News

Event #12 Headlines

1. Fred Winter Freezes the Competition in Chicago
2. Fred Winter Wins His Second WSOP Circuit Gold Ring – Takes Top Prize in Event #12
3. “My Kind of Town, Chicago” -- Attendance Up 12 Percent, Prize Money Up 20 Percent Over Last Year
4. The Amazing Comeback! Tanya Murphy Returns After First Day with Fewer Chips than One Big Blind; Manages to Survive Several Hours and Finishes in Third Place
5. Former NFL Detroit Lions Player Eric Stolz Finishes as Runner Up

Event #12 Champion (Fred Winter)

• The 2009 World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event champion at the Horseshoe Casino (Chicagoland) is Fred Winter, from La Grange, IL.
• Winter is a 35-year-old controller who works in accounting and finance for a Fortune 500 company.
• This marked Winter’s second WSOP Circuit career victory. He won last year’s $500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #2) at the Horseshoe Casino (Chicago) where he collected $55,159.
• Winter officially collected $38,173 for first place in this tournament.
• Winter also cashed in an event for the first time at last year’s WSOP in Las Vegas, which was a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (98^th place). He now has four WSOP Circuit cashes (including two wins) and one WSOP cash, totaling $101,324 – all earned within the past year.
• Winter plays occasionally at the Horseshoe Casino poker room. He says he would like to play more often. But his full-time job occupies much of his time during the week, allowing him to play mostly on weekends.

Winner Quotes (Fred Winter)

• On winning his second WSOP Circuit gold ring: “My first gold ring is in a trophy case (at home). I plan to put this one up next to that.”
• On his future goals and plans in poker: “I am definitely shooting for a gold bracelet. I cashed the first time this year (in Las Vegas). That’s always nice. I will also definitely play more Circuit events. But hopefully, sometime in the near future I will have a bracelet to add to the collection.”
• On his preference of online versus live poker: “I play online some. But me having a full-time job, it is tough to dedicate the time to playing. With the Circuit coming here it is easier for me because I can make plans to attend and pretty much play over the whole weekend.”
• On how he got started in poker: “I came up during the Moneymaker era. I played in home games and progressed from there.”
• On his plans for the prize money won: “I’ll reinvest it as part of my poker bankroll.”
• On whom he hopes will win the WSOP Main Event, which will be played in two weeks: “You know, I like Darvin Moon. I think he is a nice guy. He is kind of like me, just a middle-aged guy who plays when he can. I hope he takes it. It would be awesome if it were Darvin and Ivey heads-up. Hopefully, he gets the money in good and holds up.”
• On playing in the WSOP Main Event someday: It’s tough to take off that much time for the Main Event. But maybe one of these years I will get a chance to play.”