3,142 seniors (ages 50 and above) joined the $1,000 buy-in Seniors No Limit Hold'em Championship of the 2010 World Series of Poker, which brought the total prize pool to $2.8 Million with 324 players taking a piece of the pot.
The big winner was 78 year old retiree Harold Angle of Sun City, Florida, who won the biggest seniors poker event in the history of the WSOP, and claimed his first career WSOP gold bracelet, the Gold Eagle Trophy and $487,994. The famous “Golden Eagle” trophy, which is engraved with the winner’s name(s) is a keepsake that is passed forward from champion to champion, similar to the tradition of the Stanley Cup in the National Hockey League.
Harold Angle was the eldest of the nine players at the final table with some of the ones in their 50s "young" enough to be his children.
Harold Angle was nearly eliminated in Day One of the tournament when he showed 400 chips left from his 3,000 starting stack. He event told his son-in-law at the rail that he was going to be out soon. As fate would have it, he would play three days more, and end up as the champion.
The runner up was Michael Minetti from Las Vegas, Nevada. who marked his seventh time to cash in a WSOP event, and won $301,839.
The third-place finisher was John Woo from Henderson, Nevada, who had the chip lead during most of the final table, but suffered a brutal final hour during which he went from chip leader to the rail, busting out at third and winning $213,612.
The fourth-place finisher was casino dealer Eric Stemp from Boulder City, Nevada, who marked his first cash at the WSOP, winning $154,624.
The fifth-place finisher was retired FBI special agent Daniel Camillo from Las Vegas, Nevada, who marked his first WSOP cash, winning $113,225.
The sixth-place finisher was Preston Derden from Houston, Texas, who has cashed 10 times in WSOP-related events, such as WSOP Circuit tournaments, but this is his biggest poker win ever with $83,872.
The seventh-place finisher was Ernest “Jack” Ward from Gulfport, Missouri, who has several WSOP and WSOP Circuit cashes, winning $62,833 in this event.
The eighth-place finisher was school teacher Carlos Pianelli from Irvine, Califronia, who won the Teacher of the Year award for his outstanding work with children in South Central Los Angeles. In fact, Carlos Pianelli used the $500 prize he was given by the local school board to enter this poker tournament, which gave him a return of $47,591.
The ninth-place finisher was Jay Hong from Riverside, California, who made his second WSOP cash and got paid $36,450.
One of the most interesting stories at this year’s Seniors Championship was of 60-year old accountant Jeanne Nelson from St. Paul, Minnesota. A year ago, she was diagnosed with cancer, and stated that playing the WSOP was on her "Bucket List." Her husband bought her seat into the tournament as a birthday gift to make her dream come true. Not only did she get to play for the first tine in the WSOP, but she also cashed in 12th place, winning $28,221.
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