965 poker players joined Event #51 of the 2010 World Series of Poker to compete for a prize pool of over $2.6 million. 90 places were paid with the biggest chunk of the pie going to  27 year old poker pro Ryan Welch of Henderson, Nevada, who won his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a first place prize of $559,371. “It feels really amazing. It really hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will, in a while. But it’s the most amazing thing. It’s the goal I have always had as a poker player,” explains Ryan Welch . Coming in second was 26 year old poker pro Jon Eaton of Las Vegas, Nevada, who is actually a good friend of Ryan Welch . “Obviously, Jon is a great player. We know a lot about of each other. We play together all the time, even online. I could not have asked for a better final table and to play heads up against each other was really special,” explains Ryan Welch . Jon Eaton won $344,830 for his second place finish. The third-place finisher was Guillaume Darcou...

3,128 players signed up for Event 47 of the 2010 World Series of Poker , a $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament to compete for a pot worth over $2.8 Million. 324 players received a piece of the pot with the biggest winner being a 21 year old poker pro Shawn Busse of Massapequa, New York. Shawn Busse won his first WSOP gold bracelet in his 16th try this year to win a WSOP tournament. Shawn Busse failed to cash in the first 15, but in this one, he cashed the top prize of $485,791, which is certainly enough to make up for his other losses. His family had not been too fond of him taking up poker at the young age of 21, but it's really what Shawm Busse wanted to do, and a WSOP gold bracelet and almost half a million dollars should earn the nod of approval from his parents. The runner up was Owen Crowe from Darmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada.who markled his eighth time to cash at the WSOP to win $300,494. Owen Crowe ’s most notable previous achievement was a 15th-place fin...

3,097 poker players competed for a piece of a $4.1 Million prize pool in Event 45 of the 2 010 World Series of Poker , a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em. With 324 places paid,  some of the big poker names and former WSOP gold bracelet winners who cashed in include: Dutch Boyd (15th), Ayaz Mahmood (55th), John “Razor” Phan (59th), Berry Johnston (121st), Tom Schneider (128th), John Juanda (297th), and Jeffrey Papola (308th). Of course, the big payouts were awarded to the top players who made the final table. The biggest winner of all was 24 year old poker pro Jesse Rockowitz from Petaluma, California, who won his first ever WSOP gold bracelet and a huge payout of $721,373. This event was the third WSOP event ever joined by Jesse Rockowitz , and according to official records, he now has one WSOP gold bracelet, one final table appearance and two cashes, finishing ITM at 86th place in a previous No Limit Hold'em Event this year. The runner up was 24 year old poker pro Ra...

 First of all, I would like to thank KC Montero of The KC Show for awarding me a seat to play The Filipino Poker Tour Php 5 Million Guaranteed at the Metro Card Club just last weekend. The KC Show was awarding a seat to someone who could submit a picture showing how happy you would be if you won Php5 Million Pesos. Apparently, my picture won! But, of course, just to ease the mind of KC Montero - I also gave him some details on my poker talent, where I've won and even threw in some references. Then, if that wasn't enough, I promised KC that he would get a 40% share of whatever I win. Eventually, he agreed to even just 30%. KC said he needed new shoes. I said I hope we win more than just for shoes. Anyway, this is the winning picture. I played on Day 1a, and kept at pace with the average stack for the first two rounds. I played carefully, and avoiding trouble early on. I even folded a small flush just because I felt it was still too early to call a 10,000 raise with a sta...

2,521 players signed for Event 42 of the 2010 World Series of Poker, which was a $1,500 buy-in No Limit Hold'em tournament. The total prize pool went up to $3.4 Million with 270 players taking a piece of that pie. The biggest prize of $604,222 and the WSOP gold bracelet went to Dean Hamrick , a 25 year old poker pro from East Lansing, Michigan, who was popularly known as the tenth-placer in a previous WSOP Main Event, failing to make the bright lights and fame of the WSOP main event final table. According to official records, Dean Hamrick now has one win, two final table appearances, and eight cashes at the WSOP. He also has three WSOP Circuit cashes. His career WSOP earnings now total $1,366,534. Dean Hamrick is close friends with defending WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada , who cheered for him by the rail. The runner up was Tom O'Neal ,  a 61 year old math teacher for special needs children who hails from League City, Texas. Tom O'Neal received a nice payout of...

Event #35 of the 2010 World Series of Poker is the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship , which saw a maximum 256 players play heads up with the top 32 getting a piece of the $2.4 Million prize pool. Eventually, 38 year old poker pro Ayaz Mahmood originally from Bangladesh became the winner of the $10,000 buy-in Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em Championship after a gruelling 6 hour heads-up final against German-born poker pro Ernst Schmejkal . Ayaz Mahmood won nine straight heads-up matches spread out over four days and night to win  his first career WSOP gold bracelet and $626,674. Ayaz Mahmood is the first Bangladesh-born player ever to win in the WSOP. Ernst Schmejkal , who ended up finishing second, collected a nice consolation prize of $386,900. The top eight  finishers who won six of seven heads-up matches include:  Jason Somerville from Stony Brook, New York, who made his eighth career cash at the WSOP and was paid $219,969. Alexander Kostri...