Relatively Unknown Carroll Is The Champ

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Over half a million dollars in prize money for winner of WSOP Circuit event at Caesar's Palace.

The relatively unknown Cory Carroll was the surprise winner of the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas this week, taking the top prize of $506 176 along with a seat into the WSOP Main Event in July at the Rio. Over three days and against a starting field of 336 players, many of them top names in the poker world, Carroll proved he had what it takes to be a champion.

His low profile was perhaps best summed up by pro Shane Schleger, who joked: "He's the best player you've never heard of!"

With a buy-in of  $5 000 + $150 the NL Hold'em tournament attracted 336 entrants, surpassing initial expectations by the tournament organisers . The total prize pool reached an impressive $1 629 600 and the money bubble covered the top 36 places.  With 75 minute levels, the tournament was fast and furious, with over 77 percent or some 260 players busted out on the first day.

Among the better known names at the start were players like Greg Raymer,  Chris Jesus Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Men the Master, Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, David Williams, Max Pescatori, Amir Vahedi, Chris Ferguson, Jeff Madsen, Lee Watkinson, Billy Baxter, Rene Angelil, Huck Seed, Peter "Nordberg" Feldman, J.J. Liu, Gavin Smith, Kathy Liebert, Joe Sebok, Harry Demetriou, CK Hua, J.C. Alvarado, David Sklansky, Daniel Alaei, David "The Dragon" Pham, Joe Bartholdi, Anna Wroblewski, Evelyn Ng, Dan Alspach, and Barry Shulman.

With 75 players left, Day 2 saw the same fast but expert pace until the field had been reduced to 9. Carroll was chip leader on $713 000, ahead of Steve Wong with $573 000 and David Pham with $491 000. Savvy players like  "Miami" John Cernuto, Erick Lindgren, Layne Flack, Erica Schoenberg, Peter Feldman, Mikael Thuritz, Shannon Storr, Nick Schulman and Eugene Todd were among those who didn't make it to the final day has all fallen by the wayside by then.

When the final table convened Wednesday, Chad Brown and David Pham were probably the two biggest named pros still competing on a final table that looked like this:

Cory Carroll 713 000
Steve Wong 573 000
David "The Dragon" Pham 491 000
Vasile Buboi 349 000
Paul Kitsos 327 000
Justin Pechie 307 000
Eric Davis 272 000
Michelle Law 192 000
Chad Brown 136 000

Brown was first out after a clash with Buboi and headed home with $32 592 early in the game. He was followed around hand 20 by the only remaining female in the competition, Michelle Law who was ousted by Carroll for an 8th spot finish and a check for $48 888.

Steve Wong lasted a little longer - to hand 23 - before being eliminated by Buboi and heading for the rail in 7th position and a payday of $65 184. By then Carroll had built his stack to over a million and was playing controlled, methodical poker. Justin Pechie was responsible for the next departure at hand 28 - David Pham in position six with a check for $81 840 in his pocket.

Paul Kitsos went down to Carroll at hand 59, collecting $97 776 for his trouble, and with four players remaining Carroll was back in the chip lead at 1.5 million, playing calm and unruffled, smart poker. It took some time before the next casualty, but Eric Davis met his match in Carroll at hand 100 and headed home in the number three slot with $130 368.

Facing off for the heads up, Carroll was clearly ahead in chips at 2.167 million against Pechie's 1.193 million, and on the seventh hand of heads-up play, Carroll took down the largest pot of the tournament worth 1.4 million to widen the gap further.

Five hands later Pechie had a slight lead after some big wins but shortly thereafter at hand 14 he was back down to 100 000 after some devastating moves and good cards for Carroll. The next hand was the end for Pechie, as Carroll claimed the main prize leaving his opponent with a second place payout of $260 736.

"I felt good the whole final table, especially after David (Pham) exited," said Carroll after the game. "I stayed confident. I was crippled on the first day with a coin toss and down to 800 in chips. I won a second toss and never looked back."