Local boy (Waterloo) at final table of WPT PokerStars

morty · Jan 09,2006, 10:46 AM

See: http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-tour...writeup&type=1

Steve Paul-Ambrose is a UW student from Kingston. He's starting the final table second in chips and stands to make at least 177k USD.

Does anybody know him from home games in the KW area? I don't think I've ever seen him, but I usually know people by their nicknames, if I know their names at all.

Sean

SirWatts · Jan 09,2006, 12:58 PM

I thought that name sounded familiar for some reason... But where do I know it from...

Zithal · Jan 10,2006, 03:59 PM

He's currently sitting in 1st with 3 players remaining...

1. Steve Paul-Ambrose - $3,840,000 (seat 1)
2. Brook Lyter - $1,960,000 (seat 3)
3. David Singer - $1,300,000 (seat 2)

Local Boy is guaranteed at least $436,200 USD. (second gets $681,500 and first is $1,363,100)

From the reports, it sounds like he's playing some pretty good poker.

(http://66.209.66.198/poker-tournamen...3b2eb3faf4804b)

Easy · Jan 10,2006, 04:50 PM

Hey look! He just won...I'm glad he's not on Team Waterloo for the cup...

http://66.209.66.198/poker-tournamen...3b2eb3faf4804b

SirWatts · Jan 10,2006, 05:01 PM

From reading the reports on Cardplayer it looked like he was really playing well. He was dominating the final table playing very aggressively (and likely catching some cards in hands he didn't have to show) and this could have been over a lot sooner had he not lost with K9 vs T9 all-in on a 9-6-2 to running 8-7. He got lucky after that getting all-in behind a couple times and drawing out but usually it was a case where he had a draw and got pot-commited through decent aggressive play. I read a lot of his old posts on 2+2 to get some idea of how he plays, and believe me this was no fluke. He might not be one of the most well-known online players but he's been playing pretty high stakes for a while and he knows what he's doing, he just needed that little bit of luck on his side to make it over the top like anyone.

Zithal · Jan 10,2006, 05:31 PM

HOLY CRAP!!!

Hand #105 - Steve Paul-Ambrose has the button, he limps, Lyter raises to $380,000, and Paul-Ambrose calls. The flop comes Js-9s-2c, Lyter bets $300,000, and Paul-Ambrose raises to $1.5 million. Lyter asks for a count of Paul-Ambrose's remaining chips while he makes his decision.

He really takes his time, and we're talking ten minutes here.

Lyter eventually moves all in for $3.02 million, and Paul-Ambrose reluctantly calls with Qs-10c (overcard, open-ended straight draw). Lyter shows Kc-Jd (top pair, king kicker), and he's made a great call here to hopefully double up, but he needs his hand to hold up first.

The turn card is the Qh, and Paul-Ambrose makes a higher pair to take the lead! Now Lyter is behind, and he'll need to catch a ten (for a straight), or a jack (for trips) to stay alive.

The river card is the Kh, and Steve Paul-Ambrose makes a king-high straight to win the hand -- and the tournament.

Brook Lyter is eliminated in second place, earning $681,500. Steve Paul-Ambrose wins the 2006 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, winning $1,363,100 and a $25,500 entry into the WPT World Championship.

GO LOCAL BOY!!

Graham · Jan 11,2006, 08:23 AM

someone find him and bring him here!

[img width=400 height=266]http://www.cardplayer.com/imgGal/2006-01/20060110_206_08.jpg[/img]

WaterLooser · Jan 11,2006, 08:40 AM

Front page of today's K-W Record.

UW student in poker paradise

Student wins way into tropical tournament, nets $1.3M US

BRIAN WHITWHAM
(Jan 11, 2006)

A University of Waterloo student has won more than $1.3 million US after a week of playing poker in paradise.

After a seemingly endless chain of tense moments, Steve Paul-Ambrose, 22, emerged in first place yesterday from a pool of more than 700 players in the Third Annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantis Casino Resort on Paradise Island.

The third-year business and science student won $1,363,100 US and captured a $25,000 US seat in the World Poker Tour's championship tournament, which will be played in Las Vegas in April.

His brother, George Ambrose, spent all day getting updates of the matches online.

"It was colossal," Ambrose, 26, said in a phone interview from Kingston. "I'm just totally excited and blown away."

The tournament was organized by PokerStars, an online poker site. Spokesperson Scott Womer said the admission was $8,000 and "it's one of the biggest tournaments out there people can participate in."

But Paul-Ambrose only paid $102. The Kingston native got in by winning a series of online competitions through the website.

"It's ridiculous," Ambrose said. "This is the last thing he ever would have expected.

"He has very little experience."

Ambrose said his brother has only been playing online for about two years and has rarely faced opponents at a table.

"Over Christmas, he was playing penny-poker with his uncles and was telling me after that he was practising at getting a read on people," Ambrose said. "He's an incredibly smart guy.

"Steve is a fairly quiet guy and he's a really good thinker and problem solver. That's what this game is about."

Dennis Paul, one of Steve's uncles in Kingston, feels better after losing $7 to Steve in a December game of Texas Hold'em. "Now that I have seen him beat the pros."

He believes his nephew has three things going for him. 1. A super quick mind 2. tremendous courage and 3. equanimity

"There's a lot of people out there that know they've got (an opponent) beat but don't have the courage to put their chips in. Steve does."

The tournament is based on a popular version of poker called Texas Hold'em, in which players get two cards they must use with five others dealt on the table to come up with the best hand.

Paul-Ambrose was joined in the final trio by Brook Lyter, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Fargo, North Dakota, and David Singer, a well-known player on the professional circuit.

According to PokerStars.com, the three jostled places several times until Singer called Paul-Ambrose "all-in," putting everything on the line.

Singer had the upper hand with a pair of kings but after the dealer tossed an ace and a queen on the table, Paul-Ambrose ended up with a full house.

With Singer eliminated, the tournament organizers brought the cash pot into view, spiking the pressure the two final players were already under.

With his mother, Cathy, and 16-year-old sister, Kirsten, watching from the audience, Paul-Ambrose only faced Lyter for about half an hour before they threw all of their chips in against each other.

Lyter ended up with a pair of kings and a pair of jacks but Paul-Ambrose pulled off a straight -- a hand of five consecutive cards -- for the win.

"He's a new champ," Womer said. "It is impressive. These are the guys people love to watch. Everyone likes to root for a young kid.

"It's going to be able to solidify his existence in the poker realm."

Several notable members of that realm were eliminated early in the competition, including Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem -- the past three champions of the prestigious World Series of Poker tournament.

"It shows anything can happen," Womer said.

"There's a lot of skill. But there's definitely luck involved."

Yesterday's competition will be broadcast some time next season on The Travel Channel and Toronto's City-TV.

zero · Jan 11,2006, 01:18 PM

Crazy. If someone can get him to the forum we can see how he does in the leaderboard tournies

Hork42 · Jan 11,2006, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zero

Crazy. If someone can get him to the forum we can see how he does in the leaderboard tourniesÂ*

No way... those tournaments are backwards. The worst players always win.

JohnnieH · Jan 11,2006, 03:37 PM

WOW!!!

harthgosh · Jan 11,2006, 05:26 PM

a penny poker player takes it down. On thepokerdb.com his total stars winning are like 700 bucks. Im happy for the guy, GO THE LITTLE GUY.

Really shows that if you focus your ass off and get some card luck along the way anything can happen.

zero · Jan 11,2006, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harthgosh

Really shows that if you focus your ass off and get some card luck along the way anything can happen.

Didn't we already learn this from Moneymaker?

SirWatts · Jan 11,2006, 05:57 PM

Reading 2+2 it looks like he's mostly a 30/60 limit player on Party but has started playing a lot more MTT lately, but only plays some of the big weekend tournaments on Stars. Not a penny-player by any means.

Hobbes · Jan 11,2006, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zero

Quote:

Originally Posted by harthgosh

Really shows that if you focus your ass off and get some card luck along the way anything can happen.

Didn't we already learn this from Moneymaker?

Ya on the radio today they said he beat out the Heavy Weights like Moneymaker and Raymer

What a laugh.

But a hardy congrats to him...you always need a bit of luck along the way.

Hobbes