Poker Tournament Results

Winnin 'O' the Green

Howard Walker

Tournament Report

Howard Walker Wins Player Appreciation Event The 19th and final event of Winnin’ o’ the Green was the $225 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Player Appreciation tournament. A field of 223 vied for a share of the $43,262 prize pool. The winner of the event also received a $10K Legends of Poker Main Event buy-in seat added by the Bike. The final table started at level 14 with a 500 ante and 2K/4K blinds. Howard Walker arrived as the chip leader holding 423,500 of the 892,000 chips in play. The first elimination occurred when Nguyen Nguyen was all in with pocket 10’s against Nikkhil Gera’s A-Q. It was a good flop for Nguyen when it came 4-3-6. The turn brought a 9 and Nguyen needed to dodge an Ace or a Queen to double up. The river spiked an Ace knocking Nguyen out in 10th place for $540. A few hands later Jerry Simon was all in with A-4 against Nikkhil Gera who held A-K. The flop came K-4-Q and both players paired their kickers. The turn and river came a Queen and Gera’s Queens full of Kings topped Simon’s Queens full of 4’s sending him out in 9th place for $650. Nikkhil Gera kept on knocking out players as his 10-9 was up against Frank Rite’s A-Q and Evgeni Turevski’s A-2. Both Rite and Turevski were all in. After the board came 6-K-3-10-10 Gera’s trip 10’s sent Rite and Turevski out in 7th and 8th place respectively. Hung Du found himself all in holding pocket 10’s against Nikkhil Gera who had pocket Queens. The board came K-7-8-A-J and Gera’s Queens bested Du’s 10’s as Du became another notch on Gera’s belt eliminated in 6th place for $1,515. Diana Zhao was all in holding A-8 against Allen Chang who held Ah-9h. The flop came J-5h-8h and Zhao took the lead with a pair of 8’s but Chang flopped a flush draw. The turn brought the Kh giving Chang the flush sending Zhao out in 5th place for $1,945. Allen Chang was on the button and decided to push all in on a steal holding 3-2. Lea Nehme woke up with A-Q. Chang flopped a pair of 3’s when it came 3-4-6 but a Queen came on the turn giving the lead back to Nehme. The river brought a 10 and Nehme’s pair of Queens was enough to send Chang out in 4th place for $2,595. Play was now 3-handed and things slowed down a bit. There were a lot of raise/fold for a while and not many flops. Lea Nehme was in the small blind and pushed all in with A-6. Nikkhil Gera woke up with pocket Queens and made the call. The board came 8-5-2-8-10 and Gera’s Queens held up and sent Nehme out in 3rd place for $3,895. We were now heads up with Howard Walker holding about a 3 to 2 chip lead over Nikkhil Gera. A deal was discussed and agreed upon with the tournament ending without a hand dealt heads up. Howard Walker was declared winner of the final event of the WOG series. -- O.J. Alcaraz BIOGRAPHY Howard Walker is a professional poker player and has been one for 7 years. Walker plays both tournaments and cash games. He plays solely No Limit Hold’em and mostly the $400 buy-in cash games. Prior tournament wins include a Grand Slam of Poker event a few years back.