Michael Binger Wins Harvey's Lake Tahoe Championship
*World Series of Poker Circuit at Harvey's Concludes with Largest Turnout in
its Five-Year History*
*Stateline, NV (November 16, 2008) – *The largest turnout in the five-year
history of the World Series of Poker Circuit at Harvey's Lake Tahoe
generated $1,418,132 in prize money spread over 13 tournaments. The annual
attraction which is held on the south shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe right at
the Nevada-California border attracted 2,163 entries. This surpassed last
year's record of 2,128 entries. The ten-day tournament series concluded
with the $5,000 buy-in championship event.
The winner was Michael Binger, from Las Vegas, NV. The
31-year-old professional poker player overcame a severe chip disadvantage
while heads up at the final table and won his first major poker tournament
victory. He collected first place prize money totaling $181,379. Following
his victory, Binger was presented with a gold ring, the coveted token of
achievement for all WSOP Circuit championship tournaments. Binger also
received a buy-in to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, plus $1,000
in spending money.
Binger is perhaps best known publicly as the third-place
finisher in the 2006 WSOP Main Event (won by Jamie Gold). For that effort
he won more than $4 million. With his victory at Lake Tahoe, Binger now has
more than $5.7 million in career tournament earnings, all accrued within the
last three years. What many may not know is that Binger also holds a PhD in
physics from Stanford.
The championship event attracted several big names. Last year's winner and
2000 world poker champion Chris "Jesus" Ferguson entered the tournament,
along with Johnny Chan (the 1987 and 1988 world champ) and Jerry Yang (the
2007 world champ). Former WSOP gold bracelet winners who played at Harvey's
Lake Tahoe included Robert "RCW" Cheung, Scott Clements, Dan Heimiller,
Kathy Liebert, Jeff Madsen, and Max Pescatori. Evan Schwartz -- the only
player in history to have won multiple WSOP Circuit events at Harvey's Lake
Tahoe – also entered.
The tournament was played over a three day period. On Day One, the
125-player field was reduced to 55 players. As 18 players approached a
guaranteed payout on Day Two, buzz began to circulate that Chris Ferguson
might become the repeat champion. A victory by Ferguson would have
been notable since no player has successfully defended a title at a major
tournament (defined as buy-ins of $5,000 and higher) since 1989. That's
when Stu Ungar won back to back Super Bowl of Poker titles in 1988 and 1989
(coincidentally at Lake Tahoe). However, Ferguson's achievement was not
meant to be. He ended up as the 11th-place finisher.
On Day Three, the final table was played on the second floor at Harvey's
Lake Tahoe, alongside the Hard Rock Café. With several hundred poker fans
in attendance, tournament pro Binger arrived as the early chip leader.
However,
four players were relatively close in chips which made it a wide open event.
Two-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Scott Clements was the first player of
the final nine to exit. He was short stacked and was eliminated just a few
hands into play. Clements, who has over $3 million in tournament winnings
since 2005 added $13,444 for his ninth-place finish.
A few hands later, Bill Bostick was eliminated. This was Bostick's second
time to cash at this year's Harvey's Lake Tahoe series. He also cashed
twice in events on the Heartland Poker Tour held earlier this year. Bostick,
an automotive consultant from Minnesota drive away with $18,566 for eighth
place.
With the two lowest stacks out of the way, play tightened down for the
next hour. Then, Travis Erdman was finally knocked out when he played a
hand perfectly, but still lost. Erdman has pocket kings (with a spade) and
moved all in after three low spades flopped. Unfortunately, Ty Stewart had
two spades, good for the made flush. Erdman still had outs, but
missed. Nevertheless,
Erdman tied a record by making it to the final table of the Harvey's
championship three years in a row. This is only the second time this has
happened on the WSOP Circuit (Note: Lou Esposito, of Howard Beach, NY first
made three straight final tables at Harrah's New Orleans). The investment
manager from San Francisco added $24,968 to his poker portfolio.
Next, tournament journeyman Allen Kessler took one of the sickest beats
imaginable. He moved all in with pocket aces and was called by Ty Stewart
holding pocket sevens. The first four board cards were inconsequential. Then,
an unlucky seven fell on the river, eliminating Kessler. The Philadelphia
native who has more than 90 tournaments cashes on his poker resume collected
$31,370 for sixth place.
Tay Nguyen was short on chips and moved all-in on a straight draw on what
turned out to be his final hand of the tournament. He missed the draw and
had to settle for fifth place. Nguyen, an accountant from Sacramento,
logged $40,653 into his profit column.
Poker pro Mike McClain has long been known as the face for poker's "agony of
defeat" moment. Five years ago, his despair was captured and immortalized
on ESPN's WSOP broadcasts when his bad beat was shown on film and repeated
countless times in contrast to Chris Moneymaker's "thrill of victory."
Unfortunately,
McClain endured yet another agonizing defeat in this tournament when his
pocket queens were cracked by Ty Stewart's straight. McClain, who finished
ninth in the 2004 WSOP Main Event, settled for fourth-place, which paid
$53,777.
Down to three players, Stewart had the biggest stack, while Jake Solis and
Michael Binger jockeyed for position to get heads-up. The tug of war went
about 40 hands before Solis finally moved all-win on what turned out to be a
three-way pot. Solis had 7-7. But Binger ended up with the best hand with
a pair of queens, taking the last of Solis' chips. Solis, a 30-year-old
salesman and father of two, racked up a commission totaling $77,464.
The final showdown began with Stewart holding a 4 to 3 advantage over
Binger. It appeared that the final table might be completed in a
lightning-fast pace, clocking in at less than four hours. This would have
shattered the previous record as the fastest WSOP Circuit final table ever
(which is about five hours). However, heads-up play lasted more than 60
hands. Binger was the more patient player, refusing to commit his final
chips unless he was confident enough with his hand.
Such patience came at a price. Binger gradually lost his chips and was down
by an 8 to 1 margin at one point, before staging a stunning comeback.
Displaying
a never-say-die attitude, Binger seemed always make the right decision when
faced with what were a number of razor-thin calls. For instance, Binger
made a major-league call with third pair on board, snapping off a stone-cold
bluff by Stewart, which swung the chip lead in Binger's direction for the
first time.
Then, Binger caught a number of big hands which left Stewart in desperate
shape when the final hand of the tournament was dealt. That came when
Stewart made second pair with eights against Binger's top pair – nines. By
the thinnest of margins, Binger won the last pot of the night and achieved a
personal milestone with his first major tournament win.
As the runner up, Ty Stewart received $112,675. The 32-year-old
middle-limit cash game player from Sacramento was pleased with his play and
received a long ovation from the crowd, including Binger. Had Stewart
caught just one or two key hands while heads-up, he would have been the
winner.
But the night was indeed Binger's who was visibly thrilled with his victory,
far more even perhaps than the prize money. "It's amazing. I told (a
friend) that the next time I see him I would be wearing WSOP Circuit ring. And
that's exactly what happened here," Binger said.
"I visualized this victory coming. It was a sort of mind over matter thing.
The power of positive thinking," Binger said. "I was down at one point
(when heads-up) and told myself to stick with it. I played well, and the
cards finally turned around for me. This is a very meaningful win for me
because to win (on the WSOP Circuit) is considered a major tournament and
it's part of the World Series."
When asked what he next goal might be, Binger didn't hesitate. "A gold
bracelet," he answered.
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