Back to Back Grand Slams For This World Class Player

To rise above the ashes is something that all poker players try to attain. All try, most fail. Charlie Shoten is not a failure.

The No-Limit Hold'em Shootout was a tougher field than most tournaments. Polling players, it seems as though many of them feel that their best talents lie in a shootout setting. This tends to keep the weaker players out of the event, and leaves the toughest tournament players vying to outplay each other for the gold. To say that world class poker was played today would be an understatement.

Some of the participants at one table included Kathy Liebert, Dennis Horton, Jerry Rose and Adrian Toms. Kathy was eliminated early when her pair of fours flopped a set and was called by Dennis' pair of fives with the nut flush draw, which got there on the river.

Another tough table included Louis Asmo and Jean Gaspard, who got into a head's up battle. Jean was a bit of a chip dog, but battled his way back to even against Louis. In one huge hand, Jean managed to lay down pocket queens against Louis' pocket kings before the flop. As he was once again battling his way back, he picked up the 64 of hearts and flopped two hearts on a board of TT8. Louis held J8, the jack was a heart. On the turn, Louis had an open ended straight draw as well as two pair and a four-flush when the nine of hearts hit. Jean, however, got his heart flush. Jean went all-in and Louis called. On the river, the king of hearts landed, giving Louis a better flush, and the win of the table.

One table featured Charlie Shoten and turned out to be the longest playing table. The final three battled it out for over three hours. Charlie looked tired and lethargic, but refused to be beat.

When the final table was assembled after an hour dinner break, each player was given 18,000 in chips to start. Charlie looked refreshed and ready to head back into battle.

Only twenty five minutes into the final table, Charlie had a huge chip lead and was running over the table. In a stunning turn of events, Louis Asmo went all-in on the flop with two spades in his hand, two on board. Unfortunately, for Louis, Charlie turned over pocket sixes, which had flopped a set. The flush never came, and Louis was out of the tournament only minutes into play. He was awarded $4,650 in prize money.

Just two hands later, Charlie was up against Dennis Horton. Charlie held a queen in his hand, which paired him on the flop. Dennis held an eight, which showed up on the turn. Feeling that he had the best hand, Dennis went all-in, only to be called immediately by Charlie, who trapped Dennis perfectly.

Only thirty minutes into final table play, suddenly a champion was crowned. Charlie Shoten has shown world class play in tournament after tournament this week.

Dennis Horton is a resident of Pahrump, Nevada who considers Pot Limit Omaha his best cash game, and No-Limit Hold'em Shootouts his best tournament game. A huge supporter of the WPPA, this was Dennis' first event this week, and he parlayed it into an immediate win of $6,975. He is excited about the WPPA and will be back for the rest of the events.

Louis Asmo believes that a shootout event is the best type of setup for the top players. He seemed in his element and confident playing this format.

Charlie Shoten attributes his win to the fifteen minute nap that he took during the dinner break. He said that he was extremely fatigued and not playing his best before the break, but fifteen minutes of sleep was all it took to steamroll this event. Charlie makes it look so easy. Don't try this at home!