Anyone who doubts that poker has become an international game would be advised to examine the last names of the top six finishers at the most recent World Series of Poker Circuit tournament, which just completed.

Sheleheda, Nenezic, Nepomnyaschiy, Shawish, Ramkhalawan, and Bueti. It was a tournament announcer’s worst nightmare. One might have expected an alphabet soup of letters atop the winners’ list at a poker tournament somewhere in Eastern Europe. But this was at Caesars Atlantic City.

The final table consisted of players either born in, or with family roots in -- the Ukraine, Montenegro (former Yugoslavia), Russia, Palestine, Trinidad and Tobago, Italy, and China (for the announcer’s sake, “Chan” was the easiest to pronounce). Left standing after a four-hour battle was the Ukrainian-American, Bill Sheleheda who collected $57,195 in prize money.

Sheleheda is a 65-year-old retired former business executive. He was one of the financial pioneers who helped to create the Discover Card. Three decades ago, Sheleheda and his management team were given $4 million as a start up investment from Sears Financial, which was aiming to cross into the lucrative credit services market. Years later, that initial $4 million investment matriculated into a stock IPO worth $14 billion. When it came to exercising good business sense and making money, Sheleheda sure knew what he was doing. Given the obvious parallels between business and poker, it’s no surprise then that Sheleheda has became a pretty good poker player, too – and now, a poker champion.

The second of 11 scheduled events at Caesars ended today, with Sheleheda’s first-ever major tournament victory. The $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament attracted 369 entries, generating $184,500 in total prize money. The top 36 players were paid. All of the action took place over a two-day period inside the grand ballroom, at Caesars Atlantic City with Bill Sheleheda winning his first tournament with a pair of sixes.

He had previously cashed in several small tournaments near his home in Lusby, MD. But this victory marked his first time in the winner’s circle – and his first and only time to cash on the WSOP Circuit. Interestingly, both tournament winners so far this year are from Maryland. Yesterday’s tournament winner was Brian Fitzpatrick, from Fallston, MD.

The WSOP Circuit at Caesars Atlantic City continues through March 14th. Based on the early turnout, the action should be spectacular over the next several days and particularly this coming weekend, when two more moderately-priced No-Limit Hold’em tournaments are scheduled.

Additional information is available at http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/.

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by Nolan Dalla