The Bicycle Hotel & Casino in Los Angeles, California is now playing host to the 2015/16 WSOP Circuit. Six gold rings have already found their owner and there are six more up for grabs. Poker player Phillip Penn from Bell Gardens, California collected his first-ever gold piece last night, after he topped the field of Event #6 at The Bicycle. Apart from the gold ring, he also collected a first-place prize of $10,400.
Event #6 or the $365 Omaha 8 or Better kicked off on December 8 and was concluded on December 9. It attracted a field of 124 entries who generated a prize pool of $37,200. As many as 15 hopefuls received a portion of the money, with lowest payouts worth $630.
As mentioned above, it took two days of play for the winner to be determined. The official nine-handed final table was reached on Wednesday afternoon with Daniel Netzer as the chip leader. The player had a total of 260,000 in chips before the beginning of nine-handed play. Penn was second in chips at the start of the final table with 254,000.
There were two former gold ring winners among the nine finalists – Sirous Baghchehsaraie and Shawn Van Asdale. They have previously won one gold piece each.
Eventually, it was Robert Durant whom Penn had to face heads-up. Play started with the soon-to-be-champion holding the majority of chips. However, two-handed match did not last long before Penn eliminated his opponent holding [5d][6h][5h][10s]. Durant had to settle for the runner-up finish and a payout of $6,440.
Commenting on his victory, Penn told interviewers that he really enjoyed playing Omaha and that he was extremely happy to get through a field of so many tough opponents, and eventually win a gold ring. The player also said that he preferred other poker variants to No-Limit Hold’em, as those required more skills and less luck.
And here are the rest of the finalists and their respective shares of the prize pool:
Daniel Netzer from Manhattan Beach, California took home $4,645 for finishing 3rd in the event. Leo Davis from Los Angeles took 4th place for a payout of $3,415. Patrick Diep finished 5th for $2,555.
Nathaniel Tucker was paid $1,940 for taking 6th place in the tournament. One-time gold ring winner Sirous Baghchehsaraie from Cerritos, California finished 7th for $1,500. Shawn Van Asdale from Reno, Nevada received $1,180 for taking 8th place. Gioi Luong from Westminster, California rounded out the final table for $940.
