The Rundown: Poker News for Week Ending Dec. 24, 2010

by Bodog Poker | Dec 24 2010

Deke Marston looks at the headlines and news that you might have missed in our weekly rundown of poker news!

Frankly, it was a rather quiet week for the game, which isn't surprising considering the holiday season. The big event was the WSOP Circuit Event in Atlantic City, which I've covered below.  I also want to take a second and remind everyone reading this about Bodog's Holiday Pokerfest, running through New Year's Eve.  Get great rewards just for playing online poker with us!

Atlantic City

The last hurrah for the World Series of Poker Circuit Event in Atlantic City was a big victory for Chris Bell, who took away over $358,000 and a diamond-encrusted wring with his victory in the Eastern Regional Championship.  The former real estate developer from Raleigh, North Carolina proved to be a bit of a Cinderella story. Just a few minutes after winning a $5,000 buy-in Omaha event at the WSOP this year, he admitted that he had nearly exhausted his bankroll and as a father of two daughters who had gone through a bad run at the tables, he had contemplated walking away from the sport. 

Erick Lindgren, however, had different plans for the man, backing him financially and psychologically so he could have one more go at the felt.  That was all that was needed, apparently, because six months after the Vegas victory, Bell was once again collecting a huge cash prize for beating some of the best in the game. While the tournament only featured 136 players, the high buy-in created a total prize pool worth over $1.2 million. Those who competed in the event included names like John Racener, Andy Block, Chad Brown, Barry Shulman, TJ Cloutier, David Baker, Dwyte Pilgrim and Vanessa Selbst.

In fact, all eyes were on Selbst at the end of day one of the Eastern Regional Championship. She had a commanding lead of over 37,000 chips compared to her closest follower, Isaac Baron.  Shockingly, she was ejected in day two after losing a massive pot to Chris Klodnicki. Klodnicki used those chips to make his way to the final table with the highest chip count (759,000). He was joined by Bell (706,000); Micah Raskin (594,000); Ketan Pandya (377,000); Nicholas Mitchell (332,000); Todd Terry (307,000); Andy Frankenberger (230,000); Jason (579,000) and Seth Fischer (217,000).

Play at the final table was, as expected, fierce, with Fischer being the first to be ejected, pocketing $32,363. He was joined by Nick Mitchell ($40,538) and Jason Burt ($51,607) in relatively short order and Andy Frankenberger ($51,607) rounded out the bottom half of final table placers.  Todd Terry  ($87,808) was taken down by Chris Klodnicki, as was Micah Raskin ($117,457,) giving Klodnicki over 2,000,000 in chips with Bell close behind him.

Third place went to Ketan Pandya, who had a very short stack compared to the Chrises on either side of him at the table. Even doubling-up didn't save him when the blinds hit the 12,000/24,000 level and Bell's pocket queens kicked his pair of tens to the curb.  Klodnicki and Bell sparred for a while, but an all-in call from Bell pushed Klodnicki to respond in kind, especially as he had top pair and an open straight draw. Bell hit a set of 3s, which held through the turn (9) and river (Q), making him the Eastern Regional Champion for 2010.

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