WSEX Virtual Challenge

A historical event recently took place at Sycuan Casino in El Cajon, California. The first-ever joint venture between a brick and mortar casino and an online poker site resulted in the WSEX Virtual Challenge, a $50,000 limit hold'em freeroll tournament for those who qualified.

A field of 50 players competed for first-place prize money of $20,000. Twenty-five local players earned a seat by playing a minimum of 50 hours in the poker room at Sycuan. An additional 23 players qualified by a combination of playing poker on www.wsex.com and participating in a football handicapping contest on the same site. The other two entrants were Card Player representatives. This was the first live-action poker experience for many of the online players, as many are new to the game and others don't live near a brick and mortar casino.

While the event took place at Sycuan Casino, WSEX put up the $50,000 in prize money, and provided the visiting participants with travel money and accommodations at nearby Singing Hills Country Club and Resort. The online qualifiers care from all over the country. The Duby family from Tampa, Florida, was well represented, as mother Emily and sons Steve and Jason qualified by playing poker as well as picking 12 out of 13 winners on a parlay card. All of the participants enjoyed the live games at Sycuan in addition to the tournament, and the Sycuan staff did an excellent job of making everyone feel comfortable.

The World Sports Exchange theme line is "one site, one account, and all the action." This is in fact the case, as it is an online poker site that also has a complete sportsbook. WSEX started its poker site in February of this year. Its sportsbook has long been acknowledged as being one of the premier operations in the business. With a reputation for integrity, creative promotions, and great customer service, general managers Bob Krumm and Jack Purvis continue to explore opportunities to promote the poker site as well as the sportsbook.

Comments from the players were extremely positive, as they recognized and appreciated the opportunity they were presented. A "forged relationship" between a brick and mortar casino and an online poker site benefits the entire poker community, as this promotion so clearly demonstrated. Sycuan Poker Room Manager Gary Taub organized and administered the event, and his hard work resulted in a two-day tournament that was flawless.

On the night before the Virtual Challenge tournament, a "warm-up" limit hold'em tournament was held with a $55 buy-in and $5,000 guaranteed. In addition, Gary Taub put $10 bounties on all players in this tournament who would be playing in the Virtual Challenge tournament the next day. He also offered a $500 bonus on top of the $2,000 first prize if any of these "bounty" players won the tournament. Of the 100 players who bought in, 30 of them were Virtual Challenge players. Alas, however, none of them won the warm-up event.

All of the 50 participants were guaranteed prize money in the WSEX Virtual Challenge. For those who placed 31st through 50th, $100 was awarded; 21st through 30th was good for $150, and 11th through 20th place commanded a payday of $250. The balance of the $50,000 went to the final-table finishers as follows:

1. Saro "The Machine" Getzoyan $20,000

2. L. Taylor Drury 6,000

3. Al Carrera 6,000

4. Won Jung Goag 6,000

5. Ed Gerth 2,000

6. Gerry Lilagan 1,000

7. Tom Barry 900

8. Steve Strauss 800

9. Tina Powloski 701

10. Mike Gibbons 599

Congratulations to World Sports Exchange and Sycuan Casino for introducing a unique new promotional concept to the poker world.