On a board of 
Antoine McNeal had led out for 3,000 and his opponent raised to 10,000. After taking about 2-minutes McNeal made the call.
The 
landed on the river and McNeal announced all-in putting his opponent who eventually folded to the test.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
138,200
12,700
|
12,700 |
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is at the Horseshoe Hammond to live report both the $1,700 Main Event and $2,200 High Roller; however, those are just two of more than a dozen gold ring events that will have taken place over the past week. As such, we thought we’d profile some of the preliminary tournaments and those who struck it big.
In Event #5: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha, 121 entrants created a $62,315 prize pool that was paid out to the top 19 players. Among those to cash but fall shy of the final table were Mike Shin (11th - $1,195), Peter Kelly (15th - $1,034), and Elan Weiner (19th - $849).
In the end, it was 56-year-old Victor Skrobacz of Long Grove, Illinois coming out on top to win $16,977 and his first ring.
“It feels great,” Skrobacz said after his win, “I’ve played poker for a long time, played in WSOP events but have never cashed so this is amazing.”
He continued: “Confidence in your game is so important and it feels amazing getting this win, it was a wonderful run … I’m very thankful to have a supporting wife, son and also very grateful to still have both of my parents. I just won a good chunk of money so I’ll probably give some to my parents, son, play the Main, you know spread it around.”
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Victor Skrobacz | La Grange Park, Illinois | $16,977 |
| 2 | Shawn Quinn | Middleton, Wisconsin | $10,492 |
| 3 | Gerald Grogan | N/A | $7,299 |
| 4 | Pawel Andrzejewski | Park Ridge, Illinois | $5,205 |
| 5 | Howard Simon | Chicago, Illinois | $3,807 |
| 6 | Donald Walsh | Park Ridge, Illinois | $2,858 |
| 7 | David Hoffenberg | Skokie, Illinois | $2,204 |
| 8 | Timothy Cherep | Chicago, Illinois | $1,747 |
| 9 | Michael Moncek | Chicago, Illinois | $1,424 |
A call of clock was heard from an outer table and John Farley was the one waiting on the decision of his opponent who was deep in the tank.
The dangerous board read 
, the pot was about 40,000 and Farley had put out a bet of 20,000 on the river which was enough to put his opponent all in. When the floor arrived after a couple of moments of waiting, the clock countdown was administered. At the ten second warning, the player stabbed his remaining stack into the middle for the call.
Farley turned over the 
for a small flush but it was enough as his opponent angrily showed the and said "That's the worsr call in the history of poker" before walking off in frustration as Farley collected the nice pot to his big stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
130,000
130,000
|
130,000 |
Pratap Golla raised under-the-gun to 2,200 and Ryan Jones called next to act while the rest of the table got out of the way,
The dealer spread a flop of 
and Golla continued for 2,200 which Jones quickly called.
The turn was the 
and Golla fired once agian, this time for 3,500 which Jones matched.
The river was the 
and Golla was not slowing down this time with a bet of 11,100, pushing Jones out of the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
42,100 | |
|
34,400
30,600
|
30,600 |
The action began with the under-the-gun player raising to 1,800 which the player next to him called before Mohan Devarapalli raised all-in from the small blind for 6,400 and both players called.
The flop came 
and the under-the-gun player bet 7,000 into the dry side pot and his opponent called.
The 
fell on the turn and he continued to fire once again for 10,500 and his opponent snap folded, forcing both his hand and Devarapalli's to be tabled.
Under-the-gun: 
Mohan Devarapalli: 
Devarapalli was way ahead with his full house, sixes full of eights and the 
on the river gave him a bigger full house to triple up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
21,800 |
The players are now on their 60-minute dinner break.
Level: 10
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 1,000
Mike Shin was seen getting up from the table with all of his chips exhausted as his losing hand was swept away by the dealer.
The winning hand of 
of Kevin Saul was showing on a board that had ran out 
to be enough to give him the remainder of Shin's chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
67,000
67,000
|
67,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
In a three-way flop of 
there was roughly 21,500 in the middle and the action was checked to Natan Chaitin on the button who shipped all of his 36,700 in the middle. After thinking it over for about 30-seconds the player in the big blind called and the third player mucked his hand.
Big Blind: 
Natan Chaitin: 
Both players had an overpair but Chaitin was in the lead with his jacks and the board completed with the on the turn and on the river giving Chaitin a set of jacks.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
94,900 |
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is at the Horseshoe Hammond to live report both the $1,700 Main Event and $2,200 High Roller; however, those are just two of more than a dozen gold ring events that will have taken place over the past week. As such, we thought we’d profile some of the preliminary tournaments and those who struck it big.
In Event #6: $400 Monster Stack, 502 runners created a $165,660 prize pool. Among the notables to cash were David To (7th - $4,886), Mike Shanahan (16th - $1,645), poker author Jim McManus (19th - $1,380), Nick Pupillo (33rd - $794), Maurice Hawkins (38th - $660), and Mike Shin (48th - $616).
In the end, Brian McDaniel bested John Colella in heads-up play to win the title for $32,864 and his second gold ring.
“It’s nice to get the monkey off my back,” said McDaniel after his win. “I’ve had a lot of deep runs at final tables but my closet to winning a ring happened two-weeks after I won my first one when I finished second, so this feels great.”
He continued: “I had an absolute heater once we got to the last two tables. I had jacks against tens, I had kings against aces and spiked a king, I cracked kings twice, it was insane."
Taking the chip lead into the final table was different from his last final table appearance just two days prior McDaniel explained, “In the last event I played I had my aces cracked with two tables left so I went into the final table middle stacked and it cuffed my play … Coming into this final table as the chip leader and could play my game with a wide range.”
McDaniel concluded: “This one feels great. I really needed this win/ Michael Esquivel was giving me crap yesterday about my fifth-place finish and how I haven’t been able to close it out, so this win just makes it that much better.”
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian McDaniel | Chicago, Illinois | $32,864 |
| 2 | John Colella | Oak Park, Illinois | $20,310 |
| 3 | Thomas Morris | Whiteland, Indiana | $14,885 |
| 4 | Michael Alexander | Chicago, Illinois | $11,049 |
| 5 | David Kowal | Saint Charles, Illinois | $8,308 |
| 6 | Charlie Taxman | Highland Park, Illinois | $6,330 |
| 7 | David To | Hoffman Estates, Illinois | $4,886 |
| 8 | Brian Pachciarz | Indianapolis, Indiana | $3,823 |
| 9 | Anastas Mukoski | Crown Point, Indiana | $3,032 |
