Brett Faustman Wins World Poker Open

Tunica, Mississippi, has been a staple location of the World Poker Tour since it first started six seasons ago. While the annual stop has featured some of the most exciting final tables in televised poker history, recently, an oversaturation of tournaments and Tunica's rural location have caused a significant drop in attendance. In fact, ever since season three's record number of 512 players, Tunica has continued to regress into one of the more unadorned venues on tour. This year's field consisted of just 259 players, marking the third year in a row that the event failed to boast a first-place prize of at least $1 million.

Just three ninehanded tables would finish in the money. Notables Barry Greenstein, John Phan, Erick Lindgren, Jose Rosenkrantz, and Dutch Boyd all finished in the money, walking away with a profit, albeit a small one.

Going to the sixhanded final table, the players' chip counts were as follows:



It didn't take long to lose the first player. Spadavecchia came to the table with an extremely short stack, and just five hands in, he got into a coin flip with fellow short stack Corkins. Corkins raised to 54,000 and Spadavecchia reraised his last 206,000 all in. Everyone else folded back around to Corkins, who eventually decided to make the call, showing the Q J. Spadavecchia turned over pocket sixes, but the board came K 9 5 Q 5, giving Corkins a winning queens up. For his effort, the one-time World Series of Poker Circuit event winner took home $96,477.

It took some time, but eventually the verbal sparring between Nguyen and Deeb took center stage in one of the biggest hands of the tournament on hand 16. Deeb raised from under the gun to 60,000 and Nguyen called from the button. The flop came 10 9 5 and Deeb bet 150,000. Nguyen announced, "All you can eat, baby!" for the second time in a row, and shoved his last 641,000 into the pot. Deeb thought for about a minute before making the call, showing the A 7. Nguyen turned over the Q Q, and his overpair held up to double him into the chip lead.

Deeb took a few more hits, but doubled through Costner to give himself some more breathing room. Costner's final hand came when he raised to 100,000 from the cutoff and Corkins came over the top for 200,000 more. Costner then moved all in for an additional 390,000. Corkins called, showing the A J, and Costner turned over the 5 5. The board ran out A 8 6 6 7 to eliminate Costner in fifth place and earn Corkins his second elimination of the day. Costner was awarded $123,008 for his finish.

Now fourhanded, each player took turns as the chip leader. Corkins had just taken a decent lead when a confrontation developed between him and Faustman. Faustman had blinded himself down under a million in chips when he got it all in with the A 4 against Corkins' A K. The board came 3 2 2 5 6 and Faustman took the chip lead with a drawout.

Corkins was left as the short stack, but with the blinds escalating, he made a series of all-in shoves hold up to put himself back into contention. Deeb then took a few hits at the hands of Nguyen to cripple his stack. His final hand came when he moved all in with the 8 7 and was instantly called by Faustman's A K. The board came 6 6 4 6 9 and Deeb headed out the door as the fourth-place finisher, taking home $168,835.

The remaining three players took turns trading blinds back and forth until the next elimination hand came up. With their stacks close to even, Nguyen and Corkins got it all in preflop. Nguyen turned over the K 10, but Corkins held the J J for the lead. He had to sweat a board of 9 8 3 7, but the Q on the river took him into the heads-up match almost all square with former dealer Faustman.

Here's how the stacks looked going into heads-up play:

Brett Faustman - 2,715,000
Hoyt Corkins - 2,470,000

For 43 hands, the two players traded chips back and forth. Corkins took down most of the smaller pots, and built up a 2-1 chip lead. However, Faustman won a few large confrontations, one in which Corkins lost half of his stack. In that hand, Hoyt folded to an all-in push on a A 9 2 3 board. Faustman lead out with a 140,000 bet, Corkins raised to 600,000, Faustman pushed, collected a huge pot, and regained the chip lead.

The final hand came down when Corkins limped in from the button for 80,000. Faustman raised to 250,000 and Corkins thought for nearly two minutes before calling. The flop came 9 9 3 and Faustman bet 280,000. Corkins pushed all in and Faustman stood up before quietly announcing a call. Corkins showed pocket deuces and was way behind Faustman's pocket queens. The turn and river were no help, and Faustman, an amateur from Michigan, took down the title, $892,413, a gold and diamond bracelet, and an entry into the WPT Championship in April.

Corkins, who described finishing second to be like "a kick in the gut," earned $458,267 for his fourth WPT final table. Corkins has now finished first, second twice, and third in his appearances.

Here are the final results:

Bart Tichelman Wins World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Tunica

In most sports, a rookie is considered to be a young professional, perhaps straight out of college, or in some cases, high school. But in the world of big buy-in tournament poker, a rookie can range in age and abilities regardless of professional experience and still become a major threat to win at any time.

Bart Tichelman entered his first-ever live tournament, the $7,500 main event at the Grand Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, as a long shot to cash, let alone win. Tichelman, who is 51 years old, is a business manager who considers himself to be just an ordinary recreational player. But after three days of grueling, long hours on a short stack, Tichelman walked out of the casino victorious and $415,595 richer.

The final table featured three recognizable faces, all of whom were eliminated consecutively and with relative quickness. Jordan Rich, who was fresh off a final-table appearance at the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Classic, succumbed to the limitations of his stack and was eliminated in ninth place. Tom Schneider, who was the 2007 World Series of Poker player of the year, couldn't get much going and busted out shortly afterward. Ryan Young, another WSOP bracelet winner, left the final table as the last known professional standing when he was eliminated in seventh place.

In total, 180 players entered the event, which was competing with the WPT event across the street, and the final two tables were paid. Other notables finishing in the money included Josh Arieh (17th), Jeremiah Vinsant (12th), and "Captain" Tom Franklin (11th).

Best All-Around Player … OK, Second-Best

Before Men "The Master" Nguyen had secured the World Poker Open best all-around player award by finishing fifth or higher in the main event, the honor belonged to Jonathan Tare from New York City, New York.

Tare, a self-proclaimed, unemployed options trader, caught fire during the three weeks he was in Tunica, cashing an impressive five times between both the World Series of Poker Circuit events and the preliminaries at the WPO for just more than $91,000. Tare made two final tables, narrowly missed another, and was the last man standing in event 11. He parlayed his victory into another deep run, this time in the World Poker Tour main event. The high-energy, fun-loving Tare finished 25th, proving that this grandma-taught poker player was no fluke.

Despite his success, Tare has repeatedly attributed his victories to nothing more than "dumb luck." When pressed further, the modest 36-year-old said, "A lot of Red Bull and heavy metal." In reality, it was Tare's fearless aggression that made the difference. He is not afraid to splash around in a lot of hands, keeping the pot small until the perfect opportunity comes along.

Tare has no plans to travel the circuit and places the blame squarely on his wife of five years, Paula, who is an English professor at Pace University. "I have to see when she'll let me out again."

Pivotal Hand in Battle for TV Table

Sitting with the third largest stack at an eight-handed WPT final table doesn't guarantee you a spot on television. With the blinds rapidly escalating and world class professionals staring you down, anything can and usually does happen. Near the TV bubble, Brett Faustman played a huge pot with Dutch Boyd that gave Faustman the chip lead going into the final TV table.

THE HAND - Boyd raises under the gun to 40,000, and Faustman called. Flop: J 3 2 . Boyd bets 48,000, and Faustman calls. Turn: 9 , Boyd bets 90,000, and Faustman raises to 200,000. Boyd calls, leaving himself 59,000 behind. River: 3 . Boyd checks, and Faustman puts Boyd all in. Boyd folds.

Brett sat down with Card Player to recap the action.

Julio Rodriguez: Dutch raised from under the gun and you called. What did you have?

Brett Faustman: I had pocket eights. Dutch actually had been all in, I think, the hand before, and I folded my pocket eights and would have hit a set. So, I decided to play them this time and I had position on him.

JR: What kind of hand did you put him on at this point?

BF: I just put him on two big cards, like A-K or A-Q. I thought my eights were good at that point.

JR: The flop came Jh3s2s and he bet out for a little over half the pot. Does your read change here?

BF: Not yet. The flop came jack high and I just couldn't see him making a move like that with A-J. His bet on the flop looks like a continuation bet. I felt like my eights were still good and I just called.

JR: The turn is the 9s putting a possible flush on board. Dutch didn't slow down and he bet 90,000. What made you put in the raise?

BF: Now I changed my read. When the 9s hit, I thought I could represent the flush in case I had misread his weakness. I was pretty sure he didn't make a flush either, so when he bet 90,000 I felt like he had something marginal to protect like pocket tens.

JR: What did you think when he called?

BF: When he called, I had to change my read yet again and put him on a big spade, because there is no way he can just call and leave himself with just 59,000 with any other hand.

JR: The river was the 3h, and he checks. What is going through your head now?

BF: The hands I had put him on kept changing. When the board paired on the river and he checked, I think that he missed. There is still a slight chance he still has something like nines or tens so after deliberating for a long time, I decided to put the rest of his chips in, instead of checking it down, just in case he had a hand like that.