The 2015/16 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City kicked off earlier this week and three events on its schedule have already been completed. It was only a few hours ago when Christopher Morse, a player from Danbury, Connecticut, topped the field of Event #3: $365 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em, scooping $13,203 of the entire prize pool and his first career gold ring.
The one-day Turbo event attracted 163 hopefuls who generated a prize pool of $48,900. The top 18 positions were paid, with payouts starting from $656. Given the tournament’s structure, the official nine-handed final table was reached quite quickly. Nine-handed action kicked off with Cathy Dever as the chip leader. The player had a total of 342,000 in chips. Morse was third in chips at the beginning of final-table play.
After several hours of play, it became clear that Morse would face Matthew Vascellaro from Floral Park, New York heads-up. The two players entered the two-handed duel even in chips and it took them only two hands to determine the name of the eventual winner. On the second and final hand of play, Vascellaro moved all in and his opponent called. Vascellaro turned [Qh][9h] against Morse’s [Ah][4h]. The board ran out [Ks][7h][10c][4d][5c] and Morse’s pair of fours won him the pot and the tournament as a whole. As for Vascellaro, he took home $8,159 for his runner-up finish.
Brian Shaffer from Manalapan, New Jersey took 3rd place in the tournament to collect $5,873. Cathy Dever from Ephrata, Pennsylvania, who started the final table as a chip leader, finished 4th for a payout of $4,305. Canadian Howard Leung received $3,211 for his 5th place in the event.
One-time gold ring winner Howard Wolper from Atlantic City, New Jersey, took 6th place, good for $2,437. Wolper was, in fact, the only former gold ring winner at the final table of the $365 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em.
Kurt Kraenbring from Maple Shade, New Jersey took 7th place, scooping the amount of $1,881 of the entire prize pool. Brian Powell from Wilmington, North Carolina was paid $1,475 for his 8th place. Rounding out the final table, James Watson-Jones from Jessup, Maryland collected $1,177 for finishing 9th.
