After 24 Hours of Play, Student Teddy
Nassif, 24, Wins 9th Event, H.O.R.S.E
Council Bluffs, IA —"Two Pair" Teddy Nassif wanted to play in the championship WSOP Circuit event starting Monday at Horseshoe Council Bluffs. But playing a H.O.R.S.E event from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Saturday and then continuing from 3 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. on Sunday ended that idea. As a consolation prize, though, he earned $15,400 and a striking told trophy ring for coming in first.
Nassif, 24, an Iowan born and raised, lives in Ames and is an economics student at Iowa State University. He began playing poker in high school, and his cashes include a win in $500 Circuit event at Rincon. He favors H.O.R.S.E., in particularly razz, which he feels is a fun game that allows a lot of bluffing. Nassif said he was in good shape throughout this tournament. Perhaps the key hand for him came when he turned a straight in an Omaha round in late going to leave his final opponent, Kevin O'Donnell, short-chipped.
This H.O.R.S.E. event was played with alternating, eight-deal rounds of hold'em, Omaha high-low, razz, 7-card stud and stud eight-or-better. There were still 22 players left out of the starting 87 when play ended on Day 1. At that point, Karl Tretter had the lead with 43,500 chips. The players returned the next day, and didn't get to the final eight until past 10 o'clock that evening.. Karl Tretter now had upped his lead to 82,700.
Here were the starting chip counts:
Seat 1. Kevin O'Donnell 39,300
Seat 2. Tony Merksick 51,000
Seat 3. Dan Sindelar 6,900
Seat 4. Umeme Hoye 49,800
Seat 5. Teddy Nassif 41,500
Seat 6. Karl Tretter 82,700
Seat 7. Michael Altman 12,100
Seat 8. Yuval Bronstein 59,900
Play commenced with stud eight or better, and Dan Sindelar busted out on the first hand. He started with big cards, went in for his last 6,900, couldn't make much, and lost to Tony "Bulldozer" Merksick's wheel. Eighth paid $1,266. Sindelar, 24, is from Omaha.
We were now playing hold'em with 1,000-2,000 blinds. Michael Altman went out in this round. He had A-K and couldn't catch Tretter's pocket 9s when the board came J-10-9-2-2. Altman collected $1,688 for seventh.
Altman, 40, is an attorney from Mequon, Wisconsin. He's been playing poker with friends for 20 years, has entered two Circuits, and as for his poker highlight: "This is it, really."
The next player to leave went out in another stud high-low round. On sixth street, Umeme "Bigfoot" Hoye had a pair of 9s while Merksick had aces. The river gave Hoye a set, but also gave Merksick aces full. Hoye got $2,110 for sixth.
Hoye, 25, is a bookkeeper from Detroit, Michigan. He began playing at age 21, learning from his cousin. He's played in five Circuits.
When the players took a break a little before midnight, Tretter had increased his lead to 161,000 chips. Then, in a straight stud round, on sixth street, Yuval Bronshtein showed 8-8-4-A, Nasiff showed Q-K-2-3, and O'Donnell had 4-7-5-7. O'Donell turned over two more 7s for quads as he knocked Bronshtein out in fifth spot. It paid $2,934.
Bronshtein, 23, is a poker player originally from Israel now living in Atlanta. Before that, he was a student at the University of Maryland, where he started playing as a freshman. He's played five Circuits and has two WSOP final tables. He placed third in pot-limit hold'em last year, winning $109,000, and made the final table in H.O.R.S.E. in the first-ever WSOP event in Europe.
In a hold'em round Tretter lost a lot of chips when he made jacks full on a board of J-8-7-8-A, only to have O'Donnell turn over pocket 8s for his second set of quads. Then in a razz round, Tretter started with A-3-4 but caught bricks while Nassif managed to make a 9, knocking Tretter out in fourth place, worth $4,009.
Tretter, 30, is a high school teacher from Queens, New York who learned poker watching his grandfather. This is his fifth Circuit. He has won over $100,000 in tournament play, including wins in no-limit at Borgata and in stud at the Trump Classic. This is his fourth Circuit cash, including two this week.
Nassif now had the lead. In an eight-or-better round, O'Donnell made 8s-up while Merksick, missing a low, ended with two smaller pair and was now low-chipped. He went all in soon after during the same round, finishing third when he couldn't beat Nassif's aces-up. For finishing fourth, Merksick earned $4,009.
Merksick, 30, is a poker dealer from Council Bluffs who started playing aged 9 with friends He's had some small tournament cashes, played six Circuits, and paid tribute to his "very understanding" wife and three "wonderful" children.
Heads-up, the two finalists were fairly even, both around the 160,000 or so range. After several rounds, by the next break, Nassif had moved ahead, 210,000 to 139,000 for O'Donnell, and later took a very big lead after the Omaha hand. O'Donnell kept hanging in, but couldn't move up much after getting down to about 20,000. On the final hand of stud high, he went all in with (10-5)J against Nassif's (Kd-5d)3d. O'Donnell proceeded to be dealt 7-10-K-A, while Nassif caught two offsuit 4s, then a queen and 6 of diamonds for his winning flush. O'Donnell got $9,283 for second.
O'Donnell, 51, from Seward, Nebraska, owns a manufacturing company. He learned poker from his dad and has made three final tables in this series out of four tries. His only other big win was in the first event of the Horseshoe Classic in October, where he got $4,001 for sixth. He has a "beautiful wife," five kids and three grandchildren. --Max Shapiro
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