Valley Center, CA (March 19, 2011) – Depending on how you look at it, Kevin Hanson occupies either one of the most annoying jobs in pro football, or is a savior to millions of viewers who struggle to keep up with the game.

Remember that “yellow line” that runs across the football field?  That’s the first down marker.  Team offenses try to make first downs by crossing the line.  Of course, the line is invisible to players and fans alike who are actually present at the game.  But millions of viewers watching on television are able to keep up with downs and yardage, all thanks to the high-tech imposition of the “yellow line.”

Sitting high in the press box at the controls of most San Diego football games is Hanson, who is a 40-year-old television producer who works major sporting events, including pro football.  When he calls himself “the yellow line” guy, everyone in the universe instantly knows what he does.

Hanson crossed another line at the most recent World Series of Poker Circuit event, held at Harrah’s Rincon, north of San Diego.  This time, Hanson crossed “the finish line” with all the chips and collected $19,852 in prize money.  He was also presented with his first gold ring, the coveted prize awarded to all WSOP Circuit tournament champions.

Hanson staged a remarkable come-from behind victory in the $345 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament.  He was low on chips during much of the two-day event.  He arrived at the final table ranked eight of ten players.  But Hanson played near-perfect poker and won his first poker title.

This was the fifth of ten gold ring events held at this year’s Harrah’s Rincon series.  The total prize pool amounted to $96,321.  The top 37 finishers collected prize money (two players split 36th place).  A complete list of all in-the-money finishers for gold ring Event o can be seen here.

After most of the starting field of 331 players was eliminated on Day One, survivors returned for Day Two action.  Final table play began on a Saturday afternoon inside the packed Rincon Pavilion.  It was a busy afternoon of poker and basketball, as the final table was played during the second round of several March Madness games.

The ten finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1:  Ron Phipps (Santa Clarita, CA) – 253,000 in chips
Seat 2:  Emily Olmstead (Escondido, CA) – 330,000 in chips
Seat 3:  Matt Curlee (Claremore, OK) – 406,000 in chips
Seat 4:  Kevin Hanson (San Diego, CA) – 167,000 in chips
Seat 5:  Chris Farmer (San Diego, CA) – 120,000 in chips
Seat 6:  Gail Czyszczon (San Diego, CA) – 660,000 in chips
Seat 7:  “Rocky” Karimi (San Diego, CA) – 500,000 in chips
Seat 8:  Richard Aluzzi (Los Angeles, CA) – 168,000 in chips
Seat 9:  William Pinney (San Clemente, CA) – 115,000 in chips
Seat 10:  Roland Freeland (Tucson, AZ) – 673,000 in chips

Final table action began at 4 pm and ended at 8:30 pm.  Players were eliminated in the following order.

Tenth Place:  Chris Farmer was the first player to exit from the final ten.  He won a WSOP Circuit gold ring last year here at Harrah’s Rincon.  Farmer also has four WSOP final table appearances in Las Vegas.

Ninth Place:  The official final table began nine-handed.  Roland Freeland was its first casualty.  The 26-year-old Tucson, AZ-based poker player has enjoyed some success in both live and online play.  This marked his first time to make it to a WSOP-related final table. 

Eighth Place:  William Pinney finished in eighth place.  He is an electrician from San Clemente, CA.  Pinney is a U.S. Navy veteran, a father of three college graduates, and a grandfather.  He has ten tournament cashes and two wins on his poker resume, including a third-place finish in an earlier WSOP Circuit event here at Harrah’s Rincon. 

Seventh Place:  The seventh-place finisher was Richard Aluzzi, from Los Angeles.  He is a 47-year-old controller.  Aluzzi is a poker rounder who plays in most of LA’s poker rooms.  His poker goal is to win a WSOP gold bracelet.  Aluzzi picked up some confidence with his showing in this tournament, overcoming more than 300 players.  This was Aluzzi’s second time to cash this year at Rincon.  He has 18 major cashes on his tournament resume.

Sixth Place:  Matt Curlee, from Claremore, OK ended up in sixth place.  He is active in the U.S. Army, where he has served for nearly 20 years.  In fact, Curlee hopes to play poker professionally once he leaves the military.  He has enjoyed two major cashes in online poker tournaments, which paid more than six figures.  This was his best WSOP finish, so far.

Fifth Place:  Ron Phipps finished in fifth place.  He is an engineer from Santa Clarita, CA.  Phipps was previously a paintball player.  He competed for 13 years, and played professionally for three years, earning a number of honors.  Phipps is married and has a two-year-old daughter.

Fourth Place:  Emily Olmstead was one of two ladies who made it to the final table.  She ended up finishing in fourth place.  Olmstead is a proud grandmother from nearby Escondido, CA.  She has three previous cashes in major poker tournaments, including two final table appearances in the California Ladies State Poker Championship, in 2006 and 2007.  This was Olmstead’s highest WSOP-related finish, to date.

Third Place:  Gail Czyszczon (that’s no typo) won the contest for the most unpronounceable name in all of poker.  She also nearly won a gold ring.  But Czyszczon went card dead when play became three-handed and had to settle for third place.  She is a writer from San Diego.  In fact, Czyszczon hopes to write about poker, and someday appearing at the final table of the WSOP Main Event.  She has previously cashed in a number of small daily tournaments in Las Vegas and Southern California.  This marked her first time to cash on the WSOP Circuit, which was good for $8,955.

Second Place:  The runner up was former gold ring winner Freddy “Rocky” Karimi (a.k.a. Farhad Karimi), from San Diego.  He won his victory two years ago in a $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event here at Rincon.  Karimi’s attempt to win a second WSOP Circuit title came up just short. 

When heads-up play began, Karimi was down by about a 2 to 1 margin.  But he won a few early hands and drew close to even with this rival.  Then, the final hand of the tournament came about 20 minutes into the duel:

Karimi – 9h 8c
Hanson – Th 7d
Flop – Td 9d 8s
Turn – 6d
River – 3c

All the chips went in on the turn.  Karimi pushed with two pair – nines and eights.  Hanson called with a straight and a re-draw to a diamond flush.  A blank hit on the river, which locked up the victory for Hanson.  As the second-place finisher, Karimi received $12,275.

First Place:  Kevin Hanson won his first WSOP Circuit gold ring.  His only previous WSOP-related cash was in a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event in Las Vegas, back in 2008, where he finished in 97th place.  Hanson also has a number of smaller cashes throughout Sothern California.  But this was his biggest poker prize, to date.

Hanson is 40-years-old and is married.  He lives in San Diego.  Hanson joined the list of previous winners here at Harrah’s Rincon, which includes:

Event 1 – Alexandru Masek defeated 391 players and won $22,794 ($345 NLHE)
Event 2 – “Choctaw” Kruger defeated 149 players and won $17,505 ($550 NLHE)
Event 3 – Matthew Ardo 74 players and won $5,186 ($345 OMHL)
Event 4 – Michael Ippolito defeated 81 players and won $4,584 ($345 HORSE)
Event 5 – Kevin Hanson defeated 331 players and won $19,852 ($345 NLHE)

With five of ten gold ring events now completed, Brian Peterson from San Diego, CA remains alone as point leader in the best-all around race (with 75 points).  He cashed again in this tournament (14th), and now has three cashes so far – 2nd, 4th, and 14th, which puts him ahead of all five previous five winners.  The player who accumulates the most overall points in the ten gold ring tournaments 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.

At least eleven players from the San Diego series will qualify for automatic seats in the $1 million WSOP Circuit National Championship tournament.  Qualifiers include the $1,500 buy-in Main Event winner.  The best all-around player (point leader) will also win a seat.  And, the nine players who make the final table of the Regional Championship will automatically qualify for a chance at the $1 million, plus a WSOP gold bracelet.  This is unquestionably the best chance for many poker players to make history and win the most coveted prize in all of poker.

The final event of this year’s Harrah’s Rincon series runs March 27-30.  The $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Championship will be televised on the Versus Network.  This will be the third of four WSOP Circuit Regional Championships held this season.  Satellites are being held at Rincon to earn a discounted seat into one of Southern California’s most prestigious tournaments of the year.

Harrah’s Rincon is the eleventh WSOP Circuit stop of the season, following well-attended tournaments held in several other locations throughout the U.S.  The current 2010-2011 season includes a total of 15 WSOP Circuit stops.

All poker tournaments take place inside the special events center, located on the main floor of specious and luxurious Harrah’s Rincon.  In addition to gold ring events, there more than 20 second-chance tournaments are on the schedule, as well as single table and mega satellites.  Cash games run around the clock inside the Harrah’s Rincon Poker Room.  To see the complete Harrah’s Rincon tournament schedule, please click here.

The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Rincon continues through March 30th.