WSOP Circuit -- Fred Berger Wins New Orleans Main EventFormer Bracelet Winner Defeated 155 Opponents to Win His First Gold Ring and $197,584 |
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The final World Series of Poker Circuit event of the 2009-10 season has come to an end at the Harrah’s in New Orleans, and Fred Berger (pictured right) is the champion of the Bayou Poker Challenge. The $5,150 no-limit hold’em championship event attracted 156 players in all and Berger claimed the top prize of $197,584 from the total prize pool of $745,600. The top 18 players all walked away with prize money and a notable cash was scored when last year’s defending champion Jean Gaspard busted in 10th place. His elimination at 4:30 a.m. brought about the end of day 2 at the tournament and set the final table. Here is a look at the seating chart and chip counts when the final table began the next day:
Seat 1: Fred Berger — 298,500
Seat 2: Chander Jain — 522,000
Seat 3: Joel Merwick — 262,000
Seat 4: Ben Keiley — 889,500
Seat 5: Jacob Naquin — 183,500
Seat 6: Ed Corrado — 575,000
Seat 7: Fernando Perez — 127,000
Seat 8: Jared Ingles — 126,000
Seat 9: Mike Beasley — 446,500
Jared Ingles fell in ninth place ($20,504) when he moved all in on a bluff on the very first hand and he was eliminated by A-K. Chander Jain then fell in eighth place ($24,232) when he moved all in with pocket jacks, but A-K but down another hand when an ace fell on the flop again. Jacob Naquin fell with A-J in the hole against pocket queens and he claimed a seventh-place finish worth $29,824.
Joel Merwick’s elimination hand was the early highlight at the final table in terms of excitement when he suffered a bad beat. He held A-2 in the hole when he decided to move all in on an A-2-X flop with two pair. One opponent made the call with an ace, but the board paired and Merwick lost in the battle of kickers. He took home $37,280 in prize money in sixth place. Another tough beat followed for fifth-place finisher Fernando Perez. His A-9 had the K
9 of his opponent dominated preflop but the board delivered his adversary a heart flush and he was awarded $46,600 on the way out of the tournament.
Ed Corrado then lost a large chunk of his stack when he was bluffed out of a pot by Berger and the last of his chips were in the middle of the table shortly thereafter. He was all in with A-8 and an opponent was waiting with pocket nines. The nines held and Corrado was eliminated in fourth place, good for $59,648. A deal was agreed to by the final three players before Ben Keiley was eliminated in third place ($76,424). He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar holding just K-5. Berger made easy work of him with A-J and the final heads-up match was set.
Berger took a chip lead into the final match against PokerStars North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun runner-up Mike Beasley. When the final hand of the night took place at 1:30 a.m. Berger had increased his chip advantage to 5-1 over Beasley, who moved all in with K 7
. Berger made the call with A
10
and the board was dealt 10 5 3 4 J. Berger won the tournament with a pair of tens. Beasley was eliminated in second place and he took home $119,296 in prize money to bring his 2010 earnings up to $687,045. Berger took home the top prize of $197,584 and he now has a WSOP Circuit gold ring to go with the WSOP gold bracelet he won in 2002.
Final-Table Results:
1: Fred Berger — $197,584
2: Mike Beasley — $119,296
3: Ben Keiley — $76,424
4: Ed Corrado — $59,648
5: Fernando Perez — $46,600
6: Joel Merwick — $37,820
7: Jacob Naquin — $29,824
8: Chander Jain — $24,232
9: Jared Ingles — $20,504
The Bayou Poker Challenge was the final event on the 2009-10 WSOP Circuit schedule. The schedule for the new season will be announced this summer at the WSOP in Las Vegas. The 09-10 season awarded total prize pools worth $20,209,935 at 11 tournament stops.
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