Austin Schaal Wins Circuit Event #14 at Harrah’s Tunica

Final Results:

Finish	Name	City	State	Country	Prize
1	Austin Schaal	Vandalia	IL	USA	$14,425
2	Gary Shenberg	St. Charles	MO	USA	$8,856
3	Steven Trimmer	Kirtland	OH	USA	$6,268
4	Daniel Pancotto	Burr Ridge	Ill	USA	$4,475
5	Anthony Sansone	Bowling Brook	IL	USA	$3,581
6	Brandon Zane Garner	Jackson	TN	USA	$2,687
7	David Stafford	Westland	MI	USA	$1,793
8	Jonathan Frey	Cordova	TN	USA	$1,453
9	Michael Hamner	Tuscaloosa	AL	USA	$1,234
10	Jamie Nickell	Batavio	OH	USA	$1,080
11	Terry Crosby	Memphis	TN	USA	$1,080
12	Michael Asher	Vermilion	OH	USA	$1,080
13	Eddie Chihak	Elma	IO	USA	$888
14	James Spain	Tunica	MS	USA	$888
15	Michael Schneider	Covington	TN	USA	$888
16	Jeffrey Little	Paris	KY	USA	$740
17	Max Litton	Conway	AR	USA	$740
18	David Kennedy	Olive Branch	MS	USA	$740
19	Billy Harrison	Rowlett	TX	USA	$647
20	Thomas Silber	St. Louis	MO	USA	$647
21	Rodney Curtis	Tok	AK	USA	$647

TUNICA, MS – Austin Schaal is the winner of event #14 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s Tunica.

Event #14 attracted 207 players and generated a total prize pool of $54,837.

Schaal is a college student and online tournament player with a number of five-figure cashes. He was in the middle of the pack heading into his first live major final table.

Name	Hometown	Seat	Chip Count
David Stafford	Westland, MI	1	80,000
Austin Schaal	Vandalia, IL	2	260,000
Anthony Sansoni	Bolingbrook, IL	3	210,000
Jonathan Frey	Memphis, TN	4	90,000
Steven Trimmer	Kirtland, OH	5	200,000
Daniel Pancotto	Burr Ridge, IL	6	100,000
Gary Shenberg	St. Louis, MO	7	600,000
Brandon Zane Garner	Jackson, TN	8	236,000
Michael Hamner	Tuscaloosa, AL	9	150,000

Ninth Place
With blinds and antes at 3,000/6,000/1,000, Michael Hamner was the first player eliminated all-in after flopping top pair with Kc-As. With two hearts also on the flop, his opponent showed 5h-Qh and completed the flush draw after a 9h on the turn. Hamner is a 52-year old contractor from Tuscaloosa, AL, he picked up $1,234 in his third Circuit Event cash.

Eighth Place
Jonathan Frey was all-in pre-flop with 3s-4s from the cutoff with his remaining 45,000. Zane Garner called with A-5 and outdrew his opponent on a 6c-8d-9c-8s-7d board. Frey earned $1,453 for eighth.

Seventh Place
David Stafford was the 7th place finisher after moving his short stack all-in pre-flop with Ah-4s and getting a call from Garner with Ac-Qs. The ace-high board was the end of Stafford’s ring bid. The 61-year old Ford Motor Co. retiree collected $1,793.

Sixth Place
Garner busted in 6th place after running his pocket nines into Schaal’s pocket aces. Garner’s second final table of the 2009/2010 Tunica Circuit resulted in a $2,687 payday.

Fifth Place
After losing most of his chips with A-K vs. an opponent’s jacks, Anthony Sansoni found himself dominated all-in with A-2 vs. Austin Schaal’s A-10. The board paired both players’ aces but the deuce kicker saw Sansoni to the payout table to collect $3,581.

Fourth Place
Daniel Pancotto was the fourth place finisher. He earned $4,475.

Third Place
After a flop of Qs-3c-9c, Steve Trimmer moved his remaining chips all-in with 3s-4s. Schaal called with pocket 10’s. After a 6c on the turn, Trimmer missed his five remaining outs and his day was finished. Third paid $6,268.

Second Place
Schaal had more than a 3-1 chip lead heads up against Gary Shenberg.

A few hands into heads-up play, Schaal took nearly half Shenberg’s stack after forcing his opponent to fold all-in on the river.

A few hands later, Schaal moved all-in on after the turn on a 10s-Js-8c-9s board. Shenberg knew what was coming, but with a short stack, called with 10-8. Schaal quickly turned over 8h-Qs for the straight.

A blank on the river earned Schaal $14,425 for first place and the Circuit Event ring. Shenberg picked up $8,856 for second.

Schaal recently returned to the United States after taking the last semester off to volunteer in the Dominican Republic with his grandmother and their church.

“I love the people down there, their spirit and their energy,” said Schaal.

He says he will enter more WSOP Circuit Events in the future.

“I feel great; this was my first major live cash, my first piece of jewelry, definitely going for more.”

Still to come are 5 more events and single-day non-ring $125, $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 10th.