RICHARD SMITH WINS HARRAH
King Richard Wins Harrah’s Atlantic City Opener

Latest Poker Champion, Richard Smith, Makes His First WSOP Cash Count – Collects $41,995 for First

WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Atlantic City Runs through December 12th


Atlantic City, NJ (December 2, 2011) – The World Series of Poker Circuit steamrolled into Atlantic City today with the first of 12 scheduled gold ring tournaments.  Just as many were predicting, the opening event played at the Harrah’s Resort and Casino attracted a big turnout -- totaling 704 players.

The tournament champion was Richard Smith, from Warrenton, VA – which is located in the Dulles Airport area near Washington, DC.  Smith, a 22-year-old part-time poker player, collected $41,995 in prize money – his biggest cash ever.  He was also presented with his first WSOP Circuit gold ring, given by Harrah’s Atlantic City Poker Manager John Arthur. 

While “luck” is not a word that poker players like to associate with victory, Smith certainly enjoyed a bit of good fortune on what turned out to be the winning hand.  He defeated runner up John Johnston in heads-up play when his A-6 topped his opponent’s A-J on the final hand of the tournament.  A six on the turn gave Smith a pair of sixes – good for his first major tournament victory.  This marked his first time to cash on the WSOP Circuit.

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Harrah’s Atlantic City has a rich history hosting WSOP Circuit events.  In fact, it was the very first casino ever to host such a tournament, which occurred back in January 2005, during the Circuit’s inaugural season.  Since then, Harrah’s Atlantic City has been a staple on the national tour, having hosted a tournament series during each and every season.  During most years, Harrah’s has been the final event of the year, with its events usually taking place in December.  It’s one of only four Caesars properties to host a WSOP Circuit stop during all eight seasons – the other casinos being Harrah’s Rincon (San Diego), Harrah’s New Orleans, and Harvey’s Lake Tahoe.  Indeed, Harrah’s Atlantic City has established itself as a flagship stop on the national tour, and this year appears to be no exception based on the early turnout.

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Event #1 was a two-day $300 (+45) No-Limit Hold’em tournament.  Play began on Thursday and ended at well past midnight on Friday night.  The total prize pool came to $204,864.  The top 72 players were paid.  All players who cashed received WSOP Circuit National Championship ranking points – used to qualify for a seat in the season-ending championship freeroll to be played later in Las Vegas.

A full list of all players who cashed in Event #1 can be seen here.

The first of two playing sessions included the elimination of 654 players during the first day.  There were 50 survivors who resumed action and played down to the final table.  After another four hours of play, the ten finalists were determined as follows:

SEAT 1:  Scott Strubel (Fords, NJ) – 543,000 in chips
SEAT 2:  Josh Shmerl (Chicago, IL) – 1,374,000 in chips
SEAT 3:  Bill Fryer (Brooklyn, NY) – 177,000 in chips
SEAT 4:  Huy Le (Atlantic City, NJ) – 235,000 in chips
SEAT 5:  Richard Smith (Warrenton, VA) – 1,530,000 in chips
SEAT 6:  Tomer Kravitz (Princeton, NJ) – 494,000 in chips
SEAT 7:  Mike Flesch (Manassas, VA) – 482,000 in chips
SEAT 8:  Hao Le (Arlington, VA) – 414,000 in chips
SEAT 9:  Sean Perry (Columbia, MD) – 285,000 in chips
SEAT 10:  John Johnston (Howard Beach, NY) – 1,690,000 in chips

John Johnston arrived as the chip leader.  But Richard Smith was a close second in chips.  It was fitting that these same two players would end up battling in the heads-up showdown for the championship title.

Coming into the finale, it appeared to be a battle between the haves and have-nots, since three players had in excess of one-million in chips, while six others had less than 500,000 in their stacks.  The bigger stacks ultimately prevailed, with the two chips leaders ultimately involved in the final showdown.

Final table play began at 9:30 pm local time.  Play finished at 3:15 am, making the total duration almost six hours.

10th Place – Bill Fryer, an electrician from Brooklyn, NY was the first player disconnected from the final table.  He was eliminated about 15 minutes into the action.  This marked his first-ever WSOP Circuit event – ending in remarkable fashion with a top-ten finish in a field of more than 700.  This was also Fryer’s first recorded cash in a major tournament.

9th Place – Scott Strubel, who is semi-retired, became really retired when he exited the final table about an hour into play.  Strubel has many small tournament cashes on his poker resume, mostly in events played on the East Coast.  This was his third time to cash on the WSOP Circuit.  Strubel’s best finish was seventh place last year in an event played at Harrah’s Tunica.

8th Place – Tomer Kravitz, a limo driver from Princeton, NJ was chauffeured away from the final table as the eighth place finisher when he went bust about 90 minutes into the action.  This was Kravitz’s first recorded cash in a major poker tournament, which was good for a score of nearly five-grand.

7th Place – Josh Shmerl, a poker pro from Chicago, ended up in seventh place.  His exit was a mild disappointment, given that he arrived among the final ten ranked third in chips.  Nevertheless, Shmerl could take pride in another strong finish.  He won a gold ring in 2009 at the Hammond Horseshoe event, when he came out on top of a then-record field of 1,412 players.  This was Shmerl’s sixth time to cash on the WSOP Circuit.

6th Place – Mike Flesch, a CPA from Manassas, VA took sixth place.  He collected $8,160 in prize money.  Flesch also cashed in this year’s WSOP Main Event Championship (591st place).  He therefore now has two WSOP-related cashes on his tournament resume.
   
5th Place – Huy Le, originally from Vietnam and now residing in Atlantic City finished in fifth place.  He earned $10,684 – his best tournament cash ever.  Le’s only other cash was at the Canadian Open Poker Championship, two years ago.

4th Place – Sean Perry, from Columbia, MD made a nice run on the final day.  He arrived at the final table low on chips, but catapulted up the money ladder, ultimately finishing in fourth place.  Perry, who works in construction sales and plays poker part-time, mostly enjoys cash games and low buy-in tournaments.  This was his third major tournament cash and first time in the money in a WSOP-related event.  Fourth place paid $14,175.

3rd Place – Hao Le, a musician from Virginia, hit a sour note late in the tournament when his K-Q lost to A-6.  Le made a pair of kings.  But his opponent, Richard Smith, ended up with trip sixes.      $19,061

2nd Place – John Johnston, a 32-year-old trainer from Howard Beach, NY played outstanding poke for two full days.  But he could not overcome the hyper-aggression of his final adversary, during heads-up play.  Johnston ended up finishing second, and was paid a nice consolation prize amounting to $25,987.  Remarkably, this was his first time to cash in a gold ring event on the WSOP Circuit.  However, Johnston did cash twice last year in the nightly events played at Harrah’s Atlantic City.

When heads-up play began, Smith enjoyed about a 3 to 2 chip advantage over Johnston.  The duel lasted about two hours.  A pivotal hand came about midway through the battle when Johnston assumed a temporary chip lead when his pocket jacks bested Smith’s pocket sevens.  But Smith got those chips back about 20 minutes later on a double up and went into the final hand with about a 3 to 1 chip advantage.  The last hand of the tournament was dealt as follows:

Smith:     
Johnston:     
Flop:       
Turn:   
River:   

Smith called an all-in pre-flop shove by Johnston.  He was behind with a dominated hand, essentially needing to catch a six.  The miracle card fell on the turn, which ended up completing two pair for the new champion – who ended up with two pair, sixes and fours.

1st Place – Richard Smith won his first career WSOP Circuit gold ring.  He collected $41,995.

Smith’s win was a decisive victory.  He was never in serious danger of elimination.  During the nearly six-hour final table, he was near the chip lead or held the top spot during the entire time.

With his victory, Richard Smith moves into the top spot as the early leader in this WSOP Circuit’s “Best All-Around Player” standings.  The player who accumulates the most overall points in Atlantic City’s twelve combined gold ring tournaments receives a pre-paid entry into the $1 million 2011-2012 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held in Las Vegas, next May.  At least two players from this tournament series will qualify for the WSOP Circuit National Championship, which is classified as a WSOP gold bracelet event.  The other automatic qualifier will be the winner of Harrah’s Atlantic City’s Main Event championship.

With the first tournament wrapped up, there are still 11 more gold ring events remaining in what is being billed as a “12 rings in 12 days” poker series.  The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Atlantic City continues through December 12th.  This year’s schedule includes not only all the gold ring events, but multiple second-chance tournaments (at 5 pm and 7 pm most days), single table and mega satellites, plus cash games going around the clock inside the Harrah’s Poker Room.