Poker Tournament Results

Rio Las Vegas Poker Tournament - WSOP Circuit Event

Dave Taylor

Tournament Report

David Taylor Cements WSOP Victory: Ohio concrete contractor attends Las Vegas convention, enters poker tournament, wins gold ring and $113,965 Most Las Vegas conventioneers leave town poorer than richer. In fact, only a small percentage of 'tourists' actually win money. The number of convention visitors who have come to the gambling capital of the world and have won a World Series of Poker event is likely zero - at least up until this day when a 35-year old concrete contractor stunned the poker world by winning his first-ever poker tournament. David Taylor, who plays mostly $20-40 limit hold'em in charity games back in Ohio, arrived in Las Vegas over the weekend to attend the National Ready Mix Association National Convention. He couldn't help but notice that the WSOP Circuit was taking place at the Rio Casino. How convenient. Taylor bypassed the chance to spend Saturday afternoon milling around cement mixers and listening to sales pitches in favor of a far more glamorous form of amusement. That turned out to be a wide decision, indeed. Taylor topped a highly-competitive field of 379 entries in the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event, which was the first WSOP circuit event to be played here in Las Vegas. Following two successful circuit stops in Atlantic City and San Diego, the Rio Las Vegas hosted WSOP Circuit number three. The final 36 players were paid, in amounts ranging from $1,471 up to $113,965 for first place. On Day Two, players returned for the final table and were eliminated in the following order: 9th Place - Mitch Mitchener arrived at the final table with the lowest chip stack, just 15,000. With blinds at 2,000-4,000 he had to make a decision very quickly. Unfortunately, Mitchener didn't catch a break on his initial 'all in' raise and failed to double up. Mitchener, who won a limit hold'em tournament at the Legends of Poker recently in Los Angeles could do no better than 9th place in this event. He received $7,353. 8th Place - Robert Roter, a 51-year-old poker pro from Southern California has a large number of impressive tournament finishes - including payouts at the California State Poker Championship, the Bellagio, and the Commerce. He arrived at the final table tied for third in chips, but was never able to gain enough momentum to be a force. On his biggest hand of the night Roter was dealt 10-10 and enjoyed a slight pre-flop lead against Dan Pugliese, holding two overcards -- A-J. But the board went from bad to worse and finally showed A-J-K-J-A for any number of full-house combinations. Roter sure didn't like seeing five overcards and the board double-paired. It was massive overkill. Roter went out a short time later and collected $11,029 for 8th place. 7th Place - Blair Rodman, a longtime poker pro and gambler (and soon to be poker author - he is writing a book on tournament strategy) has been at many final tables. Unfortunately, this one would turn out to be a disappointment. Rodman came in vulnerable in the chip count, and was desperate to make something happen. He tried to pull off a bluff from the blind with a re-raise (holding J-5) after Dan Pugliese made a standard raise from the button with A-K. This time Pugliese had the goods. The A-K held up and Rodman hit the rail at the 7th-place finisher - good for $14,705. 6th Place - Larry Tull, who works in management from Irvine, CA, was eliminated about an hour into Day Two. He made his final stand with A-J which was steamrolled by David Taylor's A-K. A Jack was about the only card that could save Tull, which failed to make an appearance. Taylor's A-K played for high card and Tull was gone. He earned $18,382. 5th Place - Iranian-born Sean Habibian, who now lives in Las Vegas, is a 33-year-old professional gambler. Habibian, mostly a middle-limit player, made a nice run by moving up four spots on the money list. Eighth in chips coming into the finale, Habibian looked to be in a good spot to move even higher when he was dealt A-Q suited and made an 'all in' raise. However, this proved to be a mistake as his hand was dominated by A-K. The live-saving Queen failed to appear for Habibian, who had to settle for 5th-plce prize money -- $22,058. 4th Place - Brooklyn-born Dan Pugliese, now a Hollywood television producer, has been playing hold'em for only two years. He has certainly mastered the game very quickly. Pugliese now has several final tables at major poker events (eight, by his count). He was grinded down to the lowest stack and made his final stand of the night with K-J. When David Tran called the raise with J-J, Pugliese was essential down to just a few outs needing a King. Once gain, the underdog hand failed to bark, and another player was eliminated. Pugliese, who plans to retire soon and play poker full time, added $25,734 to his poker bankroll. 3rd Place - Another east-coast transplant was Jersey City-born Sammy Schenker, who now lives in Las Vegas. Schenker won the $2,500 buy in Limit Hold'em event at the Bellagio's Five-Star Classic last year. Schenker arrived second in chips in this event and looked to be the main threat to seize the chip lead away from David Tran, who up to this point had the most chips at the table. But Schenker took a tough beat on his final hand and sormed away in disappointment. Schenker had Q-Q and was 'all in' against David Taylor, holding A-J of hearts. When tow hearts flopped, the biggest pot of the night to that point was at stake. The turn helped neither played, but then a heart rained down on the river, a crushing blow to Schenker. The 29-year-old poker pro (he routinely plays $30-60 up to $80-160) walked away with $29,410. One might assume that Dave Taylor's biggest break came when play became short-handed and he managed to win the remaining chips. But in reality, Taylor probably never should have made it so far. When the final table was eight-handed, Taylor was getting short-stacked and decided to make a bold stand with 6-6. That turned out to be nearly disastrous, as he ran head first into pocket Queens. Taylor was down to basically two outs, desperately needing one of the two remaining Sixes in the deck. Remarkably, a Six flopped and Taylor not only lived to see another day - he literally rose out of the ashes and destroyed everyone else in his way en route to his first tournament victory. At three handed, Taylor then managed another miracle catching the third heart for the flush to eliminate Sam Schenker. By this time there was no stopping a roaring freight train. It was quite simply - Taylor's day. When the heads-up duel between Taylor and David Tran began, Taylor enjoyed a 2 to 1 chip lead. He never was in serious danger of losing his advantage. Over the next few minutes, Taylor won a few more chips with more aggressive play and decided to call David Tran's 'all in' raise, a last desperate attempt to derail the 'Taylor express.' Tran was a huge favorite with K-10 against Taylor's 10-4. But, in this case '10-4' really did mean 'over and out.' The final board showed A-5-4-10-Q -- good for two pair (10s and 4s) by Taylor. Tran had come to the final table with the chip lead and played as well as possible under the circumstances. But in the end he was simply run over by a flurry of cards by Taylor. Vietnamese-born David Tran, tutored by one of poker's top pros, David 'Dragon' Pham could be proud of his performance. The LA-based player officially received $58,821 as the runner up. Meanwhile, David Taylor was ecstatic about his first major tournament win. "I managed to catch a lot of cards today," he admitted afterward. "But I played great and this feels so good to win." When asked what he plans to do with the prize money, Taylor said he has three daughters at home, "who will sure tell (him) what to do with the money." Indeed, David Taylor came to Las Vegas to attend a cement convention and ended up with over a hundred grand in cash and a gold ring. While most of the tourists on his flight home later this week will lament losing a few hundreds dollars at the slots, Taylor can be proud that he has something concrete to show for his time in Vegas. Report by Nolan Dalla - World Series of Poker Media Director World Series of Poker Tournament Director - John Grooms World Series of Poker Circuit Director - Ken Lambert Rio Poker Room Manager - Robert Daily