Team Cincinnati Wins US Poker Bowl
Scotty Nguyen (Credit: Bodog Beat)
The US Poker Bowl is the first team tournament series of its kind. Six players stood on each team. More than 25 US cities were represented by poker pros, celebrities and average Joes alike. Folks like Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, Clonie Gowen, Robert Williamson III, Doyle Brunson and Scotty Nguyen sat down to play at the Palms in Las Vegas last weekend. Each wanted their team to win the $600,000 and the title of US Poker Bowl champ. Representatives from each conference sat down at the final table after Kenna James, who played for Team Detroit, sang the National Anthem to a hyped-up crowd. Jon Friedberg (New Jersey) hit the rail first, followed quickly by Steve Kingsley (Cincinnati). By far the biggest name at the final table was the aforementioned Nguyen, a previous WSOP Main Event champ. The Vietnamese native, who is often referred to as the “Prince of Poker” played valiantly for his adopted 'hometown' of Detroit in this event, coming in third, earning $100,000 for his team. Vinny Napolitano, playing for Cincinnati, took out Nguyen. This gave him the advantage going into heads-up play against St. Louis' Allan Kessler. His 225k proved to be an insurmountable lead over Kessler's 85k. With an A,K, Vinny went all-in and found a caller in Kessler who held K,J in the hole. With two aces and an eight on the flop, a jack on the turn and a second eight on the river, Napolitano clinched the title and a full house, aces over eights. His $600,000 payday was split amongst his teammates – Ari Goldstein, Chris Manzo, Steve Kingsley, Steve Dannenmann and Steve Zoine. More importantly, the fellas will share the title of US Poker Bowl champ for the next year. Here are the final table results: 1) Vinny Napolitano (Cincinnati) - $600,000 2) Allan Kessler (St. Louis) - $100,000 3) Scotty Nguyen (Detroit) - $100,000 4) John Kim (St. Louis) - $100,000 5) Rick Fuller (Detroit) - $100,000 6) Brandon Adams (Hollywood) - $0 7) Joe Hill (New Jersey) - $0 8) Steve Kingsley (Cincinnati) - $0 9) Jon Friedberg (New Jersey) - $0