win, place & show  

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

2013 WBC Report     

 2014 Status: pending December 2013 Membership Trial Vote

Jason Levine, NY

2012-13 Champion

 

Event History
1992    Bruce Reiff      14
1993    Stephen Kershaw     10
1994    Stuart Tucker      20
1995    Dennis Nicholson      29
1996    Bruce Reiff      17
1997    John Coussis      15
1998    Bruce Reiff      14
1999    Bruce Reiff     31
2000    Ken Gutermuth     26
2001    Ken Gutermuth     42
2002    Stuart Tucker     40
2003    Robert Drozd     41
2004    Dave Steiner     57
2005    Dave Steiner     28
2006    John Welage     37
2007    John Welage     39
2008    Jason Levine     34
2009    Ted Drozd     25
2010    John Welage     27
2011    Jeremy Billones     22
2012    Jason Levine     29
2013    Jason Levine     27

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    13    130
  2.  John Welage        OH    12    107
  3.  Jason Levine       NY    13    103
  4.  Bruce Reiff        OH    13     87
  5.  Dave Steiner       DE    07     72
  6.  Robert Drozd       IL    06     48
  7.  Stuart Tucker      MD    06     47
  8.  Craig Fox          PA    13     44
  9.  Jeremy Billones    VA    13     36
 10.  Ted Drozd          IL    09     24
 11.  Jim Bell           MD    04     24
 12.  Jeff August        VA    04     24
 13.  Gerald Lientz      VA    08     21
 14.  Mark Kennel        DE    10     18
 15.  Jim Garvey         NY    03     18
 16.  Mike Zorrer        DE    07     15
 17.  John Emery         SC    06     14
 18.  Gadoon Kyrollos    NJ    11     12
 19.  Jennifer Visocnik  IL    08     12
 20.  Lance Fogel        PA    01     12
 21.  Bruce Monnin       OH    02      9
 22.  John Tighe Sr      DE    10      8
 23.  Jeff Finkeldey     OH    05      8
 24.  Josh Githens       SC    04      8
 25.  Christina Harley   VA    12      6
 26.  Raphael Lehrer     CA    09      6
 27.  Anna Palermo       NY    02      6
 28.  Joshua Garton      VA    01      6
 29.  Charles Ellsworth  NY    00      6
 30.  Frank Sinigaglio   NJ    99      6
 31.  Scott Foremny      PA    13      4
 32.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    09      4
 33.  Michael Cook       VA    01      4
 34.  John Tighe Jr      NJ    99      4
 35.  Rachel Harley      VA    08      3
 36.  Tom Browne         PA    07      3
 37.  Bert Schoose       IL    05      2
 38.  Peter Martin       NJ    99      1

2013 Laurelists                                       Repeating Laurelists:

Bruce Reiff, OH
2nd

Ken Gutermuth, NC
3rd

Jeremy Billones, VA
4th

Scott Foremny, PA
5th

Craig Fox, PA
6th

Past Winners

Bruce Reiff, OH
'92, '96, 1998-99

Stuart Tucker, MD
1994, 2002

Dennis Nicholson, NY
1995

John Coussis, IL
1997

Ken Gutermuth, TX
2000-01

Robert Drozd, IL
2003

Dave Steiner, DE
2004-05

John Welage, PA
2006-07, 2010

Jason Levine, NY
2008, 2012-13

Ted Drozd, IL
2009

Jeremy Billones, VA
2011
       

GM Jim Burnett comes equipped with a riding crop to encourge slow players, er horses.

Defending champ Jason Levine buys his way to the big track with a win over Kevin Emery, John Welage and Trella Bromley.

From the looks of things Vassili Kyrkos, John Emery and Sean McCulloch won't be cashing in any winning tickets this race.

Craig Fox outbets Greg Ziemba, Owen Kyrollos, Dave Steiner and Scott Foremny to earn his way to the big track.

Still flush ...

The annual race meeting at Lancaster Downs started off very well as attendance grew at the first heat and four boards were contested. Six former champions with a total of 14 titles appeared to test their racing and betting skills against a mixed field of veterans and rookies. The tracks in all games were fairly consistent, allowing perennial favorites Bruce Reiff, Ken Gutermuth, and defending champion Jason Levine to join Scott Foremny as early winners. The winning cash totals were all in the $150,000 range.

The second heat returned to average attendance as the players listed above did not have to return to try again for qualification. Four former champs with six plaques did preent themselves for a second chance. As opposed to the first heat, there could not have been any more disparate results from the two boards. On one hand, former champ Dave Steiner managed to scrape by with a win, ending the day with only $76,000 on a muddy track that saw the purse money be more important than success at the windows. At the other board, Craig Fox, a player who has experienced many finals but always finished shy of success, managed his betting on long shots so well that he literally ran away with the win with an astounding $286,500. This is easily the largest sum amassed in recent memory.

Attendance was definitely off in the last heat with only one board contested. This was due in the main to dedicated players having already won, and several others with different tournaments on their schedules. Jeremy Billones was the winner. He needed only $82,000 to punch his ticket to the big board.

All seven punters appeared for the Saturday Final. The early going gave mixed results for some but Dave, Craig, Scott, and Jeremy managed to get into early money problems and were strapped for cash after just three races. None of them had enough cash reserves to be of any real threat for the rest of the card. That left three horse players with enough cash to bet and buy the ponies. All were experienced bettors, having eight plaques between them, all with at least two. With such a field, it was left to the dice to decide which horse was favored in the last race. Ken had favorable rolls early, but then luck deserted him and his picks faded. Bruce and Jason went down to the wire with the value of the final purse a deciding factor. Jason won his second championship in a row with $149,000 to Bruce's $129,000. 

You've got to win a heat on the small boards to have a seat at the big track.
 GM      Jim Burnett  [5th Year]   NA 
    jimallene@comcast.net    NA 

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