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Longtime tournament insider earns his biggest payday yet -- $71,439 on the World Series of Poker Circuit

Las Vegas, NV – Jason “J.D.” Newitt has been a familiar face on the poker tournament scene for years. As a consultant and public relations specialist, Newitt has traveled around the world attending many of poker’s most prestigious events. While doing so, he has become accustomed to seeing other top players in the spotlight.

This time, Newitt took center stage. He won the $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, which is part of the World Series of Poker Circuit. In doing so, Newitt proved once and for all he is every bit as talented as those players he often deals with on a daily basis – names and faces every poker fan would recognize. Perhaps this victory will be the start of a new career for Newitt.

A lesser known fact is, prior to getting involved in poker, Newitt worked on several television productions. Most notably, he was an editor on the hit series, “That 70’s Show.” In fact, his early affection for poker found its way onto the studio set one day, prompting a sort of “butterfly effect” which ignited greater celebrity interest in poker. Four years ago, triggered in part by some of the games where Newitt played, “That 70s Show” stars Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson, and Laura Prepon entered in the 2004 World Series of Poker. Scores of movie stars, sports figures, and celebrities have since discovered the excitement of tournament poker.

As the eleventh event on this year’s Caesars WSOPC schedule, this tournament attracted a strong turnout of 491 players. The total prize pool came to $238,135. After 482 players were eliminated during initial levels, the final nine players began play with John Curtis in the chip lead with 340,000. J.D Newitt was close behind with 319,000. Louis Lee was in third place with 271,000. All remaining players had 148,000 or less. Two former WSOP gold bracelet winners were made final table appearances – Men “the Master” Nguyen and Reza Payvar. The exact starting chip counts, final positions, and share of prize pool were as follows:

Seat 1: Sam Petitti 100,000 - 6th place / $11,907
Seat 2: Louis Lee 271,000 - 2nd place / $38,340
Seat 3: David Fox 56,000 - 9th place / $4,763
Seat 4: J.D. Newitt 319,000 - 1st place / $71,439
Seat 5: Reza Payvar 57,000 - 8th place / $7,144
Seat 6: John Curtis 340,000 - 3rd place / $19,051
Seat 7: Trevor Thomas 143,000 - 5th place / $14,288
Seat 8: Allan Booth 74,000 - 7th place / $9,525
Seat 9: Men Nguyen 148,000 - 4th place / $16,669

Opening blinds were 4,000-8,000 with 1,000 antes. No one could have possibly predicted the lightening-fast pace which followed. Clocking in at mind-blowing time, one hour and 27 minutes, this was the quickest final table of any Circuit event (anywhere) held this year.

(Note: The all-time WSOPC record was set at Harrah’s New Orleans in 2006, where one final tabled lasted just an hour and 10 minutes).

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