The Week in Poker: Carter Gill Among Latest Champs

Short-Stacked Shamus
30 November 2013

Carter Gill took top honors at the Season 6 ending LAPT Grand Final in Uruguay (Photo: PokerStars/Carlos Monti)

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The tournament poker circuit has been busier than ever over recent days with many tours in action as the calendar year winds down. The World Poker Tour, the Latin American Poker Tour, and the World Series of Poker Circuit have been busy crowning champions, with Daniel Brits, Jared Jaffee, Tony Dunst, Carter Gill, Thomas Creel, and Charles Sylvestre among the latest champs.

WPT: Brits, Jaffee, and Dunst Newest Champs

The World Poker Tour has had a busy November with no less than three new champions crowned.

The WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic in Johannesburg saw the South African Daniel Brits top a 191-entry field in the $3,600 Main Event to capture the title and a $132,128 first prize. Among those Brits had to outlast at the final table was the tough German Dominik Nitsche who finished fourth after having won the same event in Johannesburg one year ago.

Season XII WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic final table results:
1st: Daniel Brits (South Africa) -- $132,128
2nd: Eugene Du-Plessis (South Africa) -- $92,708
3rd: Rob Fenner (South Africa) -- $59,634
4th: Dominik Nitsche (Germany) -- $44,136
5th: Wesley Wiegand (South Africa) -- $33,130
6th: Ronit Chamani (South Africa) -- $26,504

Next on the tour's agenda was the WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble at which your humbler scribbler was there to help cover the $3,500 buy-in Main Event that attracted 358 entrants.

Jared Jaffee took a big chip lead to the final table in that one with more than twice the stack of his nearest challenger with six players left. He'd keep the lead most of the final day, only losing it briefly to start heads-up play versus Blake Purvis before grabbing it back and charging to the win.

Season XII WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble final table results:
1st: Jared Jaffee (United States) -- $252,749
2nd: Blake Purvis (United States) -- $166,139
3rd: Michael Horchoff (United States) -- $106,904
4th: Margo Costa (United States) -- $79,114
5th: Corrie Wunstel (United States) -- $59,335
6th: Johnny Price (United States) -- $47,468

When the festivities in Jacksonville had concluded, I visited a while with some of the WPT folks that last night many of whom were discussing flying down the following day to St. Maarten in for the WPT Caribbean Main Event at the Casino Royale which was already underway.

One of those hanging out was Tony Dunst who travels with the tour to do live commentary on the final table streams and shoot his "Raw Deal" segments for the WPT television show. Dunst decided to take a seat in the $3,500 tournament and a few days later was glad he did as he emerged as the winner, topping a field of 191 entries to earn a cool $145,000 first prize. Dunst was unable to do the final table commentary for this one, but he probably didn't mind.

Season XII WPT Caribbean final table results:
1st: Tony Dunst (United States) -- $145,000
2nd: Giacomo Fundaro (Italy) -- $100,000
3rd: Severin Schleser (Austria) -- $63,500
4th: Marvin Rettenmaier (Germany) -- $46,800
5th: Zoltan Purak (Hungary) -- $35,900
6th: Robbie Bakker (Netherlands) -- $28,700

The WPT continues full steam ahead with a stop in Montreal currently playing out, then the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic starting in Las Vegas late next week.

LAPT: Gill Grabs Grand Final Title in Uruguay

Season 6 of the Latin American Poker Tour came to a conclusion last week in Punta del Este, Uruguay with the American Carter Gill overcoming a big field of 508 entrants in the $2,500 buy-in event to win the LAPT Grand Final. Gill left South America with a first prize of $238,260 and his first major title in sixth years' worth of cashes.

Gill entered the final day of play with an overwhelming chip lead to begin the eight-handed final table, carrying a monstrous stack of 4.37 million at a time when the nearest challenger, Ariel Mantel of Argentina, had but 1.23 million and no one else more than 1 million.

Gill accumulated knockouts and still more chips as the day wore on, eventually taking out Mantel in third when his As-Ks held against the latter's Qc-Tc. Then during his battle with Iván Raich, Gill agreed to a deal that saw the pair lessen the difference between first- and second-place money while still playing for $24,000.

From there Raich -- one of four Argentinians who made the final five -- actually seized the chip advantage and had Gill down to a relative short stack, but Gill fought back to take the lead again, then the pair pushed back and forth, building a small pot as a board came Jc-9s-2s, then Tc, then Ac.

At that Raich led with a bet, Gill pushed all in, and after a long tank Raich called, showing 8c-7h for a jack-high straight. Alas for him, Gill had Qc-6c for a flush, and the title was his.

Here's what those making the final table earned, with the champion Gill being the only U.S. player among the 80 to cash.

LAPT6 Uruguay final table results (*reflects two-way deal):
1st: Carter Gill (United States) -- $218,692*
2nd: Iván Raich (Argentina) -- $172,568*
3rd: Ariel Mantel (Argentina) -- $106,300
4th: Andres Korn (Argentina) -- $79,100
5th: Juan Manuel Pérez (Argentina) -- $59,840
6th: Cesar Sanguinetti (Uruguay) -- $45,100
7th: Joao Bauer (Brazil) -- $33,780
8th: Walid Senadeh (Peru) -- $25,840

The LAPT now takes a break for the next couple of months before the start of Season 7 next year.

WSOP-C: Creel, Sylvestre Latest Main Event Winners

Finally, the WSOP Circuit has found a couple of new champions in its $1,675 Main Events, with Thomas Creel taking the title at the Horseshoe Bossier City stop in Louisiana and Charles Sylvestre earning the Main Event ring at the Casino Lac-Leamy in Gatineau near Ottawa, Canada.

In Bossier City, Creel topped a field of 438 entrants to win the title and $144,537 first prize.

2013-14 WSOP-C Horseshoe Bossier City final table results:
1st: Thomas Creel (United States) -- $144,537
2nd: Sean Small (United States) -- $89,319
3rd: Lance Garcia (United States) -- $65,266
4th: James Phelps (United States) -- $48,460
5th: Jason Lang (United States) -- $36,542
6th: Daniel Lowery (United States) -- $27,968
7th: Jeffrey Niedelman (United States) -- $21,270
8th: Robert Salaburu (United States) -- $17,108
9th: Susan Kattamuri (United States) -- $13,666

Meanwhile, Sylvestre bested 371 entrants at the Casino Lac-Leamy, with the Canadian picking up $122,435 more in tournament winnings to go along with the $491,360 and gold bracelet he won in Event #3, a $1,000 NLHE Re-Entry tournament, at the WSOP during the summer.

2013-14 WSOP-C Casino Lac-Leamy final table results:
1st: Charles Sylvestre (Canada) -- $122,435
2nd: John Nelson (United States) -- $75,656
3rd: Dinara Khaziyeva (Canada) -- $55,283
4th: Sol Bergren (Canada) -- $41,407
5th: Mike Leah (Canada) -- $30,953
6th: Justin Dean (Canada) -- $23,690
7th: Bryan Moon (United States) -- $18,398
8th: Adam Podstawka (Canada) -- $14,491
9th: Ioannis Pentefountas (Canada) -- $11,575

The WSOP-C continues without pause with a stop at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City already underway and another at Harrah's Rincon in San Diego coming up in mid-December.

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Carter Gill earned $218,692 for his win at LAPT6 Uruguay after a two-way deal with Iván Raich. He was the only American among the 80 players who cashed in the event.