The excitement ran to fever pitch last week at the Hustler Casino as a record-shattering 3,937 entrants over three main events jammed the room to capacity and spilled out the doors. No wonder owner Larry Flynt was beaming from ear to ear as he surveyed the action. Among the many players vying for the rich guaranteed prizes was Poker Hall of Famer Barbara Enright. Enright played in several events but failed to cash.
Winner of the final event, Gregg Shanberg of Irvine, CA, took the $50,000 grand prize holding cards that only Gus Hansen would play, 3, 6 offsuit. There was 5 way action in the final pot, while Shanberg’s garbage cards toppled all hands, including one opponent’s pocket Queens.
For the first time ever, Hustler Casino ran a free online poker tournament which the winner received an all expenses paid trip to the final round of the Grand Slam of Poker in Los Angeles. Thousands of players played online from all around the country leading up to the event, and Joseph Shattuck from Flynt, Michigan was the lucky winner. Joseph was treated with airfare, hotel, meals, and buy-in to the final event. Joseph played the tournament in his lucky Detroit Tigers jersey, and placed 56th in the final event.
Located 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles in Gardena, Hustler is a luxurious Monte Carlo-style casino with 50 dedicated poker tables. With this big success under its belt, the Hustler is gearing up for its next big tournament, the Liz Flynt Fall Classic in mid-October. For that event the guaranteed prize pools are expected to be even bigger.
Here are the results of the six events.
HUSTLER CASINO
GRAND SLAM OF POKER
EVENT 6 7/24-28/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
PLAYERS 1,170
PRIZE POOL $187,620
1. Gregg Shanberg . . . . $50,000
2. Aram Torossian . . . . $25,000
3. N/A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14,000
4. Edward Moncada . . . $8,835
5. Seymour Ogeare . . . . $6,500
6. David Lerman . . . . . . $4,500
7. Richard Munro . . . . . $3,000
8. Abram Assatoury . . . $2,400
9. Robert Suer . . . . . . . . $2,100
EVENT 5 7/23/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM DEEPSTACK
BUY-IN $175
PLAYERS 66
PRIZE POOL $9,970
1. Svetlana Baranovsky . $3,400
2. Kimberly Mcelhannon $2,120
3. Sam Berkow . . . . . . . . $1,350
4. Chris Deaux . . . . . . . . . .$900
5. Toshiya Yamamoto . . . .$750
6. Peter Nolan . . . . . . . . . .$500
7. David Zarrin . . . . . . . . .$350
8. Gioi Luong . . . . . . . . . . .$200
9. Matthew Hurwitz . . . . .$200
EVENT 4 7/20-23/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $150
PLAYERS 1,117
PRIZE POOL $105,805
1. Phillip Pho Tran . . . $30,000
2. Sungho Yang . . . . . . $14,000
3. Suzanne Gray . . . . . . $7,300
4. Nicholas Chow . . . . . . $4,300
5. Bruce Kramer . . . . . . $3,000
6. James Lampley . . . . . $2,300
7. Gary Miles . . . . . . . . . $2,000
8. Katayoun Shariatnejad . $1,750
9. Behzad Javadzadeh . . $1,550
EVENT 3 7/19/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BOUNTY
BUY-IN $200
PLAYERS 180
PRIZE POOL $25,600
1. Steve Reitzfeld . . . . . . $4,355
2. Junpei Terajima . . . . . $4,085
3. Thomas Galic . . . . . . . $2,910
4. Edward Frish . . . . . . . $1,900
5. Shyam Madira . . . . . . $1,950
6. Ronald Swain . . . . . . . $1,700
7. Johnathan Im . . . . . . . $1,200
8. James Lampley . . . . . $1,200
9. Mordemai Aviv . . . . . . .$850
EVENT 2 7/18/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
DEEPSTACK
BUY-IN $175
PLAYERS 66
PRIZE POOL $9,570
1. Bryan Collins . . . . . . . $3,400
2. Jeff Dargah . . . . . . . . $2,120
3. Gary Sacks . . . . . . . . . $1,350
4. Monchai “Tz” Thummong .$900
5. Eric Hamilton . . . . . . . .$750
6. Eugene Tito . . . . . . . . . .$500
7. Benjamin Plaut . . . . . . .$350
8. Brooks Johnson . . . . . . .$200
EVENT 1 7/14-18/12
NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
BUY-IN $150
PLAYERS 1,338
REBUYS 1,181
PRIZE POOL $271,970
Kwinsee Tranwins $58,800 in event #1
1. Kwinsee Khoa Tran $58,500
2. David Mcneiece . . . . $30,500
3. Babken Vardanyan . $20,220
4. Joseph Saccone . . . . $16,000
5. Mark Zwickel . . . . . $13,000
6. Joseph Houlihan . . . $10,000
7. Dongho Cho . . . . . . . . $7,770
8. Justin Lee . . . . . . . . . . $5,150
9. Prince Cassell . . . . . . . . . $3,000
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