Kevin O’Donnell came up to Reno Friday afternoon, walked in to the Atlantis Poker Room tournament area and said he was here to ship the Cary Marshall Memorial WSPS Seniors event coming up three days later.
O’Donnell – Marshall’s partner earlier this summer in the WSOP Tag Team event – called his shot and lived up to it, taking down Ante Up Reno Series Event 9.
The final five players in the 206-entry event agreed to lock up $4,000 each, playing down for the remaining prize money and the Ante Up Poker Tour Reno trophy. The five players agreed the additional Cary Marshall Memorial WSPS Seniors trophy needed to be sent back home to Marshall’s Mom.
Al Ahlm and Darrel Cain – co-founders of the Western Senior Poker Series – named their Reno event in honor of Marshall, who passed away two weeks ago. The duo also organized the event as a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project in Marshall’s name, with (as of this writing) $820 donated.
Marshall was a Reno-regular and a fixture in poker tournaments nationwide for many years. Often with his dog Tahoe along for the ride, Marshall never took his foot off the gas pedal in a tournament, always with a smile, a laugh and a beer at the table. Most everyone who crossed his path walked away with another great Cary-story to share.
A group of players from the tournament gathered last night at one of Marshall’s regular post-tournament stops, the Lucky Beaver grill across the street from the Atlantis, sharing a late meal, a few drinks and more than a few Cary-stories in memory of their friend.
For O’Donnell, this tournament was a special way to be able to honor the memory of a very close friend. Although he has about $1.7 million in tournament earnings, O’Donnell said he was more nervous about representing his friend today than in any tournament he’s ever played. Emotion overcame O’Donnell after the win, as a number of players came over with congratulations, and hugs.
Here’s the final results from the two-day tournament.
| 8/19-20/19 | Ante Up | Reno | Series |
| Event 9 | $200 | Seniors | $15k GTD |
| 206 | Entries | ||
| $32,970 | Prize Pool | ||
| 25 | Places Paid | ||
| PLACE | NAME | PAYOUT | |
| 1 | Kevin | O’Donnell | $4,900 |
| 2 | Tim | Corcoran | $4,564 |
| 3 | George | Geros | $4,000 |
| 4 | Joe | Long | $4,000 |
| 5 | Mitchell | Cogert | $4,000 |
| 6 | Richard | Clausen | $1,596 |
| 7 | Greg | Wagner | $1,325 |
| 8 | Dale | McMullen | $1,062 |
| 9 | Scott | Ayers | $795 |
| 10 | Ed | Yang | $580 |
| 11 | Ralph | Koehne | $580 |
| 12 | John | Codding | $580 |
| 13 | Mark | Vail | $478 |
| 14 | John | Valadao | $478 |
| 15 | Monte | Gilley | $478 |
| 16 | Marty | Gorenc | $406 |
| 17 | Matthew | Rabb | $406 |
| 18 | Mitchell | Friedman | $406 |
| 19 | Mark | Meurrens | $356 |
| 20 | Heidi | Sjogren | $356 |
| 21 | Michael | Alton | $356 |
| 22 | Nels | Erickson | $317 |
| 23 | Barry | Milender | $317 |
| 24 | Lance | Donnell | $317 |
| 25 | Jim | Stephen | $317 |
Dan is the founder of PokerLiveUpdates, a veteran poker tournament reporter who can be found wandering somewhat aimlessly through tournament arenas worldwide. As a founding member of FunTour2.0, he searches for the best in craft beer at all locations in the poker world.
