With 646 entrants, this year's inaugural event at Harrah's Rincon Casino and Resort tied the 2007 record for the largest poker tournament ever held in San Diego. Located within an hour's drive of San Diego and two hours of Los Angeles, Harrah's Rincon is the eighth of ten tour stops on the 2008-2009 season circuit.

The tournament winner was Michael Robinson, a 21-year-old pre-med student from San Diego who is completing his junior year at UC-San Diego. Robinson's victory was impressive both for his relatively young age and for the manner in which he captured his first tournament victory. During the later stages of the tournament, Robinson staged a fantastic comeback which dazed just about everyone in the crowd, especially the shocked and disappointed second-place finisher.

Robinson was one card away from elimination at one point, but roared back and won the $31,328 cash prize, the official payout for first place.

The $200 buy-in two-day no-limit hold 'em tournament generated $125,324 in prize money, and the top 63 players collected payouts.

When heads-up play began, Clayton Gerow held about a 6-to-1 edge over Robinson. The tournament appeared over when Gerow had A-10 and flopped a ten versus Robison's pocket eights. But the board ran runner-runner to make Robinson a straight, giving him new life. It would all be over within five minutes.

Stunned by the reversal of fortune, half a dozen hands later Gerow got all his chips in with the worst of it holding K-7 on what turned out to be the final hand of the tournament. Robinson held K-J. The final board showed J-10-7-A-9 giving both players a pair. But the jacks scooped the final pot of the night. As the runner up, Gerow received $15,666 and quietly accepted his finish as the runner up and congratulated the winner.

HARRAHS RINCON
WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT
EVENT 3 3/21/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $50
PLAYERS 215
PRIZE POOL $104,275
1. Albert W . . . . . . . . . $26,066
2. John Finnigan . . . . . $16,684
3. Orlando Osorio . . . . $10,428
4. Christopher Black . . $8,759
5. Natalio Pereira . . . . . $7,299
6. Erhart Edquist . . . . . $6,257
7. Cary Katz . . . . . . . . . . $5,214
8. Jason Schwartz . . . . . $4,171

EVENT 2 3/20/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $40
PLAYERS 278
PRIZE POOL $80,898
1. Harvey Doncev . . . . $20,228
2. Durwood Murray . . $11,730
3. Jim Bolender . . . . . . . $6,472
4. Joe "Jose" Marcal . . $4,449
5. Louie Corpolongo . . . $4,045
6. B Wilkes . . . . . . . . . . $3,640
7. Ruben Vera . . . . . . . . $3,236
8. Larry Vance . . . . . . . $2,831

EVENT 1 3/19/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $200 + $30
PLAYERS 646
PRIZE POOL $125,324
1. Michael Robinson . . $31,328
2. Clayton Gerow . . . . $15,666
3. Michael Clarner . . . . $8,146
4. Troy Rickertson . . . . $4,386
5. Shaun Davis . . . . . . . $3,760
6. R W Kuehn . . . . . . . . $3,446
7. Tony Nasr . . . . . . . . . . $3,133
8. Steve Sladky . . . . . . . $2,506