Chicago Poker Classic Main Event Results
by Bodog Poker | Mar 12 2010
The Horseshoe Casino was the setting for the
2010 Chicago Poker Championships last week, and a new champion for this year has been crowned. 235 players paid the $3125 to enter the Main Event, and organizers added on another $60K, bringing the prize pool to more than $743K. In the end it was local players who stood out against one of the most talented live tournament players this year, and the heads-up battle ended up being between two close friends. The big gun at the final table was top-five ranked tournament leaderboard player Dwyte Pilgrim, who was looking to take the lead in that department with a win.
The final table consisted of Ryan Julius, Nicholas Grippo, Joshua Tekesky, Gian Bencivenga, Curtis Householder, Kenneth Coppens, David Diaz, Pilgrim, and Gregory Masterson. Masterson was first to exit but was happy to get his first tournament cash for $22K. Despite being one of the highest-ranked live tournament players right now, Pilgrim wasn't able to get any deeper than eighth place for a $24K payout. It did earn him 144 leaderboard points, moving him from fifth to third place in the standings.
The final table action had lots of ups and downs and chips were moving around the table with ease in the early stages. Next to fall was another experienced player named Diaz. His seventh-place finish was his 20th career live tournament cash, and it was worth $26K. Next to hit the rail was Coppens, who has been an
online poker tournament specialist since the fall of '08. He had to settle for the $32K sixth-place prize.
Householder finally added on to his only live tournament cash of his career that he got back in '08 when he won a little over 4K in the 39th Annual
WSOP Event #9. His fifth-place finish in the Chicago Poker Championships was worth just shy of $40K. After he went out the final four played for what seemed like all night, until amateur player Bencivenga finally hit the rail, collecting $53K for his fourth-place finish. That left three to play it out, and the next to fall was Tekesky, who also recorded his first big tournament cash worth $75K.
The final heads-up battle turned out to be between close friends Julius and Grippo. The two seemed destined to meet heads-up all day as they coasted through the field. Julius had to overcome a chip deficit to beat his friend and take down the title, but he found a way to do it. Grippo got $112K while Julius walked out with the big prize of $182K. The two have plans to take some of their winnings and take in a March Madness Big East basketball game.
