WSOPC Rincon Main Event Begins, APT Sets World Record

WSOPC Rincon Main Event in the Money

The World Series of Poker Circuit began its last stop of 2013 at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort in San Diego, California on December 5. The Main Event was a $1,675 buy-in NLHE affair that began on December 13, offering two starting days and the chance to reenter in Flight B if eliminated in Flight A.

Day 1A brought in a total of 148 players, including Dana Castaneda, Eric Baldwin, Brent Hanks, and Alexandru Masek. Only 32 players made it through the 15 levels, though, and Mary Anne Madruga was the leader of the group with 257,500 chips.

Day 1B added 182 entries, making for a total of 330 entries for the tournament and a prize pool of $495,000. Action included names like Chris DeMaci, Kenna James, Christina Lindley, and Tom McEvoy. There were 38 players standing when the night ended, and Thomas Beckstead was atop the overall leaderboard with 367K chips.

Day 2 began with 70 players and eventually came upon the money bubble, at which point Christopher DeMaci eliminated Erhart Edquist in 34^th place. The rest of the players were guaranteed at least $2,955, and some of the first to cash in were Dan Alspach, Alexandru Masek, and Andrew Higgins. Play continued in pursuit of the final table.

APT Iron Man Sets World Record

The Asian Poker Tour hoped to set a new Guinness World Record for “longest continuous poker tournament,” and that mission was accomplished.

Action for the APT-RWM Iron Man Poker Challenge began on December 11 at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City, Philippines. The tournament required a $700 buy-in and drew 115 players, enough to pay out the top 15 players.

In total, the tournament took 48 hours, 55 minutes, and 58.5 seconds, beating the last record set in Delaware for 36.5 hours in August 2012.

The final table played on for three hours to reduce the table to five players, and it took several more hours to get to heads-up play. The heads-up battle went on for more than four hours, ultimately leading to Damon Shulenberger‘s victory.

“I have never experienced anything like it in my life,” he said. Not only going without sleep for two nights straight but I started at Level 1 at 8pm and never left the table for five minutes until almost 50 hours later, with winning the championship.” Then he added, “I don’t think I’ll play poker again for at least a month.”

Results:

1^st place: Damon Shulenberger ($18,240)

2^nd place: Choi Byung Kyoo ($10,670)

3^rd place: Sandro Simon ($7,390)

4^th place: Lim Dae Hoon ($5,490)

5^th place: Florencio Campomanes ($4,460)

6^th place: Howard Ang Lee ($3,680)

7^th place: Gerry Flores ($3,030)

8^th place: Kim Jinwi ($2,530)

9^th place: Norbert Koh ($2,180)

10^th place: Martin Corpuz ($1,870)