2011 June 16 Poker News, Events and Happenings

The Chapel Hill House is to benefit from a poker run. The cabin was converted to provide a place for families to stay while dealing with cancer. It was supposed to be a retirement vacation home for Jason Joseph's father when he was diagnosed with cancer. He went through with obtaining the cabin but then donated it to become a charity retreat. A recent poker run had poker players from the area participate in the Ride for a Cure, the Friends of Chapel Hill House poker run.

One of the largest first place prizes of the season was won yesterday at the 2011 WSOP. The World Series of Poker Event 18 paid out $735,400 for first place. The winner was Foster Hays, who outlasted five tough players in the final day of play in the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event. Hays is an amateur poker player from Dallas, Texas where he works during the day as a medical researcher. Hays is only the second player to win a bracelet this season that is an amateur, with all the rest being poker pro

Hot on the heels of his countryman ElkY yet another French poker pro has won a WSOP event. World Series of Poker Event 22 went to Elie Payan. Payan beat out 1071 players, the largest field ever for a pot-limit Omaha tournament, in order to win his $292,825. Payan is a project manager from Orleans, France, and is 27 years old. The $1,500 pot-limit Omaha Event 22 was the first WSOP victory for the man who goes by "Punisher934" when playing online – and the first WSOP event he'd ever played.