WSOP Rookie Roundup: Recapping a First Summer in Vegas

July 21 2010, Donnie Peters

Back in May, PokerNews profiled eight players who would all be making their first foray into the World Series of Poker. Dan Kelly, Carter Phillips, Tom Marchese, Jim Collopy, Annette Obrestad, Jeff Sarwer, Ashton Griffin and Luke Schwartz were the eight selected by our team to make big splashes in their first-ever Series. Looking back on their performances, it looks to be a very successful summer for the rookie picks from PokerNews.

Kelly and Phillips both walked away with gold bracelets along with four cashes apiece. Collopy and Obrestad also cashed four times while Sarwer cashed three times. Marchese cashed twice and made one final table. In all, the group raked in $2,141,350 in prize money. Both Griffin and Schwartz failed to finish in the money in any event, but the big wins by Kelly and Phillips more than made up for their goose eggs.

Here’s a look at the group we selected and how they faired during their first WSOP.

Dan Kelly – 4 cashes for $1,338,609

• $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha: 62nd ($3,930)
• $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em: 33rd ($13,541)
• $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Shootout: 50th ($5,620)
• $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed: 1st ($1,315,518)

Carter Phillips – 4 cashes for $560,498

• $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed: 1st ($482,774)
• $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em: 48th ($9,529)
• $5,000 Ante Up for Africa Charity Event: 4th ($40,676)
• $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Hold’em: 483rd ($27,519)

Tom Marchese – 2 cashes for $144,300

• $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed: 24th ($21,036)
• $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em Championship: 6th ($123,264)

Jim Collopy – 4 cashes for $47,079

• $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo-8: 49th ($4,295)
• $2,500 Limit/No-Limit Hold’em: 26th ($8,372)
• $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Triple Chance: 50th ($10,333)
• $10,000 World Championship No-Limit Hold’em: 585th ($24,079)

Annette Obrestad – 4 cashes for $41,494

• $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em: 72nd ($10,497)
• $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Six-Handed: 126th ($4,782)
• $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Shootout: 11th ($13,654)
• $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha: 36th ($12,561)

Jeff Sarwer – 3 cashes for $9,370

• $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em: 290th ($1,864)
• $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Shootout: 32nd ($5,620)
• $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em: 300th ($1,886)

Ashton Griffin

• No cashes

Luke Schwartz

• No cashes

Out of the eight players, Collopy played the most events, but not by much. He played 30 events and Kelly played 29. Kelly, Phillips and Marchese were the only three winners of the bunch. Kelly was up over $1.1 million, Phillips nearly $500,000 and Marchese turned the small profit of right around $20,000. As for the other five, even despite his or her cashes, they all finished in the red. Griffin was the biggest loser, down over $175,000 in buy-ins over the Series. Overall though, the group profited over $1.2 million, which was heavily due to the big scores from Kelly and Phillips.

In our one profile with Phillips, we asked him to give us the heads up on any first-timer he thinks will have a big splash at the WSOP this year. Phillips mentioned Craig Bergeron. Although Bergeron only cashed twice, those two cashes were both very deep runs. He finished 3rd in the event that Phillips won for $189,661. He also came 11th in a $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event with a field of 2,521 players and scored $34,748. Those two scores had Bergeron up over $150,000 for the summer.

All in all, PokerNews picked some winners, and some big ones at that with Kelly and Phillips walking away with gold bracelets. Combining those two bracelets with four final tables, 21 in-the-money finishes, two Main Event cashes and over $1.2 million profit, we’d say it was a very successful group of rookies we picked out and we can’t wait to do it next year.

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