WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2002

EVENT #1
"CASINO EMPLOYEES"
TEXAS HOLD'EM (LIMIT)
Friday April 19, 2002
$500 BUY-IN
$500 in chips

WORKING OVERTIME

Normally, casino employees who come to work have a reasonable expectation that
they will be paid for their effort. Not on this poker job, though. Yesterday a
record number of dedicated employees showed up and strove mightily only to find
that all their hard work was in vain. Many employees worked eight hours and
more only to be unceremoniously shown the door 'out of the money.' On the other
hand, those few employees who had the talent and persistence to 'pull a double'
shift…work 16 hours straight… found that their labors were more than
handsomely rewarded.

There were 272 entrants in the $500 Buy-In, "Casino Employees" Limit Hold'em
for a total prize pool of $127,840. Three tables were paid, a total of 27
players.

Either Philip Kosloske or Jimmy Taing seemed likely to get the dreaded booby
prize of tournament poker. One of them was going to finish 28th when only 27
were getting paid. On the same hand, Philip and Jimmy went out at two different
tables. So Kosloske and Taing split 27th money and avoided the ignominy.

The Final Table was set up Friday night when the fog rolled in on Richard
London. Richard finally gave up waiting for someone else to help him. With his
last $600 he went all-in from the small blind holding A J. Jim Blaszkiewicz
happily called on the button with pocket 6's. The Wheel of Fortune spun for Jim
when a 6 hit the flop giving him a set. Jim was now guaranteed enough money to
buy some more vowels for this last name. The last ten employees were going to a
place were working overtime was financially appreciated.

THE FINAL TABLE: There were 26 mins left of 75. The blinds were $200/$400.
Playing $400/$800.
Player Hometown Chip Count
Seat 1 Jim Blaszkiewicz Livonia MI $ 8,000
Seat 2 Leon Wheeler Las Vegas NV $ 5,200
Seat 3 David Warga Tempe AZ $28,700
Seat 4 Randy Myers Toledo IA $ 1,700
Seat 5 Steve Schraber Scottsdale AZ $ 8,600

Seat 6 Jack Rosenfeldt West Covina CA $
5,600
Seat 7 Qi Liu Hacienda Hts CA $ 6,100
Seat 8 Gary Braufman Las Vegas NV $20,600
Seat 9 Mike Majerus Ottawa IL $17,000
Seat 10 Matt Lessinger Berkeley CA $34,200

When the original "Dealer's" Tournament morphed into the "Casino Employees"
Event at the World Series, some natural allies/enemies were thrown together on
the poker battlefield. Most often the Final Table in this event will pit casino
dealers against casino props. Last night's action was no exception. At the
start of the proceedings there were five poker dealers and four proposition
players at the table. The one wild card was a craps dealer. Who would win the
most money and the important bragging rights…the dealers or the props? It was
something right out of 'West Side Story.' We even had a 'Maria.' And it's with
her our action begins.

Qi Liu is a proposition player at Hollywood Park in LA. Her first name is
pronounced something like 'She' and 'She' is a tigress. One of the most
aggressive players in tournament poker, Ms Liu has been known to destroy Final
Tables. But last night, Qi wasn't able to display her dominant personality to
this group. She doesn't expect to lose ever, and she will vent her frustration
verbally on any dealer who has the audacity to give her unplayable cards.

After having to muck a hand she was deeply involved in, Qi raised again under
the gun on the next hand. It looked for the entire world like a steam bet and
Qi got a couple callers. The first caller was Mike Majerus, one of the gypsy
packs of tournament poker dealers that work the circuit across the country.
Jack Rosenfeldt is a prop at the Bicycle Club in LA. He had pocket 6's in the
big blind and called Liu also. The flop came with a six and two diamonds.
Rosenfeldt and Liu raised each other all-in. Majerus went along for the ride.
Mike had the A 2 of Diamonds and enough chips to see all bets. The Queen of
Diamonds landed on the turn. Mike turned the nut flush. Qi now had top set with
her pocket Queens and Jack Rosenfeldt had one out, the case 6. Since Qi Liu had
$200 more in chips starting the hand she got 9th place and Jack Rosenfeldt hit
the feldt in 10th, as the board didn't pair on the river.
In one hand a poker dealer took out two props. This elicited wild cheering from
Mike's friends in the gallery. It was now dealers 5, props 2. But the chip
leader was still a prop and a Card Player columnist, Matt Lessinger.

At the start, Randy Myers was in trouble with only $1,700 in chips. But Myers,
a dealer at the Meskwaki Casino in Iowa, won his first all-in hand with trip
Kings and watched with gratitude when Mike Majerus made Randy an extra $1,000
by eliminating two players. But Randy couldn't find any cards worth playing and
went all-in for his last $100 without looking from the small blind. Jim
'Alphabet' Blaszkiewicz did the honors and sent Randy Myers back to the bullpen
with 10's on the flop to Randy's 8's.

Dealers and props work long hours together in poker rooms to get games started
and keep them going. As coworkers they are natural allies, but in temperament
they are natural enemies. Since a proposition player in a casino is playing
with his or her own money, the cards a dealer delivers are the props'
lifeblood. Going on a bad streak with a dealer can end a props' career. Thus
the tension between dealers and props, and thus the fun for the audience.
Dealers 4, Props 2.

Starting 5th in chips, Steve Schraber couldn't make a hand. Steve is a prop at
Oceans 11 in Oceanside CA. Going to the river for thousands of dollars in a
hand with Mike Majerus and missing his draw, Steve folded with only $400 left.
He went all-in on the next hand and was high carded out in 7th. The props are
getting slaughtered. Dealers 4, Props 1.

Since the chip leader was still Matt Lessinger, a prop, it's logical that a
dealer would be next out. Jim Blaszkiewicz slowly lost the fight with the
blinds. He raised all-in from the button with pocket 9's and was called in the
small blind by Leon Wheeler. Leon was the Wheeler Dealer when an ace hit the
turn to give Leon aces and give Jim's consonants a rest in 6th.

What's a nice craps dealer from the Stardust doing in the middle of this war?
Gary Braufman hardly spoke for three hours. He couldn't say '7 out' so he
didn't say anything at all. A man of few words, unfortunately Gary was also a
man of few hands. He made his last stand with the 9 8 of Diamonds and flopped
top pair. Mike Majerus had lots of chips and could afford to call with A Q.
When a Queen turned Mike gave Gary the '5 out' in fifth.

The players were in their 16th straight hour and Matt Lessinger was repeatedly
suggesting ways to shorten the rest of play. Mike Majerus repeatedly refused to
go along with any ideas. Perhaps Matt's concentration lapsed; perhaps he just
got too tired. Most likely, he finally ran into a cold streak. In any case,
Lessinger who had been chip leader for hours got a couple of big hands cracked
and was the last prop out of the event. Matt made a stand with A 7 and found
Leon Wheeler with A K. Dealers 3, Props 0.

At this point several deals were discussed but none satisfied everyone. With
the blinds elevated, the poker gypsy Mike Majerus found a bad time for his
hands to go dead. Crippled in a hand with David Warga with 6 5 4 3 came to
David's Q 7, Mike then went all-in from the blinds with J 9 and lost to
Wheeler's K 6.

The two remaining stacks were about 8-5 in favor of David Warga. The dealers
decided to jump to $2,000/$4,000, as it was 4 a.m. In 15 minutes the "Casino
Employees" Limit Hold'em was over. Warga won every big hand, usually catching
trips on the turn or river. A disappointed Leon Wheeler saw his bracelet slip
away when he was high carded all-in, but Leon came all the way up to 2nd from
9th in chips at the start in a terrific performance.

Working overtime paid off beautifully for these dedicated poker players.

Official Money Winners
1. David Warga $47,300
2. Leon Wheeler 24,280
3. Mike Majerus 12,140
4. Matt Lessinger 7,680
5. Gary Braufman 5,760
6. Jim Blaszkiewicz 4,480
7. Steve Schraber 3,200
8. Randy Myers 2,860
9. Qi Liu 2,040
10. Jack Rosenfeldt 1,540

11th-12th received $1,540
Richard London and Jonas Stoss

13th-15th received $1,280
Warren Karp, Nani Dollison and Larry Katz

16th-18th received $1,020
Don Harkey, Robert Golick and Ronald Willems

19th received $800
Haviv Bahar

20th-26th received $760
Douglas Morgan, James Milkowski, James Keane, Bryan Pardoe, Christos Psillas,
Hans Epstein, Gregory Tisdall

27th (Tie) Philip Kosloske and Jimmy Taing, $380 each.

Some of the early Super Satellite winners for a $10,000 seat to the
Championship Final were:
Manfred Daries, Jeff Yoak, Randall Skaggs (2) Lawrence Stultz, Phillip Ivey,
Amir Nasseri, Dennis Waterman, Greg Wynn, Norman Ketchum (2), Bobby Hull, Jimmy
Tran, Mike Sexton and Jan Sjavik.