A total of 148 teams, or 444 players, entered Dream Team Poker‘s second tournament, which was held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas over the weekend. It was the first installment open to the public and, when the final cards were dealt, Team ACED took down the event for nearly $60,000.
2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion Jamie Gold headlined Team ACED, which also included Ashley Nataupsky and Houston Waldie. The team’s name is a reference to Gold’s sponsorship by the Merge Gaming Network site of the same name, an agreement he inked in February. The Network accepts players from the United States and also includes Carbon Poker, IronDuke, Poker Nordica, and Rumble Poker, among others. ACED recently sponsored a charity fundraiser for Children Uniting Nations that was held after the Oscar festivities in Los Angeles and emceed by Gold.
Gold actually took ninth in the event, while Nataupsky finished in fourth. The 2006 Main Event winner commented in a press release distributed by Dream Team Poker on Monday, “It’s the most fun you can have without $12 million on the line. My WSOP bracelet is in a vault, but my Dream Team Poker trophy will be on my mantel for all to see.” Gold bested a field of 8,773 players in poker’s most prestigious tournament in 2006 and took home the largest prize ever given out at the WSOP.
In order to preserve the integrity of the game, Dream Team Poker also awards prizes for the top individual tournament finishers. At the Caesars event, Danny Nelson emerged victorious from the pack, taking home nearly $24,000. Heads-up, he went toe to toe with Philip Rousseaux for 45 minutes in front of a throng of onlookers. In the final hand, Rousseaux pushed with J-8 on a board of K-8-4, only to see he was dominated by Nelson’s K-9. A six on the turn and a seven on the river sealed the win for Nelson, who played as part of Team BikerHaven.net.
Teams were given jerseys to hit the felts with, creating a unique atmosphere. A team’s overall score is determined by the two best finishes of its members and teammates are not seated at the same table until 14 to 16 players remain in order to stunt collusion. The runner up finish by Rousseaux was enough to earn The Claddaghs the second best team score and its corresponding $33,000 prize. Here were the top five teams at Caesars in the second Dream Team Poker tournament, a $550 per person buy-in affair:
1st Place: Team Aced – $59,940
2nd Place: The Claddaghs – $33,300
3rd Place: The Clones – $15,984
4th Place: Party at the Mansion – $10,656
5th Place: Hellmuth Busters – $6,660
The top five individual finishers were:
1st Place: Danny Nelson (Team BikerHaven.net) – $24,063
2nd Place: Philip Rousseaux (Team Claddaghs) – $13,320
3rd Place: Jerry Percival (Team Runner, Runner) – $7,922
4th Place: Ashley Nataupsky (Team ACED) –$ 6,666
5th Place: John Regis (Poker Masters) – $5,328
The very first Dream Team Poker event was held at the Hard Rock Casino in November and was won by Team Bluff, which consisted of Matt Parvis, Eric Morris, and Bodog poker pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo. Despite being open to the general public, the second installment of Dream Team Poker brought out some of the top names in poker. Former WSOP Main Event Champions in attendance over the weekend included Gold, Jerry Yang, Tom McEvoy, Ultimate Bet pro Phil Hellmuth, and Johnny Chan. Also making the trek to Caesars were three members of the inaugural November Nine: Dennis Phillips, David “Chino” Rheem, and Kelly Kim. Other poker pros that competed included Todd Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Full Tilt Poker front man Mike Matusow, Erica Schoenberg, T.J. Cloutier, David Williams, and the last woman standing in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, Tiffany Michelle.
No date for the third Dream Team Poker tournament has been announced. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on this unique spin on the game.
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