| Note: The 11th through 18th place finishers received prize money in amounts
ranging from $1,735 up to $2,600
From Bad Beat to Big Win:
Tim Whaley earns first tournament victory and $67,230
Last Friday afternoon, Tim Whaley took a bad beat. He met up with a few friends
who all planned to pile into Whaley's car and drive 700 miles from Atlanta to
New Orleans. Their destination? The World Series of Poker Circuit -- at Harrah's
New Orleans. Then, the unexpected happened. The car broke down.
While the rush hour traffic began to pile up in Atlanta, Whaley and his friends
sat bored out of their skulls inside an auto repair shop, desperately waiting
for a spare part to arrive. It was not a good way to start a poker trip.
Whaley was just about to give up on the idea of driving across four states,
simply to play in a poker tournament. Then, he thought of another idea. Whaley
decided instead to rent a car and just a shirt time later he was barreling down
I-20 on his way to New Orleans. It was an all-night road trip that left the
three young men mentally and physically exhausted.
Somehow, Whaley and his friends made it to New Orleans and started playing
poker the next day. Whaley entered the $500 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament.
Just twenty-four hours later, Whaley was going to the final table the chip lead
(with 112,000) - barely covering Benjamin Cahan (with 111,500) and Peter Falcon
(with 95,000).
It took four hours to get down to the final two players. The heads up match
between Tom Whaley and Chip Garrett started with Whaley holding a 5 to 2 chip
advantage. Four hands into heads-up play, the end came. Whaley was dealt Q-10
against Chip Garrett's 3-3. A ten on the flop essentially locked up the tournament
and Whaley had won his first major poker tournament. He collected a gold ring
and $67,230 in prize money.
After his victory, Whaley made a least one very astute observation.
"Poker should be legal nationwide,' Whalen said. "Where I live, we
have a problem with (private) games being robbed. The sad part about it is that
no player should have to feel his life is in jeopardy, simply by sitting at
a card table."
When he was asked what he will do with the prize money, Whalen was uncertain.
However, a new car might be a wise investment.
Report by Nolan Dalla - World Series of Poker Media Director
Poker Room Manager - Rick Korte
World Series of Poker Circuit Director - Ken Lambert
World Series of Poker Tournament Director - John Grooms | 
