FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 9/15/2009

Chad Brown Wins 2009 Gulf Coast Poker Championship

BILOXI, Miss. – Poker action returned to MGM MIRAGE’s Beau Rivage with the Gulf Coast Poker Championship Sept. 3-14. Poker stars Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown served as the official celebrity hosts of the Gulf Coast Poker Championship tournament and players’ party. Fifteen tournament events were spread out over 12 action-filled days with buy-ins from $300 up to $5,000 for the Gulf Coast Poker Championship Main Event on Sept. 12. In addition, Rousso brought her game theory and poker strategy instructional workshop - Big Slick Boot Camp- to Biloxi on September 11.

“The Gulf Coast Poker Championship is one of five major poker events we host at our MGM MIRAGE Mississippi resorts each year and the second in the series at Beau Rivage” said George P. Corchis, Jr., president and chief operating officer of MGM MIRAGE’s Mississippi Operations, which includes Beau Rivage in Biloxi and Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica. “In addition to the prize money, the winner of the Gulf Coast Poker Championship Event ($5,000 buy-in +$150 entry fee) will win a $10,000 seat in the World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship Main Event scheduled to take place at Beau Rivage in January 2010.”

In addition to No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, other events in the Gulf Coast Poker Championship included Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys; A-5 Low-Ball/2-7 Low-Ball/Badugi Draw; Limit Omaha High-Low and a Seven Card Stud/Stud 8 Mixed Event. The popular Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS) No-Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament ($300 buy in + $40 entry fee) took place on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m.

The Main Event held this past week had 153 entrants all buying in for $5,150. The total prize pool was $683,550. The event was spread out over three days with the first day playing down to 50 and the second day playing down to the final nine.

On day three, on hand 1, Tyler Smith opened the action to $15,500. Action went to Chad Brown, who made it 45, then Chris O’Rourke moved all-in. Tyler called and Chris got out of the way. O’Rourke had pocket J’s versus Smith’s pocket Q’s. The flop was A-4-6, the turn was a K and the river was the 3 of diamonds. Chris O’Rourke from Tampa, Florida was our 9th place finisher. For his efforts, Chris received $13,671.

The action settled down a bit until hand 35, when Tyler Smith raised on the button and got called by Tim Bullard (sb) and Ron Haveard (cut-off). The flop was 2-Q-2 and Tim fired out 60k. Ron got out of the way and Tyler called. The turn was a 10 and again, Tim lead out for 100k and Tyler called. The river was a 9 and Tim moved all-in. Tyler took a moment to survey the pot and decided to make the call with J-10. Tim was disgusted as his pocket 6’s were no good. Tim Bullard from Houston, Texas was out in 8th place, earning $20,507.

On hand 39, a short-stacked David Diaz made his play on the button for all of his chips. Tyler Smith was in the big blind and got the count, which was 100k, and made the call. Diaz tabled Q-10 and Tyler had pocket 7’s. The flop was painful for Diaz when the 5-7-8 fell, giving Tyler the set. The turn was a 10, the river was a Q, and David Diaz from Memphis, Tennessee was done in 7th place, earning $27,342.

Ron Romano crippled Ron Haveard on hand 49, putting Haveard down to his last 50k. He then got it all-in with pocket 6's on the next hand versus Chad Brown's J's. The flop was A-3-4. The turn was a 5, giving some help to Ron, but the river was another 4. Ron Haveard from Pensacola, Florida was out in 6th place, earning $34,178.

On hand 70, Peja Niyati lead out for 26k and Tyler Smith called. A very short-stacked Aaron Rhodus got his last 36k all-in and Peja Niyati and Tyler Smith called. The flop was 7-7-8 and both live players checked. The turn was a 3, Peja checked, and Tyler lead out for 25k. Peja folded and Tyler tabled the nuts with 8-7. Aaron Rhodus from Slidell, Louisiana had pocket 5's but was done in 5th place, earning $41,013.

Ron Romano was very patient throughout the final table. With a dwindling stack, he finally got all-in on the button with A-9 and Tyler Smith called with pocket Q's. The board improved no hands and Ron Romano hailing from Acworth, Georgia was out 4th, earning $54,684.

Peja Niyati raised from the button to 32k and Chad Brown reraised to 115k. Peja called to see the flop of Q-J-5. Chad fired out 50k and Peja moved all-in. Chad called with A-Q versus the J-10 of Peja. The turn was another Q. The river was a useless J. Peja Niyati from Dallas, Texas was done in 3rd, earning $68,355.

When the final two players were heads-up, Chad Brown made a phenomenal call with K-9 versus Tyler's 10-2 on a 3s-9d-5h-Qs-As board. Tyler made a 400k river bet, which was about half the pot. Chad took the lead with $1.7 million versus Tyler Smith's $1.1 million.
It would get worse for Tyler. The two became tangled up in another pot that would leave Tyler with little more than 250k. This time, Chad rivered a set of 9’s. Tyler never showed his hand.

After a long heads-up battle, both players limped in to see the flop of 6-3-5 rainbow. Chad made it 25k and Tyler min. raised to 50k. Chad moved all-in and Tyler insta-called with 4-9 clubs for the straight draw. Chad had the 4-7 for the made straight! The turn was a Q. and the river is the 3. Tyler Smith from Smithdale, Mississippi finished in 2nd place for $124,406. Chad Brown was the champion of the Main Event! He took with him a seat to the WPT Main Event, the Beau Rivage trophy, the bracelet, and $225,567.

Chad Brown is no stranger to the poker world. He burst onto the scene in 2002 playing the World Series of Poker. Since then, he’s made back-to-back final tables at the World Series of Poker Circuit Events, a final table appearance on the World Poker Tour and made the finals of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

Beau Rivage's next major poker event is the Southern Poker Championship, which will be held January 6-27, 2010. The main event will be a World Poker Tour event which will be a $10,000 buy-in event starting January 24th.

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For More Information:
Mary Cracchiolo-Spain, Beau Rivage
mcracchiolo@beaurivage.com
(228) 386-7134