The Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino held the 4th Qualifier for the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event on January 3rd.

On January 3rd, 2009 the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino held the 4th of 10 scheduled 2009 World Series of Poker qualifying events. This marks the 7th consecutive year that the Tachi Palace has hosted this tournament series. 149 players participated in this “deep-stack” tournament.

Table 9 and eventual final table was absolutely loaded throughout the event. At one point it featured 2007 World Series of Poker Champion Jerry Yang, Kit “June” Phapon (2-time member of Team Tachi, cashing in the 2005 WSOP Main Event in 126th place for $54,965), Todd Crosswell (2007 member of Team Tachi, cashing in the 2007 WSOP Main Event for $25,000), as well as a host of many other accomplished tournament circuit players.

Donald P. from Reno, Nevada ended up with all 1.49 million chips in play, winning the $200 bounty along the way for knocking Jerry Yang out in 5th place and becomes the 4th member of 2009 Team Tachi.

With Donald’s 1st place finish, he will receive a $10,000 seat the 2009 WSOP Main Event, roundtrip airfare for him and a guest, hotel accommodations at the Rio for the duration of the main event, as well as $2,765 in cash. All won with a $200 buy-in! Our next qualifier is slated for February 7th at 12 noon. Arrive early and take your shot at a chance at poker immortality.

2nd through 10th place cashed as follows:
2nd place: Jean H. won $1,761
3rd place: Ron M. won $1,509
4th place: Michael S. won $1,383
5th place: Jerry Yang won $1,258
6th place: Ricardo B. won $1,132
7th place: Steve L. won $880
8th place: Lawrence S. won $755
9th place: Ben L. won $629
10th place: Brent S. won $503