"The Muscle" Wins Stud High-Low Split Championship at Beau Rivage
Russ "The Muscle" Salzer Adds to His Impressive Tournament Resume with 44th
Major Cash; New Yorker Now Has More Than $800,000 in Career Winnings
*Biloxi, MS (January 8, 2009) - *The seventh event of the Southern Poker
Championship concluded today as longtime poker pro Russ "The Muscle" Salzer
became the latest poker champion of the new year. Salzer, well-known for
his muscular physique and outspoken manner, is a 49-year-old poker pro from
New York City . First place paid $16,151. Following his victory, Salzer
was presented with the custom-designed white gold and diamond bracelet,
which is the crowing achievement of victory at all SPC events. "What a
terrific way to start off the new year," he said with obvious joy.
This was the only Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split tournament on
this year's schedule. The competition was played over two consecutive days.
Only the top 12 players out of 111 entrants collected prize money. The
total prize pool amounted to $53,835. All the action took place in the
tournament ballroom inside Beau Rivage Resort & Casino.
Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split, a.k.a. "Eight-or-Bettor" often attracts more
serious poker aficionados. Players who play the game routinely explain that
they seem to have more control over the luck factor, as opposed to a game
like No-Limit Hold'em were bad beats seem to be commonplace. That being
said, it was no surprise that this event turned into the longest tournament
of any of the first seven events, completed so far. It took 14 hours on day
one to play down to 28 players. The survivors all returned on day
two. Another
five hours passed before the final table of eight players was set. Then,
the final table clocked in at another six hours - making a 25-hour marathon.
The final table started off with "The Muscle" (141K) holding a slight chip
lead over Mel Rechtman (122K). The rest of the table each had 87K or less
each in chips. Salzer experienced a few obstacles along the way, but
ultimately outlasted the competition.
Players were eliminated in the following order:
*8th Place -* Mo Moussa, an Egyptian-born engineer who now lives in Houston,
was the first player to be eliminated. Primarily a cash game player, Moussa
was pleased to make it to the final table. His payout totaled $2,153.
*7th Place -* David Eller seemed destined to be a force at the final table,
given his impressive tournament results and chip position. But he ran card
dead late in the tournament and ultimately went out in seventh place. Eller,
who has won two World Poker Open titles previously, collected $2,692 for his
finish in this event.
*6th Place -* Lowell Davis, a local poker player arrived at the final table
with the lowest stack and finished in sixth place - two spots higher than
expected on the money ladder. He received a payout totaling $3,230.
*5th Place -* One of the senior citizens of the Stud finale was 81-year-old
Gus Nescal, from Key Largo, FL. The former steelworker, now retired
received $3,768 for finishing in fifth place.
*4th Place -* Fourth place went to Florida poker pro, Greg "Suki" Suki. He
plays mostly online and has cashed in numerous Internet poker
tournaments. Suki,
donning a University of Florida football jersey celebrated the Gator's
victory in the national championship game while locking up a fourth place
finish in this event. He collected $4,845.
*3rd Place - *Mel Rechtman is certainly the oldest player to make it to a
final table in the history of the SPC. He may even be the oldest player to
appear in the finale of a major event over the past year. At 87 years of
age, Rechtman is still going strong. He ran out of cards late, but still
managed a very impressive third-place finish. Rechtman, who lives in
Georgia, was paid $6,460.
*2nd Place -* When heads-up play began, Salzer enjoyed a sizable chip lead
over his lone adversary, Yuebin Guo. It was an all-New York finale, as both
players hailed from the Big Apple. Chinese-born Guo (pronounced "go") is
from Brooklyn. Crosstown rival Salzer ultimately defeated Guo in the final
30-minute duel and took down the top prize. Meanwhile, Guo was forced to
settle for runner-up status. His consolation prize amounted to a $91,52
payout.
*1st Place -* This was Russ "The Muscle" Salzer's third major tournament
victory since 2000. He has numerous cashes in events such as the World
Series of Poker and on the World Poker Tour. Salzer now has over $820,000
in career tournament winnings. His most impressive finish was 29th place in
the 2005 WSOP Main Event, which paid $274,090.
Through the end of this Stud High-Low tournament, a combined 2,572 players
have now entered the seven events played at this year's SPC. With this
event, the total payout exceeds the million-dollar mark -- as $1,116,210 in
prize money has been paid out to the winners.
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