 Natasha Barbour was a college student at the University of South Florida studying microbiology, but her heart was really in poker. She would even take her books with her into the casino, playing while studying. Then, a year ago, after doing well at the tables, she decided to drop out af school and pursue her real love.
Tonight she struck gold in the form of a gold-and-diamond championship ring when she joined a handful of women, perhaps seven or eight, ever to win a WSOP Circuit open tournament. Her victory, in event 10, $300 no-limit hold'em, was worth $12,444. The effervescent 23-year-old from Miami could barely contain her excitement and delight throughout the final table, her first ever as she follows the Circuit tournament trail. Her previous best tournament finish was a 30th in the Bayou Poker Challenge at Harrah's New Orleans.
Heads-up, Barbour enjoyed a lead of better than 3-1 over Dale Johnson. He quickly doubled up and drew about even when his pocket deuces beat her A-6 suited. But the crusher came a couple of hands later. She looked at pocket aces on the button/small blind and just limped. Johnson bit and moved in with Qc-3c and was down to 61,000 after losing the pot. On the next and final hand he pushed in with Ks-7h and she called with Jd-9d ("My favorite hand," she said.) The board came 10-4-5-9-Q to give her a winning pair of 9s, and the young lady became the newest member of a very elite group. Johnson, cashing $6,530 for second, is a 62-year-old truck driver from Columbus, Nebraska.
Tonight Natasha said she played a very steady game and was able to make big laydowns.
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by Max Shapiro - WSOP Media Director
 After exactly two hours of heads-up play and numerous chip-lead changes, Carl Haney, a 46-year-old computer programmer from Des Moines, Iowa, captured the 12th event of the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluff's $300 No-limit Hold'em.
The final table got going with blinds of 1,500-3,000 and 300 antes, 22 minutes left. We had two big chip leaders. Scott Westphalen had 197,000 of the 822,000 chips in play, and Tucker Stone had 173,600.
With blinds now 5,000-10,000 and 1,000 antes, Hinrichs had a 2-1 chip advantage over Haney, but after he pulled even they made their deal and began playing their 10-minute rounds. They both played carefully during the long match, with not many all-ins. On the final deal, Hinrichs committed his chips with Qh-Jc to Haney's Qs-5h, losing when a board of Q-4-A-3-2 gave Haney a wheel. Hinrichs, 27, is a salesman from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
First place officially paid $12,919. However, when he and Mitch Hinrichs were just about dead even half-way through the match, they agreed to take out $9,000 each and play for the remaining $1,696 and the diamond-and-gold trophy ring. They also agreed to speed things up by playing 10 minute rounds, and by the time they were through, the limits had bounced up five times to 20,000-40,000 with 5,000 antes. It ended when Haney, holding Q-5 to Hinrichs' Q-J, sucked out by hitting a runner-runner straight.
Haney, who's played poker for more than 20 years, prefers tournaments over cash games, playing mostly online and averaging one live event a month. He had a cash in a $500 event earlier this week and was the "bubble boy" in another $500 event here last year. He describes himself as a conservative player ("Even if I'm not I want them to believe it," he added), and his strategy at this final table was to let the wilder players knock each other out.
This event had 137 players and a $30,867 prize pool.
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by Max Shapiro - WSOP Media Director
 Elton Nolde is a 40-year-old golf superintendent from Ogallala, Nebraska who wrote on his bio sheet that he's won satellites but never a tournament. That changed tonight when he was the victor in the third event of the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, $500 No-limit Hold'em, which brought him $26,086. "A lot better than winning tournament chips in satellites," he remarked.
Besides winning the majority of his races tonight, he credited his win to changing his style of play. Early in the event, he said, he found himself chasing and playing "stupid" cards. He re-analyzed himself and reformed, vowing to play very tight and avoid getting into situations where he was not in control, a strategy that was to work well for him. The key hand came when was heads-up with Jon Chovanec, starting with roughly 450,000 chips to about 750,000 for Chovanec. A few hands later he won a big pot, holding A-Q to Chovanec's K-Q, He won easily with aces-up to take a big lead and soon nailed down his win.
This event had 166 players and an $80,510 prize pool. Second-day final table action got underway with blinds of 3,000-6,000 and 500 antes, 30 minutes left. In front with 325,000 chips was Fred Winter, holder of two Circuit rings.
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by Max Shapiro - WSOP Media Director
 Aided by a rooting section of two friends (one of whom finished eighth tonight), and getting hit by the deck in the late stages, Tom Wentzel won the second event of the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, $200 limit hold'em. It paid $4,611.
(This 4 p.m. tournament was a one-day event. The opening tournament,, $300 no-limit, is two days, with 11 remaining players coming back on the second day.)
Wentzel, 41, is in sales for a consultant firm and hails from Plymouth, Minnesota. He has two prior WSOP final tables, one at Tunica and one here. He's been playing poker since he was a kid, about eight years seriously. He splits his online time between tournaments and cash games, and in casinos, mostly tournaments, about 10 a year. This is only his second limit hold'em event, but he plays enough live limit to have felt comfortable. Tonight he was down to about 4,000 chips with four tables left, but started building from there.
This event drew 66 players who made a prize pool of $12,804. The final table started at midnight at level 14 and three minutes later moved up to level 15 with blinds of 2,000-4,000 and limits of 4,000-8,000.In a near-tie for the chip lead were Adam Clayman with 98,000 and Wentzel with 97.500.
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by Max Shapiro - WSOP Media Director
 At 28, Paul Wasicka admits that he was a bit affected by his huge success at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.
"It's weird experiencing that much success that young in your career," he said. "It toys with you a bit, you lose motivation and question why you're playing."
Wasicka looked to Sam, a mindset coach who consults with players and mixed martial artists. "I want to give Sam credit, he's done wonders for my game both on and off the felt."
Freshly signed on with newly-launched Victory Poker, a rejuvenated Wasicka hit the road and says he has been living out of his suitcase following various tournament circuits over the last few months.
Wasicka's path led him to the mid south for the Harrah's Tunica Circuit Main Event.
He started the second day of the $5,150 buy-in event seventh in chips with 35 remaining players and had the chip lead going into the final table.
Heads up play began four hours into the final table. With blinds and antes at 5,000/10,000/2,000,
Wasicka's and Gurney's comparable stacks set the stage for what could have been a long night, but after winning a 270,000 pot, the game started to go Wasicka's way.
He eventually built up more than a 5-1 chip lead. Shortly after the next level, both players saw a flop of 8s-9h-6c. Gurney moved all-in for his remaining 300,000 with pocket fours. For the tournament win, Wasicka called with 8d-9d.
It was still a bit suspenseful even after a benign 2d hit the turn but it was all over after a 5c on the river.
The 2006 Main Event runner-up had come to the mid-south and staked his claim as the new reigning WSOP Harrah's Tunica Circuit Event Champion.
"Other the heads-up championship, this was my first major tournament win," said Wasicka. "This is something that I've been searching for, for a very long time."
"This is just awesome, it was always about the money but now it was about just taking one down."
Wasicka admits that he was a bit affected by his huge success at the '06 Main Event.
"It's weird experiencing that much success that young in your career," he said. "It toys with you a bit, you lose motivation and question why you're playing."
Wasicka looked to Sam, a mindset coach who consults with players and mixed martial artists. "I want to give Sam credit, he's done wonders for my game both on and off the felt."
Freshly signed on with newly launched Victory Poker, A rejuvenated Wasicka said that he has been living out of a suitcase, following various tournaments and that he won't be off the grind anytime soon.
After his Circuit Event win, Wasicka said that he is heading back to the road.
"Its not going to stop for the next month, heading to LA now and then I'm going to hit the Circuits "
Event #19 concludes the Circuit stop at Harrah's Tunica. The next Circuit Event begins February 18th at Horseshoe Council Bluffs.
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by Alan Fowler - WSOP Assistant Media Director
 Tournament director Kevin Ferguson said it was the second biggest comeback he had ever seen in his twenty years in poker. Down to less than two big blinds at one point during final table play, Robert Hahs survived seven all-ins to win Event #15 at the World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah's Tunica.
Hahs is a farmer from Jackson, MO. Through day one, he relied mostly on skill to make it through the 230-player field, but it was a bit of luck that helped him during the final table.
Final table play began with blinds and antes at 3,000/6,000/1,000. Lee Efford took a 200,000 chip stumble after he ran his K-Q into Rusty Farrin's pocket kings on a queen high board. Soon after, Efford moved his remaining stack all-in after flopping top pair with Kc-10c on a Qc-Kh-7s flop.
He got a call from David Dao who showed 7h-Qh for two pair. A three on the turn and ace on the river resulted in the first elimination of the night. Efford collected $1,341for ninth.
This was Hahs' first major tournament victory.
"I feel great," said Hahs. "It's a beautiful ring and I'm proud of this win."
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by Alan Fowler - WSOP Assistant Media Director
 Online poker, like most other sports, is a continuously evolving entity. What works today as far as success at the green felt is concerned, may not work the same tomorrow. A couple of years ago, being a Tight Aggressive Player (TAG) was the definition of cool. Tight Aggressive players ruled the roost, felting clueless rookies left and right armed with nothing but basic ABC poker knowledge.
These days though, being a TAG player is no longer such an obvious advantage. As people continue to wise up to ever more intricate strategies, TAG players are everywhere. As matter of fact, there are TAG players now who find it difficult to break out of the break-even and losing molds. Thee guys act and look like successful players. They buy in for the maximum allowed amount every time, they top up every hand and they play the purest form of TAG poker there is. Yet, they're long term losers or break-even players at best. These guys are TAG fish. There's nothing funny or fun about being a TAG fish.
Due to the fact that they play reasonably well, it's tougher for these players to find the mistakes in their own approach and to improve by eliminating these setbacks. They just stick to being TAG fish and keep on losing, thinking that Lady Luck has a personal bone to pick with them.
Being a TAG fish is such a subtle disease that it barely has any sort of symptoms. If you think you're playing your best yet you fail to show anything for your efforts at the end of the month, you may be a TAG fish yourself. Here are a few of the more subtle symptoms of the disease, to help you find mistakes in your approach and to eventually help you overcome your condition.
TAG fish are usually so confident in their skills, often they don't bother signing up for rakeback. After all, rakeback is for those who have trouble turning a buck at the table. Wrong! Rakeback (the best such deals, including some excellent poker prop deals are on offer at Rakemeback.com,) is for everyone. Winners increase their profits and losers diminish their losses through it, and if you are indeed a TAG fish, you need it to get you over that illusive red line.
Tag Fish often overestimate their implied odds. A clear example in this respect is cash game set mining. A TAG fish knows the theory well, and he knows that despite the apparently EV- nature of the move, the implied odds will come through for him in the end and bail him out. These guys fail to take it into consideration that sets are sometimes defeated too which means there are no guarantees the implied odds will work as well as they do in theory.
This takes us to another TAG Fish symptom: the misapplication of various poker skills. As said above, TAG fish are good at poker theory, practice is an entirely different thing however, and that's where these guys have serious deficiencies.
A TAG fish will learn that giving up on a C-bet is bad, so he'll keep at it every time he fires one out. The problem with TAG fish is that they're rather clueless how and when to apply the skills they've learned.
There are other TAG fish symptoms as well, like having post-flops leaks in your game, tilting too readily, not considering subtle position differences and ignoring your own perceived range. If you recognize one or more of these problems in your own play, chances are you're a TAG fish yourself. The good news is, once it has been spotted, these problems can be addressed and eliminated one by one.
 Born in Harbor City, LA, in 1958, Jennifer Tilly is first and foremost known for her career as an actress. She's starred and played in several movies, among which in several cult classics like Bride of Chucky, Stuart Little, The Cat's Meow, etc. She was a voice-actor in Family Guy, where she voiced the Bonnie Swanson character. She's currently involved in 2-3 movie projects and she's appeared in no fewer than 5 movies last year in various more or less prominent roles.
Tilly's original name was Jennifer E. Chan, after her father, who was a Chinese American salesman. Her parents divorced and she moved to Canada with her mother. Following her mothe's second divorce, the family moved to Victoria. They eventually ended up in Missiouri where Jennifer's acting career began when she was a teenager. The acting talent apparently runs in her family as her sister, Meg Tilly, is also a well known actress and Academy Award Nominee.
Though her movie industry achievements far eclipse her poker career, Jennifer is also known as a poker player and she's proved her worth numerous times at the poker table. She has a WSOP bracelet to show which, let's be frank about it, only a handful of successful poker players can boast. She became a member of this exclusive club after she took home the gold in the 2005 Ladies No Limit Texas Holdem event (pocketing a handsome $158,625 prize with it).
Her win wasn't just a flash in the pan either. She followed it up the same year with a win in the WPT Ladies Invitational Tournament at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. That win netted her a nice profit too, taking her lifetime tournament winnings to around $450,000. She's had a total of 4 WSOP money finishes, and 6 WPT cashes.
She appeared on Poker Superstars in 2006, but she never made it past the preliminary rounds. In the Celebrity Poker Showdown, she made it all the way to 3rd place where Ida Siconolfi eliminated her on a K,K vs A,K match-up, when Tilly's Big Slick failed to improve.
In 2007, Tilly was made into a video game character by Activision, for their game: World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions 2007 Edition. She currently dates poker professional Phil Laak. Although at one point in her career, Tilly had stated that she was more preoccupied with her poker career than the one in acting, in 2008 she retired from professional poker. She said that while she would continue to play poker, she'd view it as a hobby rather than a career, because achieving greatness through poker had proved more treacherous than she'd initially assessed.
Though she will probably not go down in history as the greatest female poker player, she is beyond doubt the most successful movie star ever to achieve this level of success at the green felt.
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 While a severe regional ice storm forced the closure of area schools, libraries and other public services through Monday, the ladies event attracted a modest field of 162 non-males, each vying to become the 2009/2010 Harrah's Tunica Circuit Ladies Event Champion.
After real estate appraiser Lisa Craven was eliminated all-in with A-8 vs. Anne Manning's A-J, heads-up was between Manning with 1 million in chips and Donna Jetter with 600,000. Jetter went to work, bleeding Manning's stack to just below 400,000.
The final hand saw the two all-in with Manning showing 6h-6c and Jetter turning over Jh-Jc. The board came 10c-4s-7c-Kh-Qh, giving Jetter the win. Jetter pocketed $7,091 for first along with the gold WSOP Circuit Event ladies pendant. Manning collected $4,367 for second.
The 2009/2010 Harrah's Tunica WSOP Ladies Circuit Event champion was still shaking a bit as she made her way to the payout table.
"I'm pretty nervous, excited," Jetter said.
Jetter is a poker dealer from Nashville, TN., and has been playing poker for two years.
She notes that for her, women's events are a lot harder than open events because it is harder to put women on a hand.
"You can read em' a little better," Jetter said about playing against men. "You can tell if they got the hand or not."
However, Jetter says her observation has more to do with experience rather than gender.
"A lot of women playing in ladies events are new to poker and they tend to chase more hands down to the river."
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by Alan Fowler - WSOP Assistant Media Director
 Country musician and local favorite, Luther Lewis wins Circuit Event #10 at Harrah's Tunica.
As tournament director Kevin Ferguson announced the name of the player in seat nine, a sudden burst of applause and cheering burst out in the event center at Harrah's Tunica.
The unexpected barrage of loud whistling, clapping and shouts of encouragement from the room when Luther Lewis' name was read was in stark contrast to the standard obligatory hand clapping.
Lewis, a 39-year old country singer and songwriter was probably the most surprised, seemingly taken aback from the crowd support.
"Lewis is the nicest player in this room," said Rose Cooney, who plays regularly with Lewis at the Horseshoe in Tunica and says she's never seen him berate a player after taking a bad beat or even go on tilt.
"And he's polite to the ladies."
In addition to home court advantage, Lewis had something else going for him heading into the final table of the $440 buy-in no-limit hold'em event, the chip lead.
"This is amazing man, I can't believe it," said Lewis, whose musical stylings can be heard at his website http://www.lutherlewis.net/
When asked about nice guys finishing last: "Well, I guess I've proved today that it's not always true," replied Lewis, smiling.
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by Alan Fowler - WSOP Assistant Media Director
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