Bryan Devonshire Captures WSOP Circuit Championship in Rincon

Outlasting a field of 70 runners and a final table full of experience and talent, noted online and live professional Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire emerged after a 4½ hour final table as the champion of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event stop at Harrah’s Rincon in San Diego last night.

With a smaller field for this $5,000 buy-in event, it would be the first WSOP Circuit Championship not to pay the entire final table. When players came back for action on Tuesday afternoon, Wei Kai Chang, who has previous experience at a WSOP Circuit Event final table when he finished second to Darrell “Gigabet” Dicken in 2006 at the Harrah’s Rincon event, was the chip leader at the start of final table play.

Chang came to the felt to mix it up with his opponents, but it also proved to be his eventual downfall. He bled chips in the early going and was surprisingly the first player to depart the final table with nothing to show for his efforts. Soon afterward, Darryn Hardin was dispatched in eighth place via a bad beat. Hardin, known as “Eastside” to his friends, fell short of the money for his appearance in San Diego and was highly irritated as he left the playing floor.

Down to the seven men who would walk away with the $328,500 prize pool, there were still two WSOP bracelet winners (poker veteran Howard “Tahoe” Andrew and 2006 Heads-Up champion Dan Schreiber) and one former WSOP Circuit Event ring bearer, Daniel Burke, left among the survivors. Burke, who came into the final table second in chips, departed in seventh place when, holding K-Q offsuit, he pushed his chips into the center against John Ferrell. Ferrell led the entire way with A-J and, once the board came nine-high, Ferrell’s ace played and Burke was out.

Longtime poker player Mike McClain was eliminated in sixth place at the hands of Devonshire. Once Schreiber busted Ron Segni in fifth place, play was down to Andrew, Ferrell, Schreiber, and Devonshire. Schreiber continued to dominate play and, after Ferrell pushed all-in with A-8, Schreiber woke up with Big Slick. Schreiber made the call and, by the end of the board, had made two pair against Ferrell, eliminating the San Diego businessman from the tournament in fourth place.

Perhaps the story of the tournament was the run of Howard “Tahoe” Andrew. Coming into the final table with the second lowest chip stack, the 75 year-old two-time WSOP bracelet winner played masterfully throughout the final table. Up against the two monster stacks of Schreiber and Devonshire, however, Andrew was quickly whittled down to a short stack and put his tournament life on the line with Q-10. Schreiber looked him up with a suited A-9 and, once no saving cards came on the board, Andrew was eliminated from the tournament in third place.

Going into heads-up play, Schreiber, through his multitude of knockouts, held a sizable lead over Devonshire. Schreiber held the chip lead for much of the last half of the tournament and the championship looked as if it was his. However, in a decisive hand late, Devonshire was able to completely reverse the course of the event.

Schreiber, holding K-Q, flopped a queen on an innocent board of Q-4-2 and both players saw the turn. A five brought the fireworks, as Devonshire put the remainder of his chips in the center and drew a call from Schreiber. Devonshire turned up A-3 for a miraculous wheel and had Schreiber drawing dead.

His chip stack crippled to 80,000, Schreiber made a move with 7-5. Devonshire looked down to find A-9 and made the call. An ace came on the flop along with a five, leaving Schreiber drawing to five outs to win the hand. Once the turn and river blanked, Schreiber was ousted in second place and Devonshire walked off with the WSOP Circuit Championship title.

The payouts were as such:

1. Bryan Devonshire - $114,975 + $10,000 seat to 2010 WSOP Championship Event
2. Dan Schreiber - $72,270
3. Howard “Tahoe” Andrew - $49,275
4. John Farrell - $32,850
5. Ron Segni - $26,280
6. Mike McClain - $19,710
7. Daniel Burke - $13,140

With the WSOP less than two months from its start, there are only three WSOP Circuit Events left on the schedule. Harrah’s St. Louis (April 1st to 14th), Caesars Atlantic City (April 14th to 30th) and Harrah’s New Orleans (May 7th to 19th) will be the final three chances for players to earn a WSOP Circuit ring.

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Poker jargon:

OPENERS - Cards in a hand that qualify a player to open the betting.
BURN - To discard the top card of the deck prior to dealing, usually done for every dealing round except the first. The theory being that if somehow the cards are marked (illegally) no one will know what card will next be dealt, only what card will be burned. This makes marked cards less of an advantage, hence tends to reduce cheating.
TOURNAMENT - A highly structured game involving potentially dozens of tables where all participants pay an entry fee and obtain a fixed number of chips. Once a tournament has started, additional players may not enter. As the game progresses players bust out and are eliminated until only one winner remains.
WORLD SERIES OF POKER - A series of several different poker games with relatively large buy-ins, culminating in a $10,000 buy-in no-limit Hold'em tournament, the winner of which is crowned the World Poker Champion. Sponsored by Binion's Horseshoe Club in Las Vegas.
SEAT POSITION - The actual seat a player has, normally numbered sequentially starting with 1 as the first seat to dealer's left. Not to be confused with POSITION in a particular pot. Typically unrelated to play of a hand but often important in peripheral aspects, e.g.: "Seats 1 and 10 are nonsmoking here", "Seat 5 has a good view of the table", "Seat 3 is in a high-traffic area".
DEAD MONEY - Money contributed to the pot by players who have folded.

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