World Series Wrap-Up

Each year the World Series of Poker is the scene where dozens of dreams are made, career choices are validated, and history books are rewritten.

This year was no different as record-setting crowds eased fears that Black Friday would hurt field sizes.  Nearly all preliminary events eclipsed their turnout from the previous year, culminating in the third largest Main Event in history.

CardRunners pros and members made a big impression on the series with several final tables, over a million dollars in winnings, and two bracelets.

Leading the charge for the CardRunners team were Stud 8/b pro Eric “ChipsAhoya” Rodawig and MTT expert Matt “jacksup” Matros.

Rodawig was victorious in Event 33: $10,000 Stud 8 or better World Championship.  Never relinquishing the chip lead that he began the day with, he bested a star-studded final table including David Benyamine, Ted Forrest, Joe Tehan, and Phil Hellmuth.  Rodawig found himself heads-up with Hellmuth, who was in pursuit of his record 12^th WSOP bracelet.  Armed with an enormous chip advantage, Rodawig made short-work of Hellmuth and banked $442,183 as well as his first bracelet.  You can read an interview with Eric here.

Just twelve days later, Matt Matros would add to his jewelry collection with a win in Event 52: $2,500 Mixed Hold’em.  Matros, who won his first bracelet in a Limit Holdem event last year, overcame being the short stack after dinner while 5-handed.  He outlasted his final table which included Matt “Hoss_TBF” Hawrilenko and Noah Boeken and won $303,501 along with the title.

Mike “Timex” McDonald and Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen had strong showings in their WSOP debuts.  Petersen cashed in three events while McDonald had two cashes including one final table.

While there are no more CardRunners returning for Day 7 play of the Main Event, many CardRunners representatives made deep runs.  SNG pro Collin Moshman finished 263rd, HUSNG specialist Bryan “PrimordialAA” Pellegrino finished 158^th, Joe Tehan finished 185^th, Scott “iRock” Augustine finished 258^th, and member Troy “Gambler2k4” Gamble finished 429^th.

Perhaps one of the most amazing stories coming out of the Main Event this year was of CardRunners member Justin “COOLRUNNINGS” Cereste.  After losing a big hand in Day 3 he began heading for the exit.  He was eventually called back by his table-mates, having a stack of 3,000 at 1,000/2,000 blinds.  Miraculously he ended the day with nearly 350,000 chips and rode this heater into the money, eventually finishing 218^th for a $47,107 payday.