Lacey Jones Luck Gets Boost After Joining Absolute Poker

The 2009 WSOP Media Invitational Poker Tournament was the second largest in the history of the tournament with a field of 165 players on 55 teams. Marc Rizzo from team "Overfed and Underwashed" took home the top individual prize and "Team Lacey" captured the top team prize anchored by a 4^th place finish by Lana Maier and an 11^th place finish by Lacey Jones. The event raised $6500.00 for the Nevada Cancer Institute on behalf of the top players and teams.

Last week, Absolute Poker announced that Lacey Jones had signed on as their newest professional representative. 

The Dream Team Poker structure added a great deal of excitement and fun to the tournament, as for the first time the media competed in teams for the top prizes. The Brasilia room was crowded throughout the tournament and the lively play even drew in a host of railbirds during the event!

Dream Team Poker pulled out all the stops with an innovative use of live updates through Twitter. Players were encouraged to trash talk and send out encouragement to team members from the table. All the posts were collected on the Dream Team Poker Twitter page @dreamteampoker and displayed in real-time on a big screen in the tournament.

"The Dream Team Poker structure brought a ton of fun and excitement to this year's WSOP Media Invitational poker tournament," said Nolan Dalla, media director for the World Series of Poker.  "I've been involved in media tournaments for twenty years and this, bar none, was the most exciting tournament I've seen. We definitely look forward to using the Dream Team format again!"

Prop bets abounded including a bounty on Gary Wise' head, sworn out by Dennis Phillips, and an offer to spank Lacey Jones with the DTP All-in Paddle by the player that knocked her out. Marc Rizzo (Bluff Media) collected the bounty on Gary Wise along with yearlong bragging rights by taking down the tournament. Dianna Trigatzi (WomensPokerYak.com) surprised all with a final table appearance but her rather anemic spanking of Lacey Jones failed to please the crowd.

The standings were as follows:

Individual Results

1.     Marc Rizzo - Overfed & Underwashed

2.     Amanda Rosenfeld - Luckbox Inc.

3.     Pauly McGuire - Tao of Poker

4.     Lana Maier - Team Lacey Jones

5.     Jerome LeRouzic - Pokerisvut Magazine

6.     Jeremy Firth - Poker Road Nation

7.     Brandon Ross - Thr33's Company

8.     Matt Mathis - Image Masters

9.     Dianna Trigatzi - The Floppy Squad

10.  Julio Rodriguez - The Chonch Chowders

Team Results

1.     Team Lacey Jones

2.     The Chonch Chowders

3.     Team Mutt

4.     Tao of Poker

5.     ESPN.com