2007 Caesars Las Vegas Poker Tournament - WSOP Circuit Event

$5150 Circuit Championship Event
Day: 3
Event Info

2007 Caesars Las Vegas Poker Tournament - WSOP Circuit Event

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
aj
Prize
$506,176
Event Info
Buy-in
$5,000
Prize Pool
$1,629,600
Entries
336
Level Info
Level
17
Blinds
10,000 / 20,000
Ante
3,000

Player Bios: Vasile Buboi

Seat 2. Vasile Buboi has some small tournament wins in Vegas and Los Angeles, and the peak of his poker career was a 4th place finish in a $2,500 championship event at the Bicycle Casino in 2005. As the owner of an aerospace manufacturing company, he's probably too busy to play a lot of tournaments.

Tags: Vasile Buboi

Hands #5-6

Hand #5 - Eric Davis has the button in seat 5, Pechie raises to 22,000, Carroll reraises from the cutoff to 62,000, and Pechie folds. Carroll takes the pot.

Hand #6 - Steve Wong has the button in seat 6, and Buboi raises to 29,000, winning the blinds and antes.

Player Bios: Justin Pechie

Seat 3. Justin Pechie finished 3rd at a WSOP final table last summer, and won a preliminary event at the L.A. Poker Classic in February. He has over $350,000 in career live tournament winnings, but he's in a tough spot, with a slightly-below-average stack and sitting out of position to the chip leader.

Tags: Justin Pechie

Player Bios: Cory Carroll

Seat 4. Cory Carroll doesn't have much of a live tournament record ($56,000 in career earnings), but this Canadian online player has reached multiple final tables in the PokerStars Million tournaments. He has the chips on his side and has played a strong tournament so far.

Tags: Cory Carroll

Player Bios: Eric Davis

Seat 5. Eric Ray Davis is a local player from Henderson, Nevada, who lists his occupation as "rigger." This is his first cash in a championship event, but he did finish 2nd in a $1,000 no-limit hold'em event at Bellagio last spring, earning $26,435.

Tags: Eric Davis

Player Bios: Steve Wong

Seat 6. Steve Wong became just the 20th person to ever win over a million dollars in Bellagio tournaments -- a feat he accomplished in the span of just two months late last year. That includes a second-place finish ($542,700) in the WPT Festa Al Lago last October. He finished 2006 ranked #14 in the Poker Player of the Year standings, and he starts the final table with plenty of chips and good position against the other big stacks.

Tags: Steve Wong

Player Bios: Michelle Law

Seat 7. Michelle Law is a local player and a regular in the Caesars Palace poker room. The only tournament cash on her record is a 6th-place finish at the $1,000 no-limit hold'em ladies event at the recent L.A. Poker Classic. Poker generally doesn't favor those with homefield advantage, but with only 192,000 in chips, she'll take every edge she can get.

Tags: Michelle Law

Player Bios: David "The Dragon" Pham

Seat 9. David Pham is the most notable final tablist, currently ranked #10 in the Poker Player of the Year standings. Pham is a perennial on that list, and a victory here will move him into the #2 slot behind J.C. Tran. Pham has two WSOP bracelets, three WPT final tables, and over $5 million in career tournament earnings on his resume. He was a close second to Daniel Negreanu for the 2004 Player of the Year award.

Tags: David The Dragon Pham

Slow Start

The majority of final tables start out very slow. This one is no different. In the first six hands, there was only one flop seen as the players are reluctant to play a pot. With the blinds relatively small to chip stacks, there's no reason for players to get involved with big pots unless they have a big hand. This situation might be advantageous to pros such as David "The Dragon" Pham or shortstack Chad Brown, who can exploit the tentative play of the semi-pros and amateurs.

Tags: Chad Brown