West Palm Beach, FL (Feb. 22) – Who’s the only player in the world who has won major poker tournaments held in both the United States and Spain?
If you answered “Chris S. Lyons,” you would be correct.
Lyons won the most recent World Series of Poker Circuit tournament held at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, in south Florida. He collected $26,480 in prize money for first place. Lyons was also presented with his first WSOP Circuit gold ring, the coveted prize awarded to winners in poker’s biggest and most prestigious national series. Lyon also won a major tournament last year held in Spain.
This was the fourth of ten gold ring events at this year’s inaugural WSOP Circuit Palm Beach series. The $345 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (classified as Event #4) attracted another sizable field totaling 418 entries. The prize pool amounted to $121,638. The top 45 finishers collected prize money.
On the first of two playing days, the field size was reduced from 418 players down to 34 survivors. After three additional hours of play, the ten finalists took their seats at the final table next to the grandstand overlooking the racetrack. The seating order and starting chip counts were as follows:
SEAT 1: Gene Hochman (Coconut Creek, FL) – 113,000 in chips
SEAT 2: Mark Sykes (New Haven, CT) – 500,000 in chips
SEAT 3: Vincent Renzo (Long Branch, NJ) – 133,000 in chips
SEAT 4: Dustin Bradley (Boca Raton, FL) – 237,000 in chips
SEAT 5: Chris S. Lyons (Kissimmee, FL) – 510,000 in chips
SEAT 6: Paul “PR” Ramkissoon – 344,000 in chips
SEAT 7: “Sheddy” Siddiqui (Pembroke Pines, FL) – 408,000 in chips
SEAT 8: Todd Arnold (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) – 630,000 in chips
SEAT 9: Frank Traino (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) – 800,000 in chips
SEAT 10: Johnny Miller (Hollywood, FL) – 350,000 in chips
Players were eliminated in the following order:
10th Place – Vincent Renzo went out early. He started low on chips and moved all-in after a few hands, holding A-T. Renzo flopped a pair of tens, but ended up losing to a straight. Renzo, a chef from the Jersey Shore, cooked up a nice payout totaling $2,027. He now has more than $500,000 in career tournament earnings, at age 24.
9th Place – Arshad “Sheddy” Siddiqui was dealt pocket queens at the worst possible time on what turned out to be his final waltz. Sheddy called an all-in bet with the pretty ladies, and then watched in horror as his opponent tabled pocket kings. The cowboys held up, leaving Sheddy out on the rail as the ninth-place finisher. Sheddy, a poker fro from Pembroke Pines, FL earned $2,504 in prize money.
8th Place – Gene Hochman was short-stacked and found a pocket pair. That was good enough to mandate an all-in push. His raise was called by A-4, which connected with an ace on the flop. That ended Hochman’s tournament life. Hochman, who holds a degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida and now works in marketing, collected $3,135 from the prize pool. Hochman has previously cashed many times at various tournaments throughout south Florida.
7th Place – Dustin Bradley, from Boca Raton, FL was the next player to exit. He shoved with a low stack hoping to steal a round of blinds and antes, but got called by the chip leader, which made a pair of tens. Bradley, a former vet tech-turned-poker pro enjoyed more than $100,000 in tournament cashes last year. He is off to another good start in 2011 with $3,980 added to his bankroll.
6th Place – Johnny Miller lasted about two hours and then went busto. On his final hand, he tried to make a move holding A-7 after completely missing the flop. But his bold bet was called by J-9, which had flopped a pair of nines. Miller failed to improve from that point onward, and took a walk. Miller, a former college basketball player from Hollywood, FL received $5,125 for sixth place.
5th Place – Paul “PR” Ramkissoon went out in fifth place. The marketing professional originally from Guyana and now living in Greenacres, FL was eliminated after making top pair (aces), which lost to a Broadway straight. This marked Ramkissoon’s second time to cash at this year’s Palm Beach series. He finished 39th in Event #2. Ramkissoon, who is an avid cricket player, picked up $6,696 in prize money.
4th Place – Down to four players, Frank Traino had some chips and was a serious threat, until he lost a critical race and went out in fourth place. Traino pushed his stack holding pocket nines, and got a crying call by Mark Sykes, who made the grueling decision after tanking for a few minutes. Sykes showed A-10. Traino was in the lead and appeared would double up, until an ace reared its ugly head on the turn and destroyed Traino’s aspirations of victory. The insurance broker from Ft. Lauderdale, FL settled for an $8,880 payout.
3rd Place – Mark Sykes lost what was unquestionably the most fascinating hand of the tournament -- when his A-6 matched the board for trip aces, which lost to Todd Arnold’s full-house. Sykes, a long-haired and bearded professor and self-described “hippie” from New Haven, CT, collected $11,959 for third place.
The memorable hand between Mark Sykes and Todd Arnold was tailor-made for post-game discussion. Down to three-handed, Todd Arnold was dealt 2-2. He faced Mark Sykes who held A-6. Sykes absolutely loved the flop, which came A-A-x. He decided to slowplay his big hand (trip aces) and gave his opponent a free card. That turned out to be a monumental mistake. A harmless looking deuce on the turn gave Arnold a full house – deuces full of aces.
Both players checked once again, and after a blank hit the river, Sykes bet out and Arnold boldly announced he was “all in.”
Sykes went into the tank. This was one of those grueling decisions in every poker tournament that means the difference between winning and just making the money. He tried to contemplate what his opponent could conceivably have which would cause him to make such a big raise at a critical time. Arnold had not been overly aggressive up to that point, so Sykes had to fear he was beat.
A few minutes went by and Sykes finally decided his hand was too strong to fold. He quietly announced “call.” The winning hand was tabled by Arnold and Sykes stormed away after suffering every poker player’s nightmare, which is to play great poker for many hours only to see everything lost due to a single decision on one hand.
2nd Place – The runner up was Todd Arnold. The fact he did not win was a bit of a surprise, considering Arnold enjoyed a big chip lead when heads-up play began. Arnold also had a stellar poker background that would have made him a favorite over just about any player in the tournament, given the situation. Instead, the poker player and coach from Ft. Lauderdale had to settle for the bridesmaid payout, totaling $16,366 due to a crippling run of bad cards and misfortune during the final stages of the tournament. Arnold is known as the creator of an online coaching site and poker training video. He has also written for Card Player Magazine.
Arnold started out with a 5 to 1 chip lead over his rival, Lyons. But Lyons managed to double up three times and took the chip lead. In an incredible reversal of fortune, the final hand took place when Lyons was dealt . Arnold had . He flopped an outside straight draw when the board showed , but missed when two blanks hit the turn and river. Facing the dreaded situation where the only way he could win the pot was to bet and hope his opponent folded, Arnold did just that. But his bluff was called instantly and Lyons tabled his Q-9, good for trip nines. Lyons was declared the champion.
1st Place – The latest WSOP Circuit champion is Chris S. Lyons, from Kissimmee, FL. He is a 36-year-old executive for an energy company. This marked his second major tournament victory. Lyons’ previous tournament victory took place at the Marbella Poker Open, held in Spain in 2010.
Lyons earned a well-deserved $26,480 in prize money. He was also presented with the gold ring, which is the ultimate token of achievement given for winning a WSOP Circuit event. This was his first WSOP-related tournament victory.
Lyons joined three previous winners Reed Zhao (Event 1), James Giraldo (Event 2), and “Tampa Bay Ray” El Cuedo (Event 3). They are leaders in the point race for the top player at this inaugural Palm Beach series. The poker player who accumulates the most overall points receives a pre-paid entry into the $1 million 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held in May at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
This year, all players on the WSOP Circuit can accumulate points which are used to qualify towards the WSOP Circuit National Championship tournament, held in May 2011 in Las Vegas. The $1 million 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.
The 2010-2011 World Series of Poker Circuit schedule which includes all upcoming tour stops and dates can be viewed HERE.