The top WSOP players were celebrating their skills and rewards this
week. Pat Poels, a software developer turned pro player from Arizona
beat a field of 699 to take the Omaha Hi-Low Eight or Better event,
and playing in only his third land-based poker tournament, nightclub
owner Issac Galazan won the 6-handed No Limit Hold'em event, both
at the Rio Pavilion Convention Centre.
Poels earned $270,100, a record first prize for a land-based Omaha
High-Low tournament, and the coveted gold bracelet. Galazan, a.k.a.
"The General" and "Issac G," outlasted a field
of 548 players to collect the first place prize of $315,125 and the
gold bracelet.
Poels (37) quit his software development job in April to play poker
full time.
The final winners in the $1500 Limit Omaha High-Low Eight-or-Better
Final Table were:
- Pat Poels Mesa, Arizona $270,100
- John Lukas Las Vegas, Nevada $139,870
- Jeff Duvall London, England $77,170
- Bahram Kianfar Palm Desert, California $67,525
- Dan Heimiller Plymouth, Michigan $57,875
- Jim Meehan Minneapolis, Minnesota $48,230
- Darrell Dicken Waterloo, Iowa $38,585
- Boris Shats Los Angeles, California $28,940
- Minh Nguyen Lake Elsinore, California $19,290
- Pascal Perrault Paris, France $10,610
In the No Limit Hold'em event, Galazan staged a major upset in defeating highly experienced UK player Harry Demetriou in a heads up game that lasted only 12 hands.
Final able results for this event were:
- Issac Galazan Bangkok, Thailand $315,125
- Harry Demetriou London, England $163,850
- Tommy Grimes Houston, Texas $85,705
- David Singer Marmaroneck, New York $75,625
- Antonio Esfandiari San Francisco, California $63,020
- David Barnes London, England $50,415