TUNICA, MS – Austin Schaal is the winner of Event #14 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s Tunica.
Event #14 attracted 207 players and generated a total prize pool of $54,837.
Schaal is a college student and online tournament player with a number of five-figure cashes. He was in the middle of the pack heading into his first live major final table.
Though the chip leader Gary Shenberg had more than double the chips than Schaal, Schaal sat comfortably in second place entering the final table and used his positioning to ensure a deep run regardless of how the cards came out.
Entering the final table, here were the chip counts for the nine remaining players:
|
Name
|
Hometown
|
Seat
|
Chip Count
|
|
David Stafford
|
Westland, MI
|
1
|
80,000
|
|
Austin Schaal
|
Vandalia, IL
|
2
|
260,000
|
|
Anthony Sansoni
|
Bolingbrook, IL
|
3
|
210,000
|
|
Jonathan Frey
|
Memphis, TN
|
4
|
90,000
|
|
Steven Trimmer
|
Kirtland, OH
|
5
|
200,000
|
|
Daniel Pancotto
|
Burr Ridge, IL
|
6
|
100,000
|
|
Gary Shenberg
|
St. Louis, MO
|
7
|
600,000
|
|
Brandon Zane Garner
|
Jackson, TN
|
8
|
236,000
|
|
Michael Hamner
|
Tuscaloosa, AL
|
9
|
150,000
|
Ninth Place
With blinds and antes at 3,000/6,000/1,000, Michael Hamner was the first player eliminated all-in after flopping top pair with . With two hearts also on the flop, his opponent showed and completed the flush draw after a on the turn. Hamner is a 52-year old contractor from Tuscaloosa, AL, who nailed down $1,234 in his third Circuit Event cash.
Eighth Place
Jonathan Frey was all-in pre-flop with from the cutoff with his remaining 45,000. Zane Garner called with A-5 and outdrew his opponent on a board. Frey earned $1,453 for eighth.
Seventh Place
David Stafford was the 7th place finisher after moving his short stack all-in pre-flop with and getting a call from Garner with . The ace-high board was the end of Stafford’s ring bid. The 61-year old Ford Motor Co. retiree collected $1,793.
Sixth Place
Garner busted in 6th place after running his pocket nines into Schaal’s pocket aces. Garner’s second final table of the 2009-2010 Tunica Circuit resulted in a $2,687 payday.
Fifth Place
After losing most of his chips with A-K vs. an opponent’s jacks, Anthony Sansoni found himself dominated all-in with A-2 vs. Austin Schaal’s A-10. The board paired both players’ aces but the deuce kicker saw Sansoni to the payout table to collect $3,581.
Fourth Place
Daniel Pancotto was the fourth place finisher. He earned $4,475.
Third Place
After a flop of , Steve Trimmer moved his remaining chips all-in with . Schaal called with pocket 10’s. After a on the turn, Trimmer missed his five remaining outs and his day was finished. Third paid $6,268.
Second Place
Schaal had more than a 3-1 chip lead heads up against Gary Shenberg.
A few hands into heads-up play, Schaal took nearly half Shenberg’s stack after forcing his opponent to fold all-in on the river.
A few hands later, Schaal moved all-in on after the turn on a board. Shenberg knew what was coming, but with a short stack, called with 10-8. Schaal quickly turned over for the straight.
A blank on the river earned Schaal $14,425 for first place and the Circuit Event ring. Shenberg picked up $8,856 for second.
Schaal recently returned to the United States after taking the last semester off to volunteer in the Dominican Republic with his grandmother and their church.
"I love the people down there, their spirit and their energy," said Schaal.
He says he will enter more WSOP Circuit Events in the future.
"I feel great; this was my first major live cash, my first piece of jewelry, definitely going for more."
Still to come are 5 more events and single-day non-ring $125, $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 10th.