Sunday, 29th of March 2009,
EVENT: Dream Team Poker, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
You can see more information on this new format of poker tournaments at www.dreamteampoker.com
After weeks of contemplating the trip to Vegas, Myself along with my team mates David and Dina Rylander from Collierville, Tn. Decided to make the adventure, This was a spectacular event, a great venue and exceptional staff from Caesars and the Dream Team Poker crew.
FRIDAY:
Began with a very elaborate welcome reception, team jerseys were handed out to all participates, David, Dina and Myself were then off to the Bellagio for a 7pm ($160 Buy In Weekly Tournament) Dina was taken out on a suck out hand at approx 20 players left, David and Myself eventually made it to the final table, Where I went out in 9th place, When they were down to 7 players (approx. 2am, They agreed to split the purse and call it a night) David was in about 3rd chip position at that time.
SATURDAY:
Dream Team Tournament begins, This was without a doubt, The who's who of the poker world, Some of the contestants included: Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Tiffany Michelle, Kathy Liebert, Lisa Parsons, T.J. Cloutier, Chino Rheem, The Ice Man, Liz Lieu, Theo Tran, Paul Wasicka, Joe Sebok, Justin Bonomo, David Williams, Dennis Phillips, Celebs Shannon Elizabeth and Mekhi Phifer, Just to name a select few.
Dream Team CEO Daniel Delshad, his father Jimmy Delshad, the mayor of Beverly Hills, and Las Vegas Congresswoman Shelley Berkley have announced shuffle up and deal. Time to get it on. A half hour late, but pretty standard as far as tourneys go.
Players will begin the day with 10,000 chips. Levels will last 40 mins, with the first starting at 25-50. 444 Players will now hit the felt.DAY 1 COVERAGE CLICK HERE:
Play started out very cold for myself, (5th hand) Playing A,Q From the button, (3 limpers) I raised to $175, A call from seat 3, and seat 6, other one folds, and we go to the flop, A,8,4 rainbow, Callers checked,I bet out $450, insta call from seat 3, and call from seat 6,Turn was a Q, So now have 2 pair, Checked by seat 3/6, I bet$1600, Insta call from seat 3, Seat 6 folded, OK now what am i against??? River comes K, Seat 3 bets $3500, WOW!!!! What could he have, Now I am scared!! But have to call to see what is up, Is this a bluff, Did he flop a set, and slow playing it?? So I call, He shows KK!!! WOW, For a set of King's. So I am now down to about $4300 of my starting stack of $10,000. OK Back to work!!
Played until Sunday, 29th of March 2009 02:09 AM, We are now down to the money, 25 Players left, Will resume play the next day at 1 pm, Dina went out in approx. 200 place, David faired some better making it to approx 140 players. So our team aspect has pretty much bit the dust. But I still have a shot, With about $119,000 in chips, I am approx in 10th place in chip count, John Reggis is the chip leader with $480,000 chips, and 2nd place is Phillip Rousseaux with $408,000, So still have a way to go.
Short Stack has $26,500, Jamie Gold has $45,000.
SUNDAY:
DAY 2 COVERAGE CLICK HERE:
Players -- Team -- Table-Seat -- Chip Count
Ashley Nataupsky -- Team Aced -- 1-1 -- 89,000
John Regis -- Poker Masters -- 1-2 -- 480,000
Bobby Ramirez -- West Coast Rounders -- 1-4 -- 138,500
Tom McEvoy -- Pic Club.com Pro Team 1 -- 1-5 -- 348,500
Robert Pisano -- Pocket Rockets -- 1-6 -- 366,000
Danny Nelson -- Bikerhaven.net -- 1-7 -- 119,500
Percival -- Runner Runner -- 1-8 -- 398,000
Michael Sims -- Ari's Training Center 4 -- 1-9 -- 130,000
Masih Bahadori -- Poker Poison -- 2-1 -- 141,500
Kia -- Smoking Aces -- 2-2 -- 155,000
Philip Rousseaux -- Claddaghs -- 2-3 -- 408,500
Gary Wieck -- The Three Amigos -- 2-4 -- 26,500
Arshid Torkamaw -- The Clones -- 2-5 -- 75,500
Jarrod Klein -- Party at the Mansion -- 2-6 -- 274,000
Rob Perelman -- Totally Unrewarded -- 2-7 -- 165,000
Thor Hansen -- IPPA Tour -- 2-8 -- 85,500
Joe Shukys -- Team Palace -- 2-9 -- 285,500
Jamie Gold -- Team Aced -- 3-1 -- 39,000
Phil Palermo -- Hellmuth Busters -- 3-3 -- 63,000
Paul Ringer -- NLP -- 3-4 -- 54,000
Lisa Parsons -- Lady Luck -- 3-5 -- 159,000
John Fotris -- Sex Panthers -- 3-6 -- 206,000
Marsha Waggoner -- Pic Club.com 2 -- 3-7 -- 141,000
David Pollack -- Pass the Sugar -- 3-8 -- 84,000
Jeremy Ward -- Do Work -- 3-9 -- 95,500
Day 2 begins with a table re-draw, I am seated with Jamie Gold to my left. A VERY NICE PRO, We talked quite a bit while playing, He chipped up a little, and I was very card dead, But managed to steal a few pots and add some chips to my stack, Play continues through the grind.
Seat 1 - David Pollack (Pass the Sugar) - 336,000
Seat 2 - Ashley Nataupsky (Team Aced) - 328,000
Seat 3 - Gerald Percival (Runner Runner) - 523,000
Seat 4 - Philip Rousseaux (Claddaghs) - 350,000
Seat 5 - Tom McEvoy (PIC Club 1) - 680,000
Seat 6 - Jamie Gold (Team Aced) - 200,000
Seat 7 - Danny Nelson (Bikerhaven.net / Team Jegs.com) - 850,000
Seat 8 - Joe Shukys (Team Palace) - 213,000
Seat 9 - John Regis (Poker Masters) - 970,000
We started the final table with two WSOP Main Event winners bellied up to the felt. Sadly, we're down to just one.
Jamie Gold entered the final table as a short stack, with less that 200K. It wasn't long before he shipped it with 10-6... right into the AK of Bikerhaven's Danny Nelson. The AK held up, sending Gold to the rail in 9th. Tom McEvoy is the only World Champ still seated. Ashley Nataupsky is now the on her own, looking to up her individual payday to go along with the title claimed by Team Aced.
Heads-up play started slow. Blinds were at 80K-160K before Daniel finally took a big bite out of Rousseaux. First, it was Rousseaux with the questionable laydown.
Nelson would call a preflop raise to 350K to see the Q-6-2 flop. Nelson didn't wait for Rousseaux and led out for 300K. Rousseaux came right back with a min-raise. After taking a moment, Nelson moved all in, forcing Rousseaux into the tank.
The last Claddaghs team member sat there for a few minutes, not trying to hide the fact that he had top pair, as he squeezed his hand for those sweating him to see. Eventually, Rousseaux would muck his top pair face up, giving the huge pot and chip lead to Nelson.
A few moments later, Rousseaux was all in and at risk.
It all started with both seeing an unraised flop. With K-8-4 on the board, Rousseaux led out for 160K. Nelson came right back over the top with a min-raise and Rousseaux shipped it.
Rousseaux was all in with J-8 for mid pair. Nelson tabled K-9 for top pair, and was a couple bricks away from the win. After the dealer tossed out a 6 and a 7, Nelson's kings had held up and he is the Dream Team Poker individual champion.
Philip Rousseaux will take home not only $13K for his three-way chop, but he'll get to split $33,300 with team Claddaghs as Dream Team runners-up.
Danny Nelson will pocket an extra $6K for the win. Add that to his chop portion and he'll leave Caesars with $19K. When asked what he planned to do with the money, Nelson quickly replied "this is to recoup my losses from this week. I'm thinking of this as a refund from Caesars."
Top five individual finishes:
Danny Nelson (Team BikerHaven.net) - $19,000 (three-way chop for $13K + $6K for win)
Philip Rousseaux (Team Claddaghs) - $13,000
Jerry Percival (Team Runner, Runner) - $13,000
Ashley Nataupsky (Team Aced) –$6,666
John Regis (Poker Masters) - $5,328
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