Frank Kassela Wins Major WSOP Event

Jun 10, 2010
Kassela claims the $10 000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo bracelet US Army veteran Frank Kassela is the new Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo champion at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, winning the coveted bracelet and $447 446 against a tough field in event 15. The last day of the competition began with 18 survivors and continued for thirteen grueling hours due to the quality of the opposition, which included John Juanda, Vladimir Schmelev, Steve Zolotow, Jennifer Harman, Dario Minieri and Toto Leonidas. The event was finally only completed after 4am. But it was Kassela who prevailed, ending the match with a heads up against Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler and leaving the table with the respect, the bracelet….and that fat paycheck to boost career winnings that were already in excess of a million dollars. Jennifer Harman, who at one time led the field with a chip stack of 1.3 million, decided the heads up composition when she was eliminated in third position by Chainsaw Kessler and departed visibly frustrated. Chainsaw went on to the heads up, only to find himself bested and heading for the exit and a $276,486 second placing prize. This week also saw the completion of a marathon of a competition as event 13 – the $1 000 buy-in NLHE came to a conclusion as 56 survivors of an original field of 3 042 played down to a final table and then a winner. The final table composition included Jared Hamby, Daniel Thomas, Matthew Vance, Jeffrey Gross, Mats Gavatin, Nicholas Heather, David Baker, Kyung Han and Steven Gee going into Day 4 of the event. With the elimination of David Baker in third place for $206 813, the heads up between Steven Gee and Matt Vance started, with the two players slugging away until Gee's cautious but steady approach won the day, the bracelet and the main prize of $472 479. Vance took home $292 232. Event 16 – the $1.500 buy-in Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em competition saw American young gun Carter Phillips (21) leading the field into the final day of play, opposed by 16 other hopefuls, with only Samuel Gerber of Switzerland and Mikhail Lakhitov of Russia hailing from outside the US. Lakhitov was Carter's nearest rival but failed to make it through to the heads up as the young American demolished the opposition on his way to the heads up, which saw Phillips confronting Samuel Gerber after Craig Bergeron departed in third place. Phillips banked $482,774 and his first WSOP bracelet for the win, whilst Gerber took home $298,726, and Craig Bergeron's third placing was worth $189,661. Another popular event – number 17, the $5 000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'Em – attracted a field of 792, playing down to 225 survivors by Day 2, with some fierce and competitive action by entrants with their eyes on a main prize that will be over $800 000, Many of the big names were in the event, such as Chino Rheem, Antonio Esfandiari, Shannon Elizabeth, Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier and Tony G, and a good number of younger internet players like Jeff "yellowsub86" Williams, Amit "amak316" Makhija and James "Flushy" Dempsey. By 11pm Wednesday night Vegas time the money bubble had been reached, meaning the remaining 59 players would cash at least $10 000. Annette Obrestad just made it, only to bust out shortly thereafter after a clash with Samuel Trickett – her first US WSOP cash. Vitaly Lunkin was also out just after the bubble. Steven Goosen was leading the field as InfoPowa went to press, but he had David Benefield and John Luu hot on his heels.
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