| Alan Schein Becomes WSOP Circuit's First Two-time Winner
Florida Venture Capitalist Wins Harrah's Rincon's $1000 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em Event
Only a month after winning the $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event at World Series of Poker Circuit stop number one - in Atlantic City - Alan Schein came west to join the California gold rush and won for the second time. With a first-place in the $1,000 No-Limit event at Harrah's Rincon, he becomes the first-ever two-time WSOP Circuit winner.
What's truly remarkable is not just that Schein now has two wins, but that he has been playing poker for only two years. He does not play on the Internet, which leads any casual observer to wonder - 'How did Alan Schein becomes such a good poker player so quickly?'
'I've read all the books,' he explained nonchalantly.
Event #5 attracted 173 entries. Day One lasted 12 hours, during which 164 players were eliminated. Places 10 through 18 were paid prize money in amounts ranging from $1,680 up to $2,350. The nine finalists returned for Day Two and players were eliminated in the following order:
9th Place - Param Gill came into the finale with the second-lowest stack size. He lasted only a few minutes and went out as the 9th-place finisher. Gill, who has won events at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles and made 20 final tables last year, received $3,355.
8th Place - Jude Vanden Heavel tried to take a sad hand and make it better when he was dealt A-9 and ran into Dan Alspach's A-J. He felt the pain, and refrained from the finale table when a Nine failed to materialize. Vanden Heavel, from Staten Island, NY - the winner of major tournaments in Atlantic City - collected $5,035 for 8th place.
7th Place - Hans 'Tuna' Lund has one of the most illustrious stories in World Series of Poker history. He was the 1990 runner up in the main event to Mansour Matloubi - and arguably should have become the world champion that year were it not for one of the most exciting and bizarre hands in the 35-year-hsitory of the tournament (he lost to a 22-1 shot on the river - otherwise he would have been the world champ). There would be no dramatic stories for 'Tuna' on this day. He ended up being the catch of the day for Alan Schein. Tuna - winner of the Super Bowl of Poker in 1983 and a two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner, went out with $6,710.
6th Place - Dao Boc says he is new to tournaments, but you certainly wouldn't know it by the way he played in this event. Bac went out with A-Q against Dan Alspach's 6-5 (Alspach had plenty of chips to call the raise). The turn was brutal for Bac when a second 5 flipped over. The final board showed A-5-4-5-4�¢?�¦.good for a full house for Alspach. Bac received $8,390 for 6th place.
5th Place - Germany's top poker player, Eddy Scharf is an airline pilot for Lufthansa Airlines. He has won two WSOP gold bracelets (2001 and 2003) and finished an impressive 15th in the championship event last year (out of 2,576 players!). Scharf was never able to lift off the runway at this final table, as each attempt to gain chips failed. Getting desperately low on chips, Scharf moved 'all in' with J-8 hoping to steal and was called instantly by Mark Merhab with A-K. A King unnecessarily fell on the river, good for top pair, and Scharf was the 5th place finisher, good for $10,070. Auf Wiedersehen, Eddy.
4th Place - If there was an award for 'Best All-Around Player' at this tournament, Matt Letourneau would be in the lead at the moment. He finished in 4th place a few days ago (one of only two players to make two final tables at Harrah's Rincon), was 10th the previous day, and took fourth place in this event. Letourneau ran into a bad situation on his final hand when he was dealt J-9 and the flop came J-5-3. When a Queen fell on the turn, Letourneau was drawing dead. Mark Merhab had pocket Queens, good for a set of ladies. Letourneau, a financial analyst from Kansas City pocketed $13,425 for yet another impressive tournament performance.
3rd Place - Of all the finalists, Mark Merhab had one of the most interesting jobs - especially for baseball fans. He works for the Anaheim Angels. Playing in only his second poker tournament ever, Merhab made it all the way to 3rd place. He finished an impressive 11th (out of 650 entries) in Event #1. What was most impressive is that Merhab started the day with the lowest stack, by far - out chipped by the leader by a 10 to 1 margin. On his final hand, he was dealt A-6 and flopped an Ace. Unfortunately, Alan Schein flopped a better Ace (Ten kicker) and Merhab was pulled from the mound. He leaped up six spots in the payout and pocketed $16.780 in prize money.
Alan Schein had seized the chip lead away from Dan Alspach about midway through the final table. Schein added to his advantage when he snapped off Alspach's bluff with second pair, when the board showed several scare cards.
After about 20 minutes of heads-up play, Alspach won his final hand when he pulled off a small miracle. Alspach was dealt J-4 and moved 'all in' with top pair after the flop showed 4-3-2. Schein called instantly with an overpair - 7-7. It looked like Schein was destined to win until another Four rained down on the turn. That gave Alspach trip 4s.
But as it turned out, that hand only delayed the outcome by a single hand. Just seconds later, it was payback time. This time, Alspach started with the dominant hand, A-K versus Schein's A-6. Schein went from being a big dog to a big favorite when the flop came Q-9-6. Two blanks fell on the end, and Schein was the winner.
Dan Alspach is a 64-year-old retiree from La Jolla, CA. Alspach won an invitational event at the Hard Rock Casino (Las Vegas) last year. As runner up, Alspach collected $30,540.
That left Alan Schein with first prize money of $55,370 and the gold ring, presented to each WSOP Circuit winner. When pressed for an answer as to how and why a person who has only being playing poker seriously for two years could post such impressive results, Schein speculated that perhaps his professional background as a venture capitalist translated into success at the poker table.
'Business involves psychology and being able to read people, just like at the poker table,' Schein said after his win. 'It's really very much the same - if your're good at one, you can be just as good at the other.'
Final Table Started at: 4:00 pm PST
Final Table Ended at: 8:20 pm PST
Report by Nolan Dalla - World Series of Poker Media Director
| 
