
  • When heads-up play began, Dan Livingston enjoyed a decisive chip advantage. He was at least a 10 to 1 favorite over Tom Floros. The final duel lasted about 30 minutes before Livingston finally prevailed. 
  • The final hand came when Livingston was dealt J-3 of diamonds versus Floros Q-10 offsuit. After the flop came K-10-3 and two diamonds, all of Floros chips went into the pot. The turn was a bank. But a diamond on the river gave Livingston a flush and the victory.    
  • The runner up was Tom Floros, from Indian Head Park, IL. Like Livingston, he too won his seat via the “high-card” promotion held at the Horseshoe Casino. Flores is a 42-year-old project manager. He received his biggest payout ever, which amounted to $180,287.
  • The winner was Dan Livingston, who collected $291,749 and his first WSOP Circuit gold ring. Livingston was cheered to victory by his parents and several well-wishers.
  • Five players who finished in the money were high-carded into the tournament via the Horseshoe Casino’s special promotion – including the top two finishers. In all, there were 56 seats given away as part of the Horseshoe Casino’s high-card giveaway.