DANIEL FISCHER REELS IN A BIG CASH IN CIRCUIT EVENT #4 AT HARRAH'S RESORT AC

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Daniel Fischer, a 25-year-old cash games specialist from Brigantine, NJ is the winner of WSOP Circuit Event #4 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. After earning his associates degree, Fischer, who is originally from Glassboro, a borough located about 50 miles northwest of Atlantic City, moved closer to the gaming resort city to pursue his poker career.

So far, his decision to play poker full time has worked out well, as he has been able to make a living from the game he loves for over a few years now.

Fischer was one of 292 players who entered WSOP Circuit Event #4 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. The turnout for the $1,100 buy-in event vastly exceeded expectations, generating a healthy-sized prize pool of $283,240.

38 players survived the first day’s play and returned on day two to play for $67,978 and the coveted WSOP Circuit Gold Ring. About four hours into day two, the final table was set. Fischer was the chip leader heading into the final nine and maintained his position for much of the evening.

9^th Place – Blinds and antes were at 6,000/12,000/2,000 when final table play got underway shortly before 5:30 pm. Play was very tight during the first couple of levels of action. It wasn’t until blinds had crept up to the 10,000/20,000 level until the first elimination of the night.  

Heads up on a board of     , Fischer moved all-in with    and short stack Hu Xiaozhe made the call, turning over pocket nines. Xiaozhe needed to dodge a queen or spade, but the river came  , making him the first to go. Xiaozhe holds a masters degree from SUNY and works in finance in Vestal, NY, which makes it likely that his $16,237 in ninth place prize money will handled wisely.

8^th Place – A short while later, Thomas Wolfram was all-in for about 300,000 and got a call from Alek Givotovsky in the small blind. Wolfram’s 7-9 suited was unable to improve on the Queen-high board vs. Givotovsky’s A-7 and his day was finished. Wolfram is a 41-year-old merchandiser from Elkridge, MD. He took home $7,817 for eighth.

7^th Place – Jason Gabie made his big move with 167k remaining, shoving with A-4 offsuit from the highjack spot. Fischer made the call from the button and showed pocket fives. Gabie got no help at all from the board and he was eliminated. Gabie is a 37-year-old married father of two who owns a window cleaning business in his hometown of Harrison, NY. Seventh place paid him $9,947. 

6^th Place – Blinds were now at 12,000/24,000. Fischer and Givotovsky dominated the final table, raising and re-raising pots preflop. The sixth place finisher was determined in a hand where Fischer opened for 60,000 before Nelson Robinson moved all-in for four thousand more. Givotovsky came along and Fischer called. The flop came    . Givotovsky fired out 125,000, prompting Fischer to fold. Givotovsky turned over    for flopped trips, leaving Robinson needing a king or running aces to stay alive. Nelson bricked the turn and river and his tournament run was over.

5^th Place – With much of the rest of the final table happy just to move their way up the pay scale, it was inevitable that the two chip titans, Givotovsky and Fischer would clash. After calling Fischer for 125k on a  - -  pot, Givotovsky called his table rival again after the   hit the turn. The river was huge,  , and Fischer decided to check. Givotovsky fired out 360k and Fischer made the call, tabling    for the runner-runner flush and collected the 1.6 million chip pot.

Shortly after, Givotovsky got half of his lost chips back in a hand with Perry Johnston, crippling Johnston in the process.

A few hands later, Johnston, Jesse Cohen and Fischer found themselves in a three-way all-in pot with Johnston and Cohen all-in for their tournament lives. A river queen saved Johnston from elimination but was no salvation for Cohen, who hit the rail in fifth. Cohen is a 25-year-old poker pro from Philadelphia, PA. A graduate of Colgate, he earned $16,867 for fifth.

4^th Place – Johnston busted a few hands later after running ace-jack into Givotovsky’s pocket kings. Johnston owns a vending machine company in his hometown of Oak Island, NC. Fourth place dispensed a nice sum of $22,489 for Johnston while Givotovsky continued his comeback and was now up to 870,000.

3^rd Place – Down to three, much of the action was between Givotovsky and Fischer, while Borges waited for a good spot to make a move. In that time, Givotovsky would take over 300,000 chips from Fischer and then double through him to take the chip lead with over 2.6 million. Down to 250,000¸ Borges eventually moved all in with 4-5 suited, but ran them into Fischer’s pocket kings. Kings held and Borges was eliminated in third place, worth $30,482.

2^nd Place – With blinds at the 20,000/40,000 level, heads up play began at 11:30 pm with Givotovsky holding a 2-1 chip lead over Fischer. The two went at it, raising and three-betting pre and post flop every hand. Fischer was the more aggressive of the two and eventually regained the chip lead. In the final hand of the tournament, The two saw a board of     . Fischer bet and Givotovsky raised Fischer’s to 275k before Fischer re-raised all-in. Givotovsky called and tabled    for middle pair, while Fischer turned over   . The river was a benign   and the tournament was over. For second place, Givotovsky, a poker player from New York, NY, collected $42,010. First place paid Fischer a healthy $67,978 and the coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring. In addition, Fischer earned 50 points toward the WSOP Circuit National Championship.

“This is awesome, it’s a really good win.” Fischer said after his victory. When asked about his strategy during the final table coming in as the chip leader, he said that he knew that his opponents’ main motivation was not to win, but to cash as much as possible. Knowing that, he applied as much pressure as possible. His tablemates’ relatively timid post flop play also allowed him to see many hands to the river, which admitted involved a factor of luck in a few cases.

This year, all players on the WSOP Circuit can accumulate points which are used to qualify towards the WSOP Circuit National Championship tournament, to be held in May 2011 in Las Vegas.  The $1 million freeroll tournament will be nationally televised and will be open to only 100 qualifiers.  For the first time ever, a WSOP gold bracelet will be presented to the winner. One of the ways to qualify is to be crowned Casino Champion by earning the most points through the ten ring events at each Circuit Stop. Rocha says he is determined to earn that distinction.

See the complete Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Circuit schedule and previous results here.  The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s runs through December 22nd. You can find the complete 2010/2011WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.

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