Rick Rossetti Completes Improbable Comeback to Win WSOP Circuit – Atlantic City

If the Boston Red Sox 2004 comeback from three games down against the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series was the baseball comeback for the ages, Rick Rossetti’s run this week has got to be the poker equivalent. Assuming that the New Jersey resident very well might be a Yankees fan, his six-figure haul should be a decent consolation. In winning the 2006 WSOP Circuit Championship at Harrah’s Atlantic City, Rossetti overcame an almost 6-to-1 chip deficit to start final table play in what looked like it was going to be a quick win for the chip leader.

Alex Gomez began the day with just over $1 million in chips. The remaining eight players had chip stacks ranging from $224,000 down to $101,000. With almost half of the chips on the table belonging to Gomez, it looked like Alex and the eight dwarves.

Rossetti began his run less than twenty minutes into play. After raising to $40,000 pre-flop (blinds $6,000/$12,000 with $2,000 antes), Tam Ly moved all-in for another $98,000. Once he got a chip count to confirm that he barely had Ly covered, Rossetti made the call, showing a dominant A-9 versus Ly’s A-7. The best hand held up, Ly was the ninth place finisher, and Rosetti was up to $307,000.

On the next hand, the shortest stack at the table, Drew Gliem, moved all-in, only to see MJ Bernstein also push. Gliem’s 6-6 was no match for Bernstein’s K-K and Gliem was gone in eighth.

A few hands later, Rosetti continued his climb. In another all-in pre-flop confrontation, Rossetti knocked out Ray Lin, A-K versus A-J. Rosetti was now officially a force to be reckoned with, as his $575,000 in chips made him one double-up away from the chip lead. Then again, the only one who could double him up was Gomez, who had held steady to this point.

Finally, after waiting patiently for an hour and a half, Mr. Bigstack Gomez woke up. From the small blind, Bernstein pushed all-in with K-J, only to be called by Gomez and his pocket 9’s. Once again, the best hand held up and Bernstein was out in sixth place. Gomez was now up to $1.4 million and had regained a commanding lead over Rosetti, who had fallen back to around $500,000.

After the next two players were eliminated, the table was down to Gomez, still in the lead with $1.328 million, Rossetti with $689,000, and John Racener with $353,000.

By the dinner break, Gomez had lost about $200,000, while the other two players had inched up a bit.

And then Rossetti made his biggest move of the day. On the first hand after dinner, Racener and Rossetti saw a flop of 7s-7h-9s. Racener bet out $155,000, Rossetti came over the top all-in, and Racener called. Rossetti was in bad, bad shape, showing only 8c-5c for a gutshot straight draw, while Racener had Qs-Js, giving him the high card, two overcards, and a flush draw. Rossetti was less than 21 percent to win.

The turn King was no help, but the river 6 was a miracle, completing Rosetti’s straight and sending the match to heads-up play. Someone other than Gomez was now in the lead, albeit by only a little more than $100,000 in chips.

For the first half hour of the one-on-one contest, Rossetti pounded on Gomez with raise after raise after raise, taking an almost 5-to-1 chip lead before giving back $300,000. After that slight retreat, Gomez was then able to retake the lead, doubling-up after pushing on a J-3-4 flop with pocket 10’s. Rossetti had A-2 for a straight draw and an overcard, but couldn’t pull it out.

That didn’t sway Rossetti, though. He continued his relentless aggression, snatching chips back from Gomez to once again grab the lead. Going into a break, Rossetti had a $1 million lead on Gomez. Just as Rossetti didn’t flinch upon taking a hit, neither did Gomez. It would have been easy for him to lose confidence when he finally found behind, but he pressed on. First, he beat Rossetti with full house over full house, then he forced his opponent out after the flop, wrenching back the lead once again.

Half and hour later, Rossetti made his final push towards the title. He raised to $100,000 pre-flop and was called. Same betting after the 2-3-4 flop, and both checked the 2 on the turn. When a Queen fell on the river, Gomez led out for $155,000, but Rossetti raised to $600,000 forcing Gomez to fold. Rossetti now had about a 2-to-1 lead.

It was over a few minutes later. The money got into the pot after K-9-3 flop, Gomez with pocket 10’s, Rossetti with K-7 and top pair. No help was there on the turn or river for Gomez and Rossetti had completed a historic comeback.

While the official prize for first place was $379,096, the final three players had made a deal to split their winnings. At the time, Gomez was in the lead, so he received $270,000. The other two got $190,000. In addition to the prize money, however, Rossetti also won a seat at the WSOP Main Event, as well as the championship ring.

Originally published December 21, 2006