Gabriel Cook, a 32-year-old special education high school teacher from Terre Haute, Indiana plays only two or three tournaments a year and occasionally flies to Vegas for a shot at the World Series. This year he played one satellite, won a seat into the $5,000 main event, and won it after a very wild ride.
With 54 of the 55 entrants remaining, he was down to just 700 chips. He built it back up to 43,000 on day two, got knocked down to 5,000, then roared back to take the chip lead at the start of Day Three. He lost the lead to David "Dragon Luck" Leonard, then regained it and held it to the finish.
The prize pool was $275,000. First place officially paid $92,430, but a three-way deal was made giving Cook $70,000, Leonard $55,000 and Christopher Tryba $47,000. Cook also won the diamond-and-gold ring and a $10,000 seat into next year's WSOP main event.
Cook described his style of play succinctly: "I play like a maniac," he said, which would account for his up-and-down ride. Cook has four cashes in other no-limit events and his biggest cash was $26,389 for finishing 487th at the WSOP main event in 2006. Despite his big win here, he plans to continue playing only two or three tournaments a year.
When play was three-handed, Cook had about 350,000 to 270,000 for Leonard and 195,000 for Tryba, and the three discussed a possible deal. After the deal was struck the flop was 5-6-10 and Leonard moved in, holding A-6. He was all but cooked when Cook showed pocket fives for a set. Leonard was then deep-fried when a five turned to give Cook quads.
Heads-up, Cook enjoyed a massive lead, and Tryba, holding pocket sixes, moved in and Cook called with As-Qs. Cook paired his queen on the flop and won the event when the board read 7c-Qc-5s-2h-Ah.
HORSESHOE SO. INDIANA WSOP CIRCUIT EVENT
EVENT #11 11/2/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM CHAMPIONSHIP
BUY-IN $5,000 + $1,500
PLAYERS 55
PRIZE POOL $275,000
1. Gabriel Cook . . . . . . $92,430
2. Christopher Tryba . . $51,350
3. David Leonard . . . . . $28,242
4. Ronald Surenkamp . $20,540
5. Chase Steely . . . . . . . $17,973
EVENT #12 11/1/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $45
PLAYERS 107
PRIZE POOL $32,100
1. Mark Smith . . . . . . . $10,088
2. James Tilley . . . . . . . . $5,293
3. Brian Fritz . . . . . . . . . $3,114
4. Nathan Steger . . . . . . $2,491
5. Damon Wiggs . . . . . . . $1,868
EVENT #10 10/30/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $1,000 + $60
PLAYERS 132
PRIZE POOL $132,000
1. Maurice Hawkins . . $39,816
2. Ben Kramer . . . . . . . $20,891
3. John Schmidt . . . . . . $12,289
4. Robert Coble . . . . . . . $9,831
5. Robert Castoire . . . . . $7,373
EVENT #9 10/29/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $55
PLAYERS 207
PRIZE POOL $103,500
1. Terry Caldwell . . . . . $30,478
2. Brian Ray . . . . . . . . . $16,763
3. Troy Weber . . . . . . . . $8,572
EVENT #8 10/27/09
TURBO NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $45
PLAYERS 180
PRIZE POOL $54,000
1. Noah Berger . . . . . . . $15,303
2. Carl White . . . . . . . . . $8,029
EVENT #7 10/28/09
HOLD'EM/OMAHA/STUD
BUY-IN $300 + $45
PLAYERS 538
PRIZE POOL $30,300
1. James Whittinghill . . $7,854
2. Christopher Cardenas $4,121
3. Hyon Suk Morrison . $2,424
EVENT #6 10/27/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $45
PLAYERS 319
PRIZE POOL $95,700
1. David Elmoie . . . . . . $27,180
2. Michael Lutz . . . . . . $14,029
3. Joseph Marshall . . . . $7,014
EVENT #5 10/26/09
6-MAX NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $45
PLAYERS 225
PRIZE POOL $67,500
1. Kyle Knecht . . . . . . . $19,304
2. Shelby White . . . . . . $10,617
3. Ian Gillespie . . . . . . . . $5,429
EVENT #4 10/25/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $55
PLAYERS 159
PRIZE POOL $79,500
1. Nick Jackson . . . . . . $23,317
2. Daniel Numan . . . . . $12,234
3. Cliff Mills . . . . . . . . . . $7,197
EVENT #3 10/25/09
LADIES-NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $200 + $30
PLAYERS 148
PRIZE POOL $29,600
1. Karen Hayden . . . . . . $7,634
2. Verna Smith . . . . . . . . $4,006
EVENT #2 10/24/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $55
PLAYERS 291
PRIZE POOL $145,500
1. David Leonard . . . . . $43,515
2. David Cook . . . . . . . $23,933
3. Christopher Mascagni $12,239
EVENT #1 10/23/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $45
PLAYERS 538
PRIZE POOL $161,400
1. Edward Shade . . . . . $43,908
2. Michael Woods . . . . $23,175
3. Noah Berger . . . . . . . $12,113
