CRAIG FLOOD WINS WSOPC RING EVENT #5 AT IP BILOXI

Biloxi, MS – Craig Flood of Rancho Viejo, TX is the winner of ring event #5 of the 2010/2011 WSOP Circuit Events at the IP Resort Hotel and Casino.

Flood is a 67-year-old VP of IT for a company that manufactures powered wheelchairs. With the ability to work remotely, Flood and his wife have been travelling the country, living for months at a time in places like Delaware, Bullhead, Arizona and most recently, Biloxi, Mississippi.

While the couple enjoys travelling from place to place, Flood says that he has grown especially fond of life in the Mississippi Gulf Coast and is strongly considering making Biloxi his permanent home.

The first-ever WSOP Circuit Events at the IP continued to draw strong numbers halfway through the series with 278 players registered to play in the Tuesday-start $345 buy-in, no-limit hold’em ring event. 

After a long day of play, 15 survivors returned for day two at 2:00 pm. The tournament came down to the final nine a couple of hours later:

9^th Place – With blinds and antes opening at 4,000/8,000/1,000, there would be six all-ins before the first elimination of the afternoon. That distinction went to Dale Hinson, who soon after taking a crippling hit to his stack, was all-in against four other players and unable to take the pot. Ninth paid $1,733.

8^th Place – Daylon Zimmerman was the eighth place finisher. Zimmerman is a 53-year-old marketing rep from Temple, GA. He took home $2,173 for eighth before blinds moved up to the 8,000/16,000 level.

7^th Place – The short stack, William Rogers was almost destined to have been the first of the nine to be eliminated, but he was able to get it in good, surviving four all-ins. Rogers moved up the pay ladder another spot when Scott Williams of Memphis, TN moved all-in with pocket 7’s vs. Zhen Cai’s   . Cai hit his queen on the flop which held through the river, sending Williams off to collect $2,764 for seventh.

6^th Place – The players returned from dinner break before Cai himself was eliminated after moving all-in on a 5-3-4 flop with middle pair. It was bad timing for Cai as Flood made the call, having flopped a set of fives. There was no help for Cai on the turn or river and his day was finished. Sixth place paid $3,572.

5^h Place – Michael Shafer of Detroit, MI, went out in fifth place, unable to improve all-in with A-10 vs. Rogers’ pocket pair of queens. Fifth paid $4,687.

4^rd Place – By now, blinds had moved up to 15,000/30,000 with 4,000 antes. The chip leader heading into the final table, Ross Bybee was unable to shake the short stack of Rogers, who he doubled up multiple times. In a critical hand, Flood fired out 125k on a flop of     before Bybee moved all-in. Flood called, turning over    for top pair to Bybee’s overcards,   . Bybee bricked the turn and river and his run was over.

3^nd Place – The goal to jump a few spots on the pay ladder turned into what was a phenomenal final table run for Rogers, which although involved a bit of luck, also required skill on his part.

Rogers picked his spots to move in and usually got it in the middle with the best hand. When he acquired a decent stack of chips in the middle stages of the final table, he used them to his advantage, taking blinds and small pots post flop where he could.

He will almost certainly however, be replaying the final hand in his head a number of times over.  On the river with a 6-A-7-10-10 board, he re-raised Flood’s 100k bet all-in with a ten high straight, only to see Flood snap call with tens full. “I probably shouldn’t have let him get that far,” he said to himself before shaking his opponents’ hands and heading to payout table. Rogers is a 30-year-old real estate investor from Birmingham, AL. Third paid a nice sum of $8,471. 

2^nd Place – Heads up play began at 10:00 pm with Flood holding a monstrous lead over his final opponent, Chad Tucker. After only a few hands, Tucker was all-in with A-7 vs. Flood’s suited 8-9. After a queen-high flop, Flood caught his 8 on the turn to end the tournament and earn his first WSOP Circuit victory, worth $18,894 and the coveted WSOP Circuit gold ring. Flood also earned points putting him atop the casino champion leader board for the IP WSOP Circuit. Tucker is from Winfield, AL, where he is self-employed. He earned $11,675 for second.

Flood said that part of his strategy during the final table was to win pots before the flop and when the blinds got big enough, wait until he sense someone was anxious enough to move all-in with less of a hand than they should have.

Flood was ecstatic about his victory and says he hopes for another in the near future.

“This is probably the biggest thrill I’ve ever had next to getting married to my wife,” said a jubilant Flood after his win. “I’d like to get a bracelet, but the second best thing is the ring.”

“Because fact is, not everyone will have one,” he added.

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

www.ipbiloxi.com