PokerStars.net Empire State Hold'em Championships Wrap Up at Turning Stone

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PokerStars.net Empire State Hold'em Championships Wrap Up at Turning Stone 0001

The PokerStars.net Empire State Hold’em Championships wrapped up a few days ago after several successful events at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York. After 1,966 entrants took to action over the course of the series, a whopping prize pool of $941,985 was created! That’s not bad considering the buy-ins were smaller, ranging from $180 up to the $2,500 Main Event.

One of the unique things that Turning Stone offers to its players is the ability to play at the casino at age 18. Back before they were well known players in the poker community, some of the best young grinders of today cut their teeth at Turning Stone, and more specifically at the Empire State Hold’em Championships, which have been yearly since 2003. It has been one of the best smaller-stakes tournament series since its inception, and now with PokerStars.net having sponsored the event, things are really looking even better.

"The PokerStars.net Empire State Hold’em Championships was a great series for us," said Jason DiBenedetto, director of poker operations for Turning Stone. "We were very pleased with the overall turnout for the event. PokerStars.net was a great sponsor for the event and it was a pleasure working with their team. From the PokerStars.net players’ party in our Lava Nightclub through the Main Event, I think players enjoy having a sponsor like PokerStars.net that brings any regular event up to the next level."

Among some of the names to make the trip to the middle of New York this year were Christian Harder, Shawn Busse (defending champion ESHC Main Event), Tom Marchese, Andrew Chen and Matt Vance. Harder took second ($69,222) in the $2,500 Main Event, Marchese took fourth ($31,117), Chen got seventh ($13,860) and Vance placed tenth ($8,004). Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso was also on hand to play and ran her Bigslick Boot Camp course prior to the Main Event. She was joined by fellow team member and husband Chad Brown along with Kevin Saul and Olivier Busquet on the felt, although none of them could post any big results. Let’s take a look at the results.

Event No. 1: $240 NLHE Deepstack Turbo

EntrantsPrizepool
163$34,230
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Tim Pink$5,114
*2Eric Beck$4,363
*3Shawn Johnson$4,363
*4Stan Sadinsky$4,363
*5Shaun Hartlin$4,363
6Carl Pion$1,388
7Jim DeRue$1,123
8Dennis Durkin$964
9Andy Cohen$806
10Joe Nertney$648

Event No. 3: $240 NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
122$25,620
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Joshua Giller$4,964
*2Robert Miller$4,964
*3Jeffrey Harter$4,964
4Nicholas Thuell$1,953
5James Kellish$1,396
6Daniel Dizenzo$$1,060
7Kyle Caminiti$840
8Robert Szweczyk$722
9James Sansone$604
10Timothy Coady$485

Event No. 5: $1,085 NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
39$39,000
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Leslie Hardy$11,728
*2Duncan Jones$11,727
3Shawn Busse$5,296
4Kyle Smallgange$3,783
5David Kent$3,026
6David Fischer$2,270

Event No. 7: $240 + $100 NLHE Bounty

EntrantsPrizepool
147$29,400
PlacePlayerPrize
1Stephen Caruso$9,060
2James Poper$5,504
3Silvio Deubeis$3,379
4Andrew Zeeman$2,353
5Jason Taylor$1,683
6David Harris$1,278
7Curtis Bailey$1,012
8David Hollenberg$870
9Eric Beck$727
10William George$585

Notable Finishes: Rich Ryan (12th - $442)

Event No. 10: $350 NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
612$183,600
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Matthew Smith$20,003
*2Douglas Conant$13,807
*3Jeremy Kozub$13,807
*4Darrin Bracken$13,807
*5David Harris$13,807
*6James Willey, Jr.$13,807
*7David Battaglia$13,807
*8Jeffrey Kocz$13,807
9James Sansone$2,850
10Brian Jhohnson$2,138

Event No. 12: $2,500 PokerStars Main Event

EntrantsPrizepool
175$402,500
PlacePlayerPrize
1Adam Hui$115,722
2Christian Harder$69,222
3Jonathan Dimmij$44,196
4Thomas Marchese$31,117
5Philip Gisiano$22,449
6Michael Liscio$17,139
7Andrew Chen$13,860
8Wendall Barnes$11,908
9Joshua Giller$9,956
10Matthew Vance$8,004

Notable Finishes: Jared Vengrin (20th - $4,100)

Event No. 14: $340 Suvivor NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
72$21,600
PlacePlayerPrize
1Nicholas Banker$2,860
2Jeanne Nelson$2,860
3David Grana$2,860
4Carl Dettelis$2,502
5Sean Hegarty$2,380
6Michael Bailey$2,380
7Barney Trembetzky$2,380
8Ron Miller$2,380
9Shaun Hartlin$350

Event No. 15: $550 Deepstack NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
79$39,500
PlacePlayerPrize
1Travell Thomas$13,027
2Cherish Andrews$7,280
3Albert Smith$4,406
4Daniel Demeo$3,640
5Marcus Gray$2,682
6Calvin Cruz Ventura$2,107
7Steven Stahursky$1,724
8Howard Kass$1,341
9Carl Dettlis$1,150
10Ryan Kass$958

Event No. 16: $255 NLHE Bounty

EntrantsPrizepool
117$20,475
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Andrew Priore$4,335
*2Brandon Spicer$3,200
*3Raymond D’Argenio$3,200
*4Michael Emmert$3,200
5Charles Thomas$1,172
6Sean Wallace$890
7John Shultz$705
8John Dunn$606
9James Kellish$506
10Marylynn Giacobbe$407

Event No. 17: $240 Suvivor NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
36$7,560
PlacePlayerPrize
1William Patterson$1,700
2Pete Cardarelli$1,200
3Timothy Brit$1,095
4Terry Evans$1,095
5Thomas Trusilo$1,094
6Justin Rebollo$800

Event No. 19: $340 NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
63$18,900
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Gary Capoccia$6,233
*2David Wallace$2,796
*3Jeffrey Black$2,795
4Matthew Gordon$1,742
5John Shultz$1,283
6Lucio Procopio$1,008
7Kirk Fisher$825
8Jeffrey Emmert$642
9Donald Spicer$550
10Roland Hayes$459

Event No. 121: $550 NLHE

EntrantsPrizepool
179$89,500
PlacePlayerPrize
1Brian Zimcosky$24,731
2Jason Kufs$16,392
3Andrew Bechtold$9,827
4Greg Pogarsky$6,919
5Travell Thomas$4,992
6Sean Wallace$3,811
7Jarrod Tavares$3,082
8Michael Pisani$2,648
9Victoria Larkin$2,214
10Melissa McGinnis$1,780

Event No. 23: $180 NLHE High Heel Poker Tour

EntrantsPrizepool
46$6,900
PlacePlayerPrize
1Tracy Rouse$2,310
2Christine Hirsch$1,440
3Kathy Lamandia$937
4Kim Perrella$669
5Lisa Gauthier$535
6Marcia Roddell$402
7Barbara Wampole$200
8Raman Brar$200

Event No. 24: $240 NLHE Deepstack Turbo

EntrantsPrizepool
116$23,200
PlacePlayerPrize
*1Matthew Testa$1,501
*2Peter Cardarelli$1,501
*3Joseph Siracusa$1,501
*4Justin Howland$1,501
*5Marcia Riddell$1,250
*6Christopher Nicolo$1,250
*7Sophear Ung$1,000
*8John Ostwald$1,000
*9Bruce Bardin$1,000
*10Dan Fignar$1,000

* - Denotes a chop

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