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Rodaja joins list of elite players from Guelph, claims WSOP Shootout title17 June 2011Mark Radoja, a 25-year-old poker pro from Guelph, Ontario, won the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Shootout at the World Series of Poker, claiming $436,568. Radoja becomes the latest in a series of poker success stories from the small city in Canada. Gavin Smith, Steve Paul-Ambrose, Mike McDonald, and Grant Pittman all grew up or live in or near Guelph. "Guelph is a mecca that has created a lot of poker talent," said Smith. “We are tight," said Radoja, of Canadian support he felt during the final table. "Canadian pride is what it is. We feed on each other. We share knowledge with each other. We expand our horizons. We are also very open as a culture. I think you find a lot of tough Canadians out there. We have a solid, fearless style.” Radoja describes himself as a “Sit ’n’ Go grinder.” He grew up in the Toronto suburbs, graduated from high school, entered college and quit after one day. He decided it was not for him, at least at the time. Jeffrey Gross, a 24-year-old poker pro, finished as the runner up to win $269,742. A graduate of the University of South Carolina and good friend of Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, Gross lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., about a three-hour drive from Guelph. Nicolas Fierrogottner, from Santiago, Chile finished in third place for $198,096. Fierrogottner is one of the few poker players from Chile to make it to a final table. Oddly enough, another player from Chile also made it to a final table on the same day. Hernan Salazar, who is also from Santiago, made the final table of the Seven Card Stud game. Scott Baumstein, an options trader from New York, N.Y., was fourth for $146,639, while poker pro Adam Junglen, from Stow, Ohio, was fifth for $109,406. Nikita Lebedev, a 24-year-old stock trader from Moscow was sixth; Todd Terry from Hoboken, N.J., was seventh; 2010 Card Player "Player of the Year" Tom Marchese was eighth; Sean Getzwiller, who won the $1,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event played during the first week of this year’s WSOP, was ninth; and Daniel Smith, from Manalapan, N.J., was 10th. A shootout tournament means players advance based on winning a series of table matches. The shootout format is single elimination. The number of matches depends on the number of tournament entries. In this event, the first match included nine or 10 players, depending on the table. The second match included four players. The last day started with 10 players playing down to the winner. The top 40 finishers collected prize money. In addition to Getzwiller, players who won their first table in the shootout and cashed included Smith, Erik Seidel, J.P. Kelly, Jason Young and James Dempsey. Seidel’s cash gives him 62 in-the-money finishes in his career at the WSOP, good for a fourth-place tie with Berry Johnston. Tournament summary provided by Nolan Dalla, WSOP Media Director, reprinted by permission. |