Frank Kassela Wins WSOP Gold Bracelet in Event 15
June 09, 2010 - 06:43:02 AM EST | Nolan Dalla- Photo by Rob Mathis
WORLD SERIES OF POKER NEWS FLASH! For the official tournament report for this event, click HERE.
Frank Kassela was the winner of the $10,000 buy-in Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split World Championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker. It marked his first career WSOP gold bracelet victory. The successful businessman and serious part-time poker player from Memphis, TN collected $472,479 for first place. He defeated an all-star final table lineup which included four former WSOP gold bracelet winners – including John Juanda, Steve Zolotow, Jennifer Harman, and Dario Minieri.
This was Kassela's second WSOP final table appearance. His most notable previous accomplishment had been a cash in last year's $40,000 buy-in 40th Anniversary Tournament.
Kassela is a 42-year-old married father of five children. He started playing poker seriously about ten years ago. Kassela has cashed in several tournaments around the country and has now accumulated more than $1.5 million overall in tournament winnings. However, his lone victory was a win last year at the LA Poker Classic. Kassela can now proudly claim the title -- "2010 Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split World Champion."
All $10,000 buy-in events on this year's WSOP schedule are officially designed as "World Championship" events, since these are the highest buy-in tournaments in each respective form of poker. World Championship events include Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split, Deuce-to-Seven Lowball, Omaha High-Low Split, Limit Hold'em, Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Hold'em, H.O.R.S.E., Pot-Limit Omaha, and the No-Limit Hold'em Main Event Championship.
Only the top 16 tournament finishers collected prize money. The runner up was Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, the unrelentingly crabby touring pro and combative tournament demagogue, who came as close as ever to winning his first WSOP gold bracelet. Several former WSOP gold bracelet finishers cashed in this event – aside from Harman (3rd), Zolotow (4th), Juanda (5th), and Minieri (8th) -- including Gary Benson (9th), Blair Rodman (15th), and Toto Leonidas (16th).
This was the richest Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split prize pool in poker history – at $1,598,000. It eclipsed last year's previous record by $56,400. This was only the third million-dollar prize pool ever for any Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split tournament.
A full report of this event will be posted shortly.
For official tournament results and additional details, please CLICK HERE.
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