SOUTHER HOSPITALITY

Biloxi, MS – Will Souther is the winner of event #3, the Limit Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better event at the IP Resort Hotel and Casino.

“The Monkey” as he is called, has had numerous cashes since he began playing major poker tournaments about six years ago, totaling over $400,000 in earnings. Souther is a true grinder who plays in countless tournaments around the country throughout the year. The night before his ring event win, he beat out 154 players in the $120 nightly NLH at the IP for four grand. A bit fatigued from his late night run, and nowhere near the top of the final table leader board, Souther compensated by waiting for his lesser-experienced opponents to make critical mistakes while relying on his own experience.

The $345 buy-in event drew 70 players for a prize pool of $20,370. With the money bubble at 8^th place, the final table consisted of seven players who resumed day two play at 2:00 pm. Yong Jian Chen, a manager from Ocean Springs, MS, originally from China, had a dominant chip lead heading into the final table.

The short stack, Barry Levy attempted to self-motivate with a comment about only needing “a chip and a chair, “ but was deterred by tournament announcer Adam Kemper, who pointed out that Levy actually had two chips and that therefore the old adage did not apply.

 Full final table starting chip counts were as follows:

7^th Place – Blinds opened up at 3,000/6,000 with 6,000-12,000 limits. One of the first hands of the afternoon ended as well as it could have for Levy, who was all-in on the BB and quadrupled up after turning over the nut flush. He was only prolonging the inevitable however, when a few hands later, he was all-in again for 5,000 from his blind along with the other short stack, John Demarco, who moved in from the small for 2,000 more. The two all-ins were called by larger stacks Brett Alello and Wendell Salley, who checked it down to the river and ultimately split the pot.

Demarco and Levy were left out in the cold, hitting the rail in 6^th and 7^th place, respectively. Levy is from Brooklyn, NY, born and bred, and came down to the IP in Biloxi to play in the WSOP Circuit. Demarco is from nearby Ocean Spring, MS. Seventh paid $966 while sixth was worth $1,147.

5^th Place – The chip leader heading into the final table, Chen played aggressively much of the afternoon, involving himself in numerous hands and firing out many continuation bets. In most cases, he was unable to move his opponents off their hands, resulting in the loss of most of his chips. In Chen’s final hand of the tournament, he turned over an ace-high straight, which was trumped by Souther’s jack-high flush. Chen was eliminated in fifth place, which paid $1,438.

4^th Place – By now, blinds were now at the 5,000/10,000 level with limits of 10,000-20,000. West Herring raised Wendell Salley’s blind, who then re-raised, getting the call from Herring. Salley fired out on a     flop and was all-in after a   hit the turn. Salley turned over paired aces and deuces, but was drawing dead to Herring who turned broadway with an ace and a king in the hole. Salley was sent to the payout table in fourth. Salley is from Mobile, AL where he holds management position with Swift oil & gas. He collected $1,910 for his finish.

3^rd Place – Alello and Herring flirted with elimination a few times with play down to three. Alello at one point was down to only 10,000 in chips, but managed to step away from the light to stay alive. Herring survived a number of all-ins himself, but saw his luck run dry after moving all-in on the turn with A-A-4-Q on a 2-5-4-6 board. Alello made the call with 3-3-A-8, for the flopped wheel. Herring could only hope for a 3 on the river to chop, but it was a 6 that came on fifth street, ending Herring’s run.

2^nd Place – Heads up play began shortly before 4:30 pm with Souther holding a 2-1 lead over Alello. Souther went to work on his opponent, leaving him with just a few blinds. In the final hand of the evening, Alello was all-in with      against Souther’s     . The flop came    , pairing Souther’s ace and giving him a broadway draw. Allelo was left needing running cards for the low hand or trip jacks.  Both possibilities were nullified however, after a third ace hit the turn before a meaningless 9 on the river. With that, “The Monkey” had added a WSOP Circuit Event ring to his many poker accomplishments.

Alello is a 45-year-old telecommunications sales rep from Baton Rouge, LA. He plays online Omaha 8 almost exclusively. This was only his third live major tournament ever. He says that he is galvanized by his strong finish in today’s event and will “definitely be in Vegas this summer.”

Souther’s first place victory earned him $6,583, the coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring and 50 points toward the WSOP Circuit Championship, which will be held May 27-29 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The top 36 point earners through the 2010/2011 WSOP Circuit Event season will earn a seat to million dollar freeroll bracelet event.

Souther’s finish in event #3 also puts him atop of the IP Casino Championship leader board where he is currently tied with Aaron Brant and Rob Quin for first place. The player with the most points through ten ring events scheduled at the IP will be automatically qualified into the WSOPC championship.  

After his victory, Souther took a few minutes with WSOP.com to talk about his poker career and his future.  

WSOP.com: You’ve had a pretty good run the last couple of months that included a 3^rd place finish at the Gulf Coast Poker Championship in September worth $60,000 and a 6^th place finish at the Horseshoe Hammond WSOP Circuit Main Event worth 47 grand. Your cash here wasn’t nearly as much but you did win your first WSOP Circuit Ring. How does it compare?

Souther: Overall, it hasn’t been a great year. I’ve been winning a lot of nightlies and making other smaller scores like today worth a few grand here and there, but with those, you’re just winning to keep playing, so I’ve been looking for that big score. Chopping the Beau was nice, and so was my finish up in Hammond. This cash wasn’t that much, but I’ve gotten second place at the WSOP Circuit five times, so today it was all about this [the ring]. I really wanted this bad.

WSOP.com: At this point in your career, is it all about continuing to build your bankroll or to gain more notoriety?

Souther: Hmm, good question. My bankroll is in the best place it’s ever been right now. Six of my good buddies have made over a million dollars this year and part of you is envious, but the other part of you is very happy for them. You know because of their fortune, they’re not going to turn into [explicative], but at the same time, you’re thinking, I know this guy isn’t all that much better than me, why do I keep getting run down with two tables left, getting my aces cracked and such.

Poker has exploded so much that there’s so much opportunity away from the table. If you have a colorful personality, are articulate and are marketable- you know, almost any female who has success in poker is going to make lot of money away from the table. For a guy to do it, you got to bring something different. People will say that my personality is manufactured, it’s not, I just kind of come alive when I’m around humans. You just keep winning and if you keep winning, the deals will come.  

WSOP.com: So, for those who aren’t familiar, where did the monkey moniker come from?

Souther: That got started about 13 years ago. I used to run sports pools at different bars around Atlanta. I’d drop off the sheets on Mondays and pick them up on Fridays. One of the bartenders would say “Hey, the pool monkey is here!” and I was like, hmm, pool monkey, that’s kind of cool. So I started running pools online under the name pool monkey. After that, I ran a wine distributor and I became the wine monkey. I quit that to play poker and people asked, so are you going to be the poker monkey and I said, yeah, I think I will.

WSOP.com: Tell us a little about your monkey card protectors

Souther: My first one was my raising monkey. We were in Florence, AL visiting my wife’s family and we were at a friend’s antique shop where I bought it about seven years ago and began collecting a few. The crystal monkey is more for special occasions, photos ops. The monkeys only come out when I make a final table or else you look like that [explicative] idiot with all the trinkets.

WSOP.com: What are your plans for the future?

Souther: I want to have kids. My wife is awesome and I just want to have a family. Other than that, I’m gonna keep playing poker. I’m not very hirable. I’m late all the time and I’m not good with authority. Maybe my wife and I might decide to open a bar or something. We had one in Atlanta and it was really successful.

See the complete IP Resort Hotel and Casino poker tournament schedule and previous results here.  The WSOP Circuit at the IP runs through November 10^th. You can find the complete 2010/2011WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.

IP Resort Hotel and Casino
850 Bayview Ave           
Biloxi, MS 39530
Telephone:  (228) 436-3000 
Toll-Free: 1 (888) WIN-AT-IP