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Ryan Osborne Wins World
Series of Poker Circuit Event at Caesars Atlantic City Computer Programmer Makes
Late Decision to Play in Tournament and Wins $72,500 By: Nolan Dalla Atlantic
City, NJ – In poker, it can be said
that the very first decision one makes is the toughest, especially when it
occurs long before the start of a tournament. Indeed, the most critical judgment any player makes is the
decision to actually play. Many tournament winners who have
achieved fame and fortune contemplated doing other things on what turned out to
be a fateful day. Ryan
Osborne, a 27-year-old computer program manager knows the feeling. A few days ago, he was at his home in
Orlando, FL hanging out with his friends when he was talked into coming to
Atlantic City to play in a World Series of Poker Circuit event. A colleague mentioned that the first
few events held at Caesars would be an excellent investment opportunity. With huge turnouts expected, a trip to
Atlantic City seemed just the right move at the right time for the young player
who had to that point achieved some success in tournaments, but who had yet to
earn his first major victory. Two
days later, Osborne was standing near the final table, high-fiving his
colleagues, $72,500 richer for having made a wise decision. Osborne topped a competitive field and
overcame a number of disadvantages along the way – including being
short-stacked during much of the final table – en route to his biggest payday
ever. On a cold and cloudy day on
the Atlantic City boardwalk, never had the sunshine back in Orlando looked so
stale by comparison. The $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament
(Event #2 of ten events on the schedule) attracted exactly 500 entries,
generating a prize pool totaling a quarter-million dollars. After 491 players were eliminated on
the first day, nine finalists returned to the feature table to continue on day
two. New York City poker player
David Zeitlin arrived with a substantial chip lead. However, the large number of players with a near-average
ship stack made the final table a wide open competition. Osborne, the eventual winner arrived
dead last in chips. Players and starting
chip counts began as follows: Seat 1: Victor
Johnson 195,000 Seat 2: Artie
Smith 171,000 Seat 3: Bryce
Carroll-Coe 260,000 Seat 4: Jake Neff 346,000 Seat 5: Sallie
Stohler 234,000 Seat 6: Adam
Steinback 267,000 Seat 7: Ryan
Osborne 154,000 Seat 8: John
Doran 225,000 Seat 9: David
Zeitlin 654,000 Players were eliminated in the following order: 9th Place – About 20 minutes into play, the
classic hold’em confrontation came up when Artie Smith with Q-Q raced against Sallie
Stohler, with A-K. All suspense
was shattered when a king flopped, giving Stohler a higher pair. An ace on the river was overkill,
making two pair for Stohler. Smith
became the day’s first elimination.
A furniture maker who has “three children and four dogs” living at his
North Carolina home, Smith picked up $5,000 for ninth place. 8th Place – Victor Johnson went out next
when he was getting seriously low on chips and moved all-in with A-Q. Ryan Osborne had Q-Q and called
immediately. The pair of ladies
held up, which meant a dreaded walk for Johnson off the final table pier. The 49-year-old retiree from
Middletown, NY collected $7,500 in prize money for eight place. 7th Place – The next player to hit
the rail was John Doran, from nearby Woolwich Township, NJ. Doran was desperately low on chips and
saw a four-way pot develop when he was dealt J-7. Hoping to quadruple up and jump back into contention, Doran
called the bet but failed to improve.
Doran ended up busting out in seventh place, good for $10,000 in prize money. Doran, a mortgage broker had previously
made it to a final table at the WSOP in Las Vegas. 6th Place – When six-handed play began, the
chip lead was shared by Sallie Stohler and David Zeitlin, who were about even. Then, Stohler lost a big pot when Jake
Neff doubled up. Adam Steinback
was not so fortunate. In fact, he
took a bad beat when he was all-in on his final hand of the tournament with A-Q
against Jake Neff’s A-10. Neff had
barely enough chips to cover the bet and was absolutely delighted when a ten
fell on the turn – hitting a three-outer good for a pair. The previously dominated hand ended up
winning the pot, which meant a rude departure for Steinback. The 23-year-old poker dealer – who had
previously won other poker tournaments held in Atlantic City – ended up collecting
$12,500 for sixth place. 5th Place – Meanwhile, Jake Neff was on
fire. He had doubled up twice in
just five minutes. Then, he managed
to double up again, taking K-J up against A-K. Neff spiked a jack which catapulted him into a close call
for first in chips. When Bryce
Carroll-Coe fell below 100,000 in chips with blinds and antes escalating, he
decided to make a bold move with 9-5 and jammed the pot with a raise. David Zeitlin made an instant call –
and flipped over K-J. The flop
destroyed any hopes Carroll-Coe had of staging a comeback. The board cards showed A-Q-10 and gave
Zeitlin a straight. Carroll-Coe
was gone. The guitarist from
Detroit, MI ended up with a royalty check totaling $15,000. 4th Place – Sallie Stohler is usually
quite busy this time of year. She
works as a full-time political consultant based in Washington, DC. She advises many successful Senatorial
and Congressional candidates. But
Stohler also likes to play poker in her spare time and she decided to make a
weekend visit to Atlantic City. That
turned out to be a wise investment of both her time and money as she ended up
cashing out for $17,500. Unfortunately,
Stohler went card dead in her final half hour at the table and ultimately went
out holding 2-2 against A-J. A
jack flopped, meaning defeat for Stohler.
Remarkably, Stohler has a very impressive record of results given her
limited exposure to tournaments.
She also finished in-the-money in the 2007 WSOP main event. 3rd Place –
The three remaining players were relatively
close in chips, which meant anyone could still win. Yet the $48,000 money swing between first and third places
did not dissuade some aggressive play by the finalists. After Ryan Osborne won a big hand
against David Zeitlin (who had been chip leader most of the way), Jake Neff put
a final nail in Zeitlin’s coffin.
Neff’s A-K ended up hammering Zeitlin’s A-8. A king flopped, which was the decisive card in bouncing
Zeitlin out of the tournament.
Zeitlin, an ex-lawyer, is certainly no stranger to the pressure of making
it to the final table. He finished
as the runner up in the Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em World Championship at last
year’s WSOP held in Las Vegas. 2nd Place – When heads-up play began, Jake Neff (with 1,700,000)
enjoyed about a 2 to 1 chip lead over Ryan Osborne (with 780,000). The two finalists battled back and
forth for nearly an hour before the tournament’s most exciting hand unfolded. Essentially, the outcome of the two-day
event came down to a single card. It all started when Osborne
raised pre-flop, Neff re-raised all-in, and Osborne called. Neff showed 8-8. Osborne revealed A-10. Once again, the standard confrontation
(a pocket pair versus two overcards) would determine the fate of the
finalists. The flop came K-J-9,
presenting some added possibilities for Osborne. Short of hitting a pair, this was still a favorable flop for
Osborne. But Neff, holding the
only made pair, still had the lead.
A seven on the turn created even more outs for Osborne, with added straight
possibilities. Then, Neff hit the
card he dreaded most – a third eight which made trips. However, the final board showed
7-8-9-J-K which meant Osborne had rivered a straight, which scooped the largest
pot of the tournament. The river eight was the
tournament’s most decisive card and accelerated Neff’s defeat. Desperately low in chips, Neff was
finally eliminated a few hands later, making Osborne the champion. As the runner up, Jake Neff
collected $38,250. No stranger to
being a poker bridesmaid, the Philadelphia-based marketing manager previously
came in second at the United States Poker Championships. 1st Place – Ryan Osborne was paid $72,500 for first place, plus
the coveted gold and diamond ring, presented to each WSOP Circuit winner at
this year’s Caesars Atlantic City series.
A native of Seattle, Osborne is a University of Washington
graduate. He now lives in Florida
where he works in the computer field.
“I’m going to pay for my
sister’s wedding,” Osborne stated when asked what he would do with part of the
prize money. “I told her before we
started this tournament that I would pay for her wedding if I won.” When told that weddings can
sometimes costs tens of thousands of dollars, Osborne remained optimistic about
his future plans in poker. “Well
then, I might have to play in a few more poker tournaments, too” he said. For more information,
please contact: Nolan Dalla -- WSOP
Media Director at (702) 358-4642 e-mail: nolandallawsop@gmail.com Or visit our official website: www.worldseriesofpoker.com Jeffrey Pollack –
Commissioner, WSOP Ty Stewart – Director,
Sponsorship and Licensing, WSOP Craig Abrahams – Director,
Broadcasting and New Media, WSOP Executive Staff, World
Series of Poker Circuit – Caesars Atlantic City Vice President of Table
Games – Fred Niceta Director of Table Games –
Paul A. Natello Table Games Manager
(Poker) – Thomas McDonough III Poker Pit Manager – Jake
Devries
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