GULF COAST POKER

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GCP PODCASTS

Apple Podcast: Gulf Coast Poker Podcast

BLOGS

DINE ON THE WHALES

Wild Bill's reflections on poker, sports, and issues facing the Gulf Coast. Wild Bill is one half of GCP. Poker player, poker coach, and Gulf Coast Poker Tour operator.

POKER IS WAR>

Gene D is the other half of GCP. Gene shares his outlook on the local and national poker scene. His mantra is money won is sweeter than money earned.

THE POKER MONKEY

Will Souther is the Poker Monkey. Take a look at his always entertaining views on the tournament poker circuit, gambling and life in general. The founder of the Monkey Minions never sugarcoats it.

NO DOUBT'N NOLAN DALLA

Nolan Dalla.com is where you find the wit and wisdom of one of the most well known poker writers in the industry. His home blog covers a wide range of topics written with that singular Dalla conviction.

LITTLE THOUGHTS

Jonathan Little an all time top tournament poker earners, is from Pensacola and currently operates a coaching site, which includes his blogs and videos you can find it here.

POKER FACES IN THE CROWD

BEN SAXTON is writing a poker book based on the Gulf Coast scene. Here is an archive of interviews and features of poker players from all over but with a spotlight mostly on our locals.

N-SIDE POKER

PLAYER N scribes tales of grifters, sleaze balls, and beautiful card sharks all hustling on the Coast.

PARTNERS

MR. APPLE:
World famous New Orleans candy apples and signature desserts. Around the corner from Harrahs NOLA. Order yours online right now!

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CAESAR'S WEEKLIES

6PM MONDAY, TUESDAY WEDNESDAY, 11AM SATURDAY

UPCOMING GCP TOUR OR GCP COVERED EVENTS:

GCP 20th ANNIVERSARY TOURNAMENT
Buyin: $520
Flights October 10 1:15 pm, October 11 1:15 pm, and October 12 11:15 am
Caesar's New Orleans

Anniversay Party October 12
9 pm Port Orleans Brewery

Late Restart October 13, 2:15 pm

"THE MILLY IN PHILLY IX"

October 17th - 27th
Pearl River Resorts
Choctaw, Mississippi

PREVIOUS SCHEDULE

POKER GRAS
October 31st - November 10th

Featuring 2024 GCP Awards
PREVIOUS SCHEDULE HOTEL

THE HEATER 2025*
Expect similar to 2024 which was...
$3 MILLION DOLLARS IN GUARANTEES

One Million Dollar Guarantee on Opener.
One Million Dollar Guarantee on Main Event.
Over a million dollars in guarantees the rest of the week.

Early January 2025 *GCP COVERED EVENT

"THE MILLY IN PHILLY X"

March 2025 Pearl River Resorts Choctaw, Mississippi
PREVIOUS SCHEDULE

SPRING 7 CLANS POKER CUP SERIES
Presented by GCP TOUR

COUSHATTA CASINO RESORT

April 2025
Look for a return of the Clash of the Clans group event.
Kinder, Louisiana
SCHEDULE COMING SOON

PODCAST

Interview with Steve Bierman

If you've spent time in the Gulf Coast poker scene, odds are that you've seen—or heard—Steve Bierman. A native Louisianan and a cardroom regular for over a decade, Steve has always been quick with a joke and eager to laugh. He also boasts an impressive poker resume, with over $770,000 in Hendon Mob cashes and two WSOP final tables. Steve sat down with Ben, Bill, and Gene to discuss his poker origin story, his deep run in this summer's WSOP Main Event, how his background as an entrepreneur helps him on the felt, and much more.

Apple Podcast: GULF COAST POKER PODCAST

NEWS

POTOMAC POKER OPEN*

at MGM NATIONAL HARBOR
Oxon Hill, Maryland

RESULTS:

JUSTIN LIBERTO WINS MAIN EVENT:

Six players returned for the finale of the MGM National Harbor Potomac Poker Open and Justin Liberto came out on top winning $190,580. Liberto played a steady, aggressive game, took over the chip lead and barely looked back. Daniel Lim got to about dead even in heads up play but couldn't keep up with Liberto and ultimately finished second winning $167,430.

Marcia Kuntz finished as the last woman sitting winning $94,780. With 373 entrants this surpassed the $1,000,000 Guarantee and paid 47 places. First to min-cash past WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehan. Also cashing MGM National Harbor Poker Ambassador John "Cakes" Auville. Cakes made a pay jump grinding a short stack up to 40th.

O'CONNELL AND RIPNICK CHOP HIGH ROLLER:

Drew O'Connell and his friend from New Jersey John Ripnick made it to heads up in the $4,000 High Roller Event. O'Connell and Ripnick worked out a deal with Drew winning over $77k and Ripnick over $53k.

BRADY BASHES $1,000,000 GUARANTEED EVENT #2:

Brady Bash won $163,430 for first place besting Maxwell Schrack heads up. Schrack won $114,590 for second. A slew of locals cashed this event with 237 players in the money from 1889 entrants.

SUMMER SIZZLER SERIES:

CAESERS NEW ORLEANS JULY 18-28
RESULTS

EVENT 1 SCORCHER:

Mihail Karasoulis won $26,136 for first place after a short heads up duel with Lucas Cordeiro. Karasoulis won $27,000 in the first Poker Gras Main Event in 2018 and started off this new series by winning almost the same amount AND (spoiler alert) the second event here.

Daniel Holmes, Louis Lipps, last woman sitting Nancy Decuers, Darren Ortego, Craig Carroll, Carlton Meitzler and Charles Esque rounded out the final table.

EVENT 2 NIGHT OWL:

Mihail Karasoulis and John Cressend (pictured above) chopped the Night Owl after being almost dead even in chips. Both won $7,826 and came to an agreement because the blinds had gotten so high and the hour was late.

Bert Hammant the last 7 Clans Poker Cup Series Main Event winner finished third for $4624. Corey Harrison, Heath Smith, John "Respect the Sheriff" Marcello, Luke Martin, Lucas Cordeiro, Satheesh Francis and Louis Azemar also made the final table. Louis Lipps earned his second cash.

EVENT 3 SIZZLER MAIN EVENT:

Kooroush "Dany" Ghaedi chopped heads up with Louis Lipps (three for three in cashes). Dany won $40,000 and Louis $33,059.

Josh Pamler won almost $21k for third. Chris Dupuy won $15.5k for fourth. George Loukatos, Lucas Coredeiro (also three for three) Russell Sartin, Scott Gronroos, Kenny Milam and Joe Hebert were at the final table too.

WSOP UPDATES:

MINIONS ASSEMBLING:

Once again, for the 10th year running, Will "Poker Monkey" Souther has assembled a team of poker players to tackle the WSOP Main Event. For the last couple of years GCP has been active in supporting the group with most of the players having a connection to our footprint. The five players named so far are Michael Esquivel, Allan Farber, Christian Iacobellis, Starr Valdez, and Jordan Rusell. Investors (still room for more--dm us on facebook if you want a piece), buy shares for $200. 50 shares funds a player. Should a player cash investors get the buy-in back first and then 65% of the profit. The player gets 35% (with player friendly tax considerations on min-cashes). Each $200 share has a equal piece of all players. The more players we have and the more shares sold the more dilluted the individual share is.

If you are looking to invest the Minions, again DM us ASAP on Facebook if you can make an e-payment. Couple of really good players on standby if we can more.

WSOP UPDATES:

BENTON'S BRACELET WIN:

Evan Benton, of Houma, LA, took down the $1500 Freezeout event to win $412,484 and a WSOP Bracelet. He bested 2317 entrants including runner up Balakrishna Patur.

He told WSOP.com before the tournament he was due to go back home but 'I'm not going home down, so let me fire in this one.' And it paid off. I guess the wife's not so mad anymore!" Picture from www.wsop.com.

DEEP RUNS:

*Joe Hebert, finished 3rd in an online bracelet event winning over $66k. Last year, Joe finished second in a similar event winning $88k.

*Jared Ingles, of Dry Prong, LA finished 18th in the $3,000 NLHE 6 Handed event for $23,071.

*Josh Palmer, of Blue SPrings, AL won $4,281 for 19th place in the $1500 Seven Card Stud event.

DEEP STACKING:

Metairie's John Cressend won a WSOP 4pm Daily Deepstack for $12,831. Second outright win for John this summer. Greg Urbanski and Preston McEwen finished second in Deepstacks of their own.

WSOP UPDATE:

MORE BULLETS FOR CHAMBERS WITH THIRD PLACE FINISH:

The $1500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event captured our interest with Dan Lowery of Arkansas and Cody Stanford of Mississippi bagging top five stacks. In the end the highest finisher from the region was Wally Chambers of Baton Rouge who won over $125k for third place. One year removed from a second place finish in the $3,000 Nine Game Mix the $125k represents only the third biggest score for Walter in WSOP and WSOP-C events. It is his second cash of the young series.

It's been an impressive 2024 for Chambers as he closes in on $300,000 in winnings for the year. He had multiple cashes in the PokerGO Tour Mixed Games series including a first in No Limit 2-7 Single draw for $63,000 in March

Dan Lowery finished in 10th winning almost $17k. Yuval Bronshtein won over $13k for 15th. Shannon Shorr won almost 11k for 22nd and Cody Stanford finished in 24th for $8.8k. Leif Force (30th) and Joshua Ray of Chattanooga (37th) also made deep runs.

DEARDORFF LAST WOMAN SITTING:

The Mystery Millions Bounty event featured Kristen Deardorff going further than any other lady in the field. She won $29,660 plus some bounties for 31st place.

CRESSEND AND VIRTUSIO WIN:

Metairie's John Cressend and Pensacola's Jaymie Virtusio both won non WSOP Vegas events. Cressend took down a Golden Nugget event (just under $10k) and Virtusio won an event at the Aria. John also just cashed the WSOP $1500 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw event. With 13 left Mississippi's Jim Williams chip leads there.

MINIONS UPDATE:

It's that time of year again. Monkey's Minions are opening up for applications and more importantly investors. Haven't had the best showing the last few times so we need to step it up. If you are interested in being a Minion or even better investing (and possibly being a Minion too) watch this space as updates will be coming fast and furious soon.

Will Souther created the Minions. Having spoken to him recently and seeing an email to his investors he's up for another round and we are happy to lend a hand again.

The Last Minion standing last year is usually the first in line the next year. So the first spot will be that player... which if memory serves correctly was Alec Wilson (?). Other players from last year that just missed the cut, are already are in contention for this year are Jeremy Moore, David Aker, Allen Farber. Had some players nominated that may or may not be interested in playing but another solid roster of potential candidates. Will start a Facebook survey for suggestions..

WSOP-C CHEROKEE WRAP-UP:

HAWKINS ALL TIME RING WINNER:

Maurice Hawkins (photo from www.wsop.com) won his 16th WSOP-C ring by taking down the Cherokee Main Event and earning another $259,160 for first place. One of the leaders for GCP Player of the Year Matt Higgins added to his resume by finishing second for $160,176. James Calderaro won over $117k for third place.

Trace Henderson finished 9th when his pocket 8s found the pocket Kings of Maurice all in pre. Trace won over $23k.

Other familiar names winning over $10k include Hamid Izadi, Eric Sutton, John Major, David Lee, and Dale Roesel. Josh Palmer, Rigo Vangarelli, Kyle Cartwright, Donovan Dean, Levi Carden all placed in the top 50. 145 players cashed out of the 981 entrants.

STANFORD STYMIES CARDEN:

Two fixtures at GCP events Cody Stanford of Tupelo and Levi Carden of Flomaton, AL got heads up in the High Roller event. Cody prevailed winning almost $57k with Levi pocketing a little over $35k. Kyle Cartwright cashed yet another high roller as 12 of 98 entrants made the money in the $2200 buy-in event.

MONSTER STACK:

Pablo Vladivieso of Jacksonville earned over $118 for first. He beat David Knuckles of Murfreesboro, TN heads up. Knuckles palmed over $73k for second. Cody Stanford finished third winning $55k (adding to his case for GCP POY). Derrick Cutler earned over $41k for fourth.

Of the 2,639 players that entered 381 cashed including: Marshall White, Matt Higgins, Preston McEwen, Donnie Phan, LeDarren Banks, Maggie Fox, Jaymie Virtusio, Captain Tom Franklin, Chad Varnas, Roongsak Griffeth, David Champion, Maurice Hawkins, and Robert Hankins.

POKER NEWS LINKS:

POKER ECLIPSED BY THROWING EGGS:

With a more adversial relationship between the U.S. and China, financial professionals in China have put Texas Hold'em on the backburner and are playing Guandan (known as throwing eggs) instead. The card game involves allies and being first to discard a hand. Also, no betting (boo) but with China cracking down on illegal gambling--it's a safe choice. Go here for more.

STEVE ALBINI RECORD PRODUCER AND TWO TIME WSOP BRACELET WINNER PASSES:

He produced some of music's most influential artists including Nirvana, The Breeders, Pixies, and PJ Harvey. He was outspoken about many things including his dislike of Steely Dan and the usual trappings of poker players.

This Ringer article is a great profile of a man who also won two WSOP bracelets.
Go here.

THE LODGE TO DALLAS SHOT DOWN:

Doug Polk, Andrew Neeme, and Brad Owens hoped to open another Lodge poker club, this one in Dallas, but the city council voted it down. Cardplayer has the recap.

USING LESSONS FROM POKER AS LESSONS FOR LOVE:

One woman's love affair with poker transitioned into using the game to find true love. Go Here.

SOUTHERN POKER LAGNIAPPE SERIES:

Currently Southern Poker is hosting another Lagniappe Poker Series at the Horseshoe Lake Charles. Jimmy Patton and Bonnie Weitzel (pictured) took down the Seniors and Ladies Events respectively. Series will continue through the weekend.

WSOP-C TUNICA WRAP UP:

MAIN EVENT:

Klinten Griffin of Franklin, TN won $127k for first place after besting Brazilian Lucian Carmago heads up.

Billy Dickerson of Covington, LA won $55k for third and Trace Henderson of Gulfport, MS won $40k for fourth. Daniel Kusnerak placed seventh for 16k. Also in the top 20: Eric Sutton 9th (10k), Levi Carden 10th (8.4k), Mark Davis 11th (8.4k), Donald Crabtree 12th (8.4k), Michael Esquivel 14th (6.9k), Chris Hight 15th (6.9k), Carl Masters 18th (5.8k) and Walker Miskelly 19th (5k).

Others who cashed include Michael Monaghan, Robert Donald, Cody Stanford, Denise Pratt, Hamid Izadi, Tiffany Keathley, Preston McEwen, Justin Donato, and Tommy Burleson.

PLO:

Cody Stanford (pictured above) won over 10k for first place in the PLO event (photo from www.wsop.com) . Cody is making a strong case for winning GCP Player of the Year after winning Tour Player of the Year Last year. Jeremy Letson, also of Tupelo, won $4234 for third. John Holley of Destin finished fourth. Also Cashing Adam Campbell, Jeter Brock, Preston McEwen and Ronald Sharp.

WSOP-C TUNICA WRAP UP:

LADIES EVENT:

Bonnie Weitzel prevailed over an 80 person field. She won $6,000 for first place. Teresa Lammie second. Ashley Morales (aka Ash Kardash) fourth. Jessica Roberts finished 8th. Weitzel is making a strong case to be GCP Lady Player of the Year.

COTANT CONTENT IN FIRST:

Adam Cotant (pictured above; photo from www.wsop.com) of Tuscaloosa won his second ring and $13,723 for first place in a $400 post-lim event. Tersa Lammie, Michael Monaghan, John Duke, Tom Burleson, and Wesley Jones also cashed.

BURTON DOESN'T GIVE PEACE A CHANCE:

Nolan Burton took down first place in the final event besting Peace Marvel heads up. A loaded final table including Jaymie Virtusio, Preston McEwen, Walker Miskelly, William Anderson and Chad Marsh. All in the money. Burton won almost 10k for first and Peace Marvel a little over 6k for second.

COUSHATTA 7 CLANS WRAP UP:

MAIN EVENT:

Bertrand Hammant of Metaire won over $38k in a non chopped Main Event. Xiao Probst of Missouri City, TX was the last woman sitting finishing second for $23,700. Jerry Giroir third for $16,500. Shannon Sizemore fourth for $13K

COMPLETE RESULTS:

1 Bertrand Hammant III Metairie, LA 38,175
2 Xiao Probst Missouri City, TX 23,700
3 Jerry Giroir Lafayette, LA 16,500
4 Shannon Sizemore Foley, AL 13,125
5 Jed Dyrek Lake Charles, LA 9,750
6 Clay Henry Many, LA 6,750
7 Brian Peel Alexandria, LA 5,250
8 Austin Fontenot Baton Rouge, LA 4,500
9 Justin Brassieur Lake Charles, LA 3,000
10 Mohamed Kassaran Houston, TX 2,625
11 Daniel Doucet Church Point, LA 2,625
12 Glen Moores Lafayette, LA 2,625
13 Clint Dutil Youngsville, LA 2,250
14 Freddy Ardoin Lacassine, LA 2,250
15 Joseph Golas Beaumont, TX 2,250
16 Todd Leblanc Beaumont, TX 1,875
17 Sean Kakareke Lynbrook, TX 1,875
18 Jimmy Patton Oakdale, LA 1,875
19 Tomas Paredes Lake Charles, LA 1500
20 David Kendrick Natchidoches, TX 1500
21 Christopher Dupuy Baton Rouge, LA 1500
22 Blake Baroussse Lafayette, LA 1500
23 Porter Pierce Winsboro, TX 1500
24 Shawn Calvint Lafayette, LA 1500

PLO:

Randy Lege of Duson won the event beating Joshua CLanton of Charlotte, NC in heads up play.

TRIPLE STACK:

Michael Benton made a heads up deal and took first place for over $11k. Michael Clinton of Pollock, LA second place with $10.5k. Louis Azemar third.

COUSHATTA 7 CLANS WRAP UP:

HOLMES AT HOME IN FIRST:

Daniel Holmes won over $28k for first place in event one. He bested Daniel Blocker of Centerville, TX in heads up play. Blocker won $17k for second.

Jacob Seale, Justin Brassieur, Maggie Fox, Stephen Bierman, Scott Sanford, Clay Henry, Michael Fontenot, Curtis Collins and Brandon Gill among those in the moeny.

ROOKIES 1 AND 2:

Nick Young won first place in a pretty loaded Rookies 1 field. Amber Douglas and Richard Bonin also cashed. Young's victory came via a three way chop with Gary Bellow and Danniel Tupper.
Brandon Dusang beat Gary Murrey heads up in the second Rookies event.

SENIORS 1 AND 2:

Bobby Dupree took down the first seniors event after a deal with Ralph Reid and Freddie Ardoin. Dupree won almost 5k on the day with Raplph and Freddie both making more than $3300.
Clay Henry beat Robbie Matthews heads up ton win the second seniors event. Huey Hulin, Shawn Calvint and Randy Lege also in the money.

SIZZLER:

Russell Koch of Lumberton, TZ won over $5k for first place. Wade Smith and Clay Henry also in the money.

COUSHATTA 7 CLANS WRAP UP:

BIG MONSTER STACK:

Derek Normand, maybe because so many of his big scores happen in Texas, continues to make the case he's long overdue to win a GCP Award.

The Lake Charles native took down this event winning over 9k for first place. Clint Bordelon, one of the all time social media contest goats, won over 5k for second. Shawn Calvit, Daniel Holmes, Huey Hulin, Prissy Giroir also in the money.

BIG BONUS:

Louis Azemar and Tai Cao made a heads up deal. Lee Thibodaux and Chuck Brady also cashed.

NIGHTLIES:

Ron Dalgo, Clinton Bordelon, Justin Willis, and Clint Dutil all won a nightly over the course of the series.

WSOP-C CHEROKEE WRAP UP:

INGLES OVER PHO IN PLO:

Jared Ingles won over $40k for first place in the $600 PLO event that attracted over 380 entries. Chico Pho won $25k for second place. Carl Masters fourth for $13k. Kevin Eyster, Allen Kessler, Dale Roesel, John Holley, and Morton Davis were among the 58 players who cashed.

LOWERY LOVES IT MORE:

Dan Lowery chewed up the mammonth Monster Stack tournament winning over $148k for first place and won his 15th ring. 3,577 entries generated a prize pool just under $600k. Kevin Eyster, Carlos Loving, Joe Laro, John Holley, Aaron Hernandez, Marshall White, Preston McEwen, and Rigo Vangarelli some of the 500+ players that cashed.

CARTWRIGHT WINS NINTH:

Kyle earned another six figure score with the victory in the $1100 Hold'em event. $111k went into the pocket of one of the goats in the region. Josh Arieh, Cody Stanford, John Holley, Kevin Grinder, Narimaan Ahmadi, Donnie Phan, and Hamid Izadi also cashed.

WSOP-C TUNICA MAIN EVENT:

HIGGINS AGAIN!

Matt Higgins of Rossville, GA bested a stacked final table to win his fifth WSOP-C ring. Higgins won over $167k. This is after just winning over $220k at the Beau Rivage Heater. Has to be an early favorite for GCP POY of the year. With 568 entrants the prize pool swelled to $791k.

Dale Roesel from Hixson, TN won over $103k for second place. BJ MCBrayer of Tuscaloosa won $74k for third place. Eric Salazar won almost $24k for seventh place. Other notables on the final two tables included Dan Lowery (11th $11.8k), Barry Schultz (13th $9.6k), Jared Ingles (16th $8k), and Freddie Ardoin (18th $8k).

Players who also cashed included: Dylan Lemery, Cody Stanford, Edward Chevallier, Maurice Hawkins, Joe Laro, Justin Grider, Justin Donato, Allen Kessler, Jeremy Eyer, Carl Masters, Preson McEwen, Donovan Dean, and Jesse Lott.

WSOP-C TUNICA WRAP-UP:

EVENT 10: 6th ring for Hamid Izadi in $600 Black chip Bounty for just under $20k. Second place Jared Ward won $12k. Also in the money: Donald Crabtree, Eric Roberts, Carl Masters, Jaymie Virtusio, Eric Sutton, and Justin Kelley.

EVENT 12: Jake Green bested Nicholas Norris of Birmingham to win first place and 15k in the $400 NLHE event. Levi Carden third, Rob Lemke fourth, Corey Bierria fifth, and Barry Schultz 8th making it a loaded final table. Also cashing: David Garrison, Christopher Selph, Walker Miskelly, and Justin Donato.

EVENT 14: Second Seniors event went to Gary Bass of Memphis. Bass won just under 15k for first. Mark Mead of Olive Branch, MS won $6,392 for third. Also in the money; Forrest Wofford, Michael Myers, Rose Cooney, Danny Miles, Thuy Djedjos, Jeter Brock, and James Misenheimer.

EVENT 15: Another $400 NLHE Big 30k this one won by John Gallaher of Lebanon, TN for $16,422. Joe "Rivage" Laro second for over $10k. Also cashing, Thai Ha, Alec Wilson, Justin Donato, Preson McEwen, Peace Marvel, Hamid Izadi, and Deborah Hardwick.

EVENT 16: Sam Hicks won $13k as he prevented Dan Lower from winning another ring for his collection in heads up action. Lowery earned over $8k for second place in the Double Stack. Donovan Dean finished 4th for just under 4k. Those in the money included: Hamid Izadi, David Digesu, Dvid Garrison, Justin Grider, Spencer Chamlin, Preston McEwen, and Jaymie Virtusio.

WSOP-C TUNICA WRAP-UP:

EVENT 1: Terry Hawkins of Cordova, TN won $14,842 for first. Jesse Lott of Selmer, TN $9,171. 183 entrants in the $400 Double Stack Opener. Notables to cash Loi Hoang, Jeff Copeland, Cody Stanford, Chris Nunnally, Bill Latta, and Donnie Phan.

EVENT 2: The $400 Big 30k had 283 entrants for a prize pool just under 100k. Tomas Teran of Lake Charles, LA won over $20k for first. Marcus Milam of Huntsville, AL second for $12.5k.

Also cashing: Cody Pack, Jesse Lott (again), Cody Stanford (again), Donnie Phan (again), Jeff Copeland (again), and Kenard Bowie.

EVENT 3: Almost 1000 entries in this one with Ryan Kinder of Missouri taking home over $52k for firsst. Union City, TN native Kevin Goree won $32k for second. Those also cashing over 5 figures: 3rd place Michael Belken($23,232) of Imperial, MO; 4th place Radwan Khuri ($16,945) of Memphis, TN; and 5th place Thomas Watson ($12,572) of Saltillo, MS.

EVENT 4: West is Best in the Seniors. Brighton, TN's James West won a (blue) hair under $20k for first place in the $300 Seniors event. Wes Edelo of Arlington, TN won $8,600 for third place. Also cashing Richard Heard, David Lee, Donna Heard, Rob Lemke, Karl Chesser, Chad Marsh, John (sans Hall) Oates, Mark Mead, and Rose Cooney.

EVENT 6: $400 Six Handed tournament had a prize pool over $65k with just under entrants. Loaded final table saw Nicholas Lafata of Springfield, Il get out with the money against some of the region's top players. The final table featured: second place David Moses, ($9,908) of Asheville, NC; 3rd place Jaymie Virtusio ($6,733) of Pensacola, FL; 4th place Walker Miskelly ($4,688) of Tupelo, MS; 5th place Steven Pionk ($3,346) of Hernando, MS; and 6th place David Digesu ($2,450) of Huntsville, AL. Also cashing Cody Stanford, Ty Watson, Donnie Phan, Matt Doyle, and Randall Tatum.

EVENT 7: Nicholas Hobbs won almost 10k for first place in the $400 PLO tournament with exactly 100 entries. Brian Moore of Nashville second for just under $6k. Also cashing Jeremy Moore, Charlie Dawson, Chip Ervin, Donnie Phan, and Marvin Williams.

EVENT 8: Michael Leonard of Kennesaw, GA won the $400 Monster stack. Leonard earned over $37k for first. Conner Belcher of Kentucky second for $23k. Also cashing Loi Hoang, Donnie Phan, John Evans, Preson McEwen, Barry Schultz, Rob Lemke, and Cody Stanford.

EVENT 9: Teresa Lammie (pictured) of Arlington, TN bested Donnie Phan heads up to win $9418 in the $300 Turbo. Phan won $5,653 for second. Also amon those cashing; Maurice Hawkins, James Misenheimer, Joseph Brewer, and Russell Boyette.

POKER LINKS AND BITES:

AWARD SEASON:

Nominations for the Global Poker Awards have been announced and votes are being tabluated. Go here for information.

Our little corner of the poker world got a little bit of attention. GCP Award winning Content Provider of the Year Caitlin Comesky is in the mix for more awards as are RunGood Poker Tour and principals Tana Karn and Hayley Hochstetler (what a great photo Weinman Wins she took). Wolfgang Poker aka Alexander Seibt is also up for content awards and has a connection to the South.

WSOP Main Event Champion Daniel Wienman is one of four candidates for Best Final Table Performance. William Kopp is up for Breakout Player. Poker at the Lodge is up for best live stream. And unfortunately, Preston McEwen just missed winning Mid-Major player of the year based on points.

What was missed? Surely, Brock Gary's hand in January of '24 merited consideration for Hand of the Year considering the situation, the consequences and what Brock said. Some other very deserving candidates from around the region for additional honors (course we are biased).

ONLINE MARKET TO ALMOST TRIPLE BY 2030:

Looking for a DEEEEEEEEEEEEEP dive into the sector? Go here:

ONLINE POKER TO NEW YORK?

One of the new markets for online poker could be an avalanche of states approving at home play. New York is the latest with a bill for "remote bets" courtesy of Senator Addabbo State Senate Gaming Committee Chair.

THE HEATER 2024
WRAP UP
$3 MILLION DOLLARS IN GUARANTEES

One Million Dollar Guarantee on Opener.
One Million Dollar Guarantee on Main Event.
Over a million dollars in guarantees the rest of the week.

January 4 through 15, 2024

BEAU RIVAGE HEATER MAIN EVENT:

The Beau Rivage Main Event bested the guarantee of 1 million by over $500k with 1,490 entries. A four way chop saw Ruman Meman of Pensacola, FL get the trophy and the biggest chunk of money winning $196,682. Meman's a recreational player who has had an incredible year, winning $700k for second in a Wynn Summer Classic event. He's made $900k, of his career earnings of $950k, in the last eight months. The other $50k has been earned since 2017 with 7 sporadic results.

Will Leffingwell of Houston took second place for $183,455. The Poker Stallions podcast host also has crushed the last 8 months winning a bracelet in Mixed Omaha for $253,651 plus another $100k in other results.

Third in the chop was Mark Rose of Orlando winning $159,998. Rose loves the Beau with his biggest score coming here years ago winning $177k then.

The final member of the chop, John Dolan, won $152,142. Like Rose, Dolan has also won a Main Event at the Beau previously ($336,105). He's more well known for finishing sixth in the WSOP Main Event. He has over $5 million in cashes for his career. This chop is only his seventh biggest score to date.

Stuart Breakstone of Collierville, TN just missed the chop but even getting to fifth place to win $64,150 was a massive accomplishment. Earlier in the tournament he had lost a hand leaving him 1/4 of a big blind and he still managed to navaigate his way a big payday

Nick Ahamdi, David Nicholson, Jason Gooch, and Russell Sartin rounded out the final table.

	Name	Prize	Hometown
1	Ruman Meman	$196,682	Pensacola, FL
2	Will Leffingwell	$183,455	Houston, TX
3	Mark Rose	$159,998	Orlando, FL
4	John Dolan	$152,142	Lithia, FL
5	Stuart Breakstone	$64,150	Collierville, TN
6	Narimann Ahmadi	$39,113	Alpharetta, GA
7	David Nicholson	$35,984	Perkinston, MS
8	Jason Gooch	$32,072	Vidor, TX
9	Russell Sartin	$29,726	Slidell, LA

BEAU RIVAGE HEATER WRAP UP:

M & M A PAIR OF TASTY SCORES:

In the opening weekend two GCP reguars set the tone for the series by winning the first two events. Matt Higgins (pictured) took most of the loot in Event 1 winning over $222k for first place. Michael Monaghan won Event Two for $32,917 after a favorable chop.

In Event 1, Chris Dewhurst playing his first big tournament finished second winning over $140k. Maurice Hawkins, not playing his first poker tournament, finished third for just under $100k.

A total of 531 players cashed with the top 15 earning five figures on a $400 buy-in. Not too shabby. Overall 4704 entries created a prizepool $500k over the $1 million guarantee.

In Event 2, Monaghan's chop went seven ways; Damien Ball, Gary Snow, Bryne Wilson, Vincent Freeman and Frank Alpandinar all over five figures. This one also smashed the guarantee (the theme for week).

CARTWRIGHT ALRIGHT WITH ANOTHER FIRST PLACE:

The High Roller Freezeout went to Kyle Cartwright who won over $60k for first place. He beat Danny Doucet heads up for the title. David Moses, Daniel Scroggins, Blake Purvis, and Levi Darden all made over five figures at the final table. Will Givens, Cody Carlino, Simon Dabney, Russell Boyette and Dale Roesel rounded out the in the money finishes.
120 entries created the prize pool of $213k.

INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY WINS MYSTERY BOUNTY EVENT AND ALL THE MYSTERY BOUNTIES:

Norberto Charuf of Argentina, or is it Spain, won $47k for first place after a heads up deal with Chet Sickle ($37k). Charuf won an additonal $30k on top from Mystery Bounty pulls. He pulled a $10k bounty, a $5k bounty, and a slew of other prizes on his way to an incredible day.
Charuf has only 14 hendon mob cashes but in SIX different countries.

David Baize, Donald Colletti, Evan Benton, Kenneth Harbaugh, Randy Lege, Luther Tran and Michael Ison completed the final table.

SENIORS SPLIT IT:

An eleven way chop headlined by Jerry Bergeron of Houma for $11,267 each ended the seniors tournament. With 544 players they almost double the guarantee of $100k. Nancy Decuers, Deborah Berrien, and Vickie Thrift all got a piece of the loot. Ralph Reid, Stephen Bierman, and Ronnie Bryant also in the chop.

MACKIE THE MAC DADDY IN OMAHA 8 OR BETTER AND MIGHTY QUIN WINS MONSTER:

Terry Mackie won over 1$10k for first place in the event that double the $25k guarantee with 164 entries. Taylor Douglas and Anthony Magee finished second and third.

Quin Lowry won over $68k for first place in the Monster Stack. The Niceville, FL resident beat Trung Tran heads up. Nancy Birnbaum, Terry Moore and Cord Garcia all made the final table.

BEAU RIVAGE HEATER WRAP UP:

PRESTO FOR PRESTON AND KATERINA:

Preston McEwen and Katerina Lukina (pictured) teamed up to win the Tag Team Event each pocketing $6,000. Cody Stanford and Maurice Hawkins took a little less after a chop winning just under $6k each. Fitting a co-ed team won it as there were lots of co-ed teams at the final table include two married couples. Lonny and Bonnie Weitzel of Texarkana, TX as well as Rigo and Angela Vangarelli of Georgia made the money. Sarah Ortego and Chris Dupuy of Baton Rouge also went deep along with Deborah Rudolph and Tim Nance of Indiana.

ROSS FIRST FOR FIRST RESPONDERS:

Adam Ross of Roswell, GA won over $10k for first place. Robert Elliot $8k for second. The final table featured Alex Dmytraczenko, Jeremy Moore, Michael Mestey and Teddy Conner. This tournament offered a discounted buy-in for first responders which was covered by the Beau Rivage. Great concept.

SELPH AND YOUNG CHOP ROOKIES:

Somehow Nick Young chopped the rookies heads up for $8k and is STILL eligible for the future rookies events. He stands about $800 under $25k in earnings. This is his third Rookies event cash and his second second.

Leslie Selph of Houston, added to his lone lifetime cash with the victory (also $8k).

MORGA AND ALY CHOP DOUBLE STACK:

Reigning GCP Tour Championship winner Youssef Aly got a little less in the heads up chop with Ronald Morga ($15k to 16K). This event TRIPLED the guarantee and featured Marilyn Charmaine, John Cressend, Rebekah Crosby, and Scott Weiss at the final table. Amber Douglas, Kip Williams, Prissy Giroir, and Derrick Cutler also cashed.