Chad Brown, the Margate resident and pro poker player who served as host at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, has had quite a week at the Gulf Coast Poker Championships. First he took down Event 11, a $500 pot-limit Omaha tournament, and then he won the main event, a $5K no-limit hold’em tournament that had 143 starters. The $225K Brown won is his biggest score this year, plus he won a $10K main-event seat in the Beau Rivage’s upcoming Southern Poker Championships in January.
During heads-up play with Tyler Smith of Smithdale, Miss., Brown limped with 4-7 and saw a flop of 6-3-5 rainbow. Brown bet 25K and Smith min-raised to 50K. Brown moved all-in and Smith instacalled with 4-9 of clubs for the straight draw. Brown already had the nut straight and the turn and river were no help to Smith.
Brown was the cover story of the July edition of <em>Ante Up</em> and you can read his story <a href="http://anteupmagazine.com/issues/09-07/default.html">here</a>.
Other notable Florida cashes in the main event include Ron Haveard of Pensacola (6th, $34,178); Chris O’Rourke of Tampa (9th, $13,671); Brian Hawkins of Ft. Myers (11th, $9,570); and John Dolan of Bonita Springs (16th, $6,836). Hawkins, a very successful young pro, is the subject of a cover story in Bluff Magazine this month and is famously known as Sno0oman in the Internet poker world.
Brown’s win gives Floridians five titles at the GCPC this year.
