Poker Tournament Results

Legends of Poker/ WPT Event Season 5

Place	Name	Prize
1	George Rechnitzer (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$48,000
2	Cuong Phan (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$22,800
3	Gary Ableser (Chatsworth, CA, USA)	$11,400
4	Aaron Dean (Elk Grove, CA, USA)	$7,200
5	Susan Lee (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$5,400
6	Alan Myerson (Sherman Oaks, CA, USA)	$4,200
7	Ray Henson (Houston, TX, USA)	$3,000
8	Eddie Ngo (Fountain Valley, CA, USA)	$2,400
9	Benny Wan (Alhambra, CA, USA)	$2,100
10	Russ Floyd (Houston, TX, USA)	$1,800
11	Joe Sebok (San Francisco, CA, USA)	$1,800
12	Larry Ross (West Covina, CA, USA)	$1,800
13	Colin McRavey (Los Angeles, CA, USA)	$1,500
14	Joe Brandenburg (Portland, OR, USA)	$1,500
15	David Bagheri AKA "the closer" (Henderson, NV, USA)	$1,500
16	Joe De Niro (Studio City, CA, USA)	$1,200
17	Gin Li (Alhambra, CA, USA)	$1,200
18	Adam Kagin (Henderson, NV, USA)	$1,200

Tournament Report

George Rechnitzer Wins $1,000 Limit Event Event #21, $1,000 Limit Hold'em, secured 120 players creating a prize pool of $120,000. With $3,000 in starting chips and hour-long rounds, there was a lot of play available in this event. The field slowly shrank and the final table was set at 4:15am. Joe Sebok narrowly missed the final while he nursed his short stack for hours as his father, poker pro Barry Greenstein, provided moral support. Joe threw his last few chips into the pot holding J-7. His opponent had flopped two-pair with his Q-8, and a flop of Q-8-X. Joe managed to go runner-runner Jack and 7 for two pair (Js & 7s) but was no match to the higher flopped two pair of his opponent. Joe was eliminated in 11th place and the father-son duo hit the road at 4am. The first elimination came at hand #18 when Susan Lee, fiancée to George Rechnitzer in seat 9, raised and was called in two spots. The flop was 4-5-8 and Susan bet, Aaron 'Sparky' Dean called and Russ Floyd called all-in for the last of his chips. The turn and river were 9-3 and it was checked down. Both Susan and Sparky showed AK and chopped the pot while all-in Russ mucked and was eliminated in 10th place for $1,800. The next elimination came five hands later when three-way action preflop had Benny Wan all-in. The board was 10-5-5-5-10 for a full house. Ray Henson, a poker pro from Las Vegas bet post flop and was isolated with Benny. Benny showed his Q-2 to play the board and Ray revealed KK for a bigger boat. Benny wan was eliminated in 9th place and earned $2,100. If would be a long 30+ hands before the next elimination. In 3-way action preflop, Sparky Dean raised and was called all-in by Eddie Ngo and two others. The flop was A-3-9 and Sparky bet out and became isolated with Eddie. Sparky had top pair with his A-2 and Eddie showed pocket 10s. The turn and river were 3-2 and Sparky had Aces-up to win against Eddie's smaller two pair (10s & 3s). Eddie Ngo finished in 8th place and pocketed $2,400. On hand #76, Ray Henson raised all-in preflop with his last $4,000. Cuong Phan called and showed Qs-10s. Ray showed his suited Kh-Jh and the flop came Q-J-7. Cuong flopped top pair to Ray's second pair. The turn and river improved neither hand (5-2) and Ray Henson took 7th place for $3,000. Hand #98 had Cuong Phan re-raising Alan Myerson preflop. The flop of 4d-8d-Qd looked good to both players who each had a big diamond in their hand. Post flop betting had Alan all-in and he showed K-Jd to Cuong's A-Kd. The turn and river contained no diamond (4-9) and Cuong's Ace won the pot. Alan finished in 6th place and added $4,200 to his bankroll. Several hands later Susan Lee raised all-in for her last $10,000. Gary Ableser called and showed Ks-10s. Susan's Q-J gave her a gutshot after the flop of As-9s-10. The turn and river were bricks (4-7) and Gary's pair of 10s held up to eliminate Susan in 5th place for $5,400. The more attractive half of 'George and Susan' was out and George was disappointed that it would not be a heads-up match with Susan for the title. The last hand of the event came in hand #115. Aaron 'Sparky' Dean, a firefighter from Elk Grove, CA, re-raised preflop against George Rechnitzer, a businessman from Beverly Hills, CA. The flop was 3-4-6 and post flop betting had Sparky all-in. George showed pocket 10s and was in the lead against Sparky's A-K. The turn and river were no help to Sparky (J-2) and George's 10s hold up against Ace-high. Aaron Dean finished in 4th place and earned $7,200. The final three players asked for a chip count and all agreed to the payouts without further discussion. George had a substantial chip lead and was declared the winner. Susan Lee, 5th place finisher and fiancée to the winner George, congratulated all players but George is the one who got the hug & kiss (George is lucky at love AND cards). -Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel BIOGRAPHY George Rechnitzer, a local business man, finds time to frequently play high limit games including Stud and Hold'em as his second profession. His latest, of many cashes, was in the 2006 WSOP Razz event where he took 15th place and earned $7,258. George has dozens of final table appearances in a variety of games but his best games are 7-Card Stud and Limit Hold'em. George and his fiancée, Susan Lee, were so personable and professional at the final table. I think there was a collective sigh when Susan got knocked out of the table by her opponents—atypical of the usual celebration as another victim succumbs to the shark infested tank. You can find George playing at The Bicycle Casino in the High Limit Plaza, play him if you will, but be prepared because George has been winning for a long time and doesn't plan on changing that anytime soon.