Vancouver Stand Up! Jason Warner Leads the Charge of Crazy Canucks

By Owen Laukkanen Jun 9, 2007 | 2 years ago

Jason Warner wins Event 12

By any stretch of the imagination, it's been a good week for Vancouver and its environs at the poker tables in Vegas. Exactly seven days ago, Abbotsford, BC's Shawn Buchanon won the World Poker Tour's Mandalay Bay Poker Championship. The next day, Vancouverite Greg Mueller finished second in the $5,000 Mixed Limit/No-Limit World Championship at the WSOP. And as of tonight, you can add Langley, BC's Jason Warner to that list of earners.

At a final table literally shrouded in mystery, Warner took down the 12th event on the World Series schedule, defeating David Zeitlin in heads-up play to take down the bracelet and an official payout of $481,698.

Although Warner led in chips coming into the final table, he secured his championship when he cracked Zeitlin's aces with 7-6 off-suit by turning trip sixes to cripple his opponent. A few hands later, the bracelet and the cash ($75,000 plus the results of a four-way chop) were his, and Warner had secured yet another truckload of cash for America's neighbors to the north. I talked to Jason soon after his impressive victory.

Jason, you just won a WSOP bracelet. How are you feeling?

Pretty stoked, pretty stoked. It's kind of unreal.

Can you take us through how the final table went for you?

It was pretty good. I got lucky, had my life on the line a couple of times. I ended up sucking out on a guy. I don't like to say that, but you know what, I've had people suck out on me in the tournament, so that's poetic justice.

How did you suck out?

Well, I picked up pocket fives, my opponent raised it. I ended up going all-in. He turned up pocket sevens and he had me covered. I hit a five on the river.

Warner Sucks Out

Well you have to be lucky to be good, right?

Oh yeah, exactly.

Can you talk about the heads-up match with David?

It was pretty good. Not really entertaining; there weren't too many big, exiting hands, but it was pretty cool. Nothing real big. No real big battles, but it wasn't too bad.

Was there a point where you knew the bracelet was yours?

David got pretty short-stacked after I beat him when he tried to slowplay his aces, so later on he got down to probably $600,000. You know, it's still never over, because he was down to $300,000 when we were down to four-handed, and he got up to about $2.6 million, $2.7 million in chips.

It's not over until it's over. I wanted the bracelet, but no guarantees.

Are you a short-handed specialist?

No. It's actually my first short-handed event - only my second World Series event ever. The first was the $2,000 No-Limit event the other day.

Proud Canadian

So a week ago Vancouver's Shawn Buchanon took down the WPT Mandalay Bay tournament, and also this week Greg Mueller finished second in the $5,000 Mixed World Championship. Are you a part of their crew as well?

I don't know them, no. I'm not super huge in the poker world, but hopefully I can get there now.

Do you play online?

No, I don't play online. I play at local casinos - River Rock in Vancouver. Actually I just won the Canadian Poker Tour event there, the last one. It paid $22,000 and I finished first out of about 240 people. So that was a pretty good tournament.

Are you going to play in the WSOP Main Event this year?

I wasn't going to, but I might have to now. I might have to come back down. You have to get really lucky in that tournament though - 10,000 people. I mean, this tournament had only 1,400 people and I still had to get pretty lucky. So I don't know.

What do you do when you're not playing poker?

Work. I'm a sales manager. I sell building materials, doors and stuff like that. I don't know about that after tonight, though. (Laughs.)

The Final Hand

How did you get into poker?

It's always been a passion. Ever since I was old enough to get into a casino, I'd head to that little room in the corner where everyone's sitting at those tables playing. I taught myself how to play and it's gotten me pretty far now.

Do you have any impulse buys in mind for the money?

Winnar.

Not right now. I might buy a house, something like that. That would be a good investment.

Where are you going to go celebrate?

Right now I'm tired, so I don't know. I'm still taking it in. Haven't really thought about anything after this moment. It's still sinking in.

Well get some rest, Jason, and congratulations!

Thank you. I appreciate it.

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With Warner and Buchanon's victories and the runner-up finishes by Greg Mueller, Guelph, Ontario's Gavin Smith and Quebec's Erik Cajelais, the month of June has started quite nicely for Canadian poker players. If the rest of the World Series continues on this tack, Harrah's staff might want to consider moving the WSOP north of the border just to save on the hassle.

Until then, congratulations to Jason Warner for winning his bracelet and his cash - the way the housing market is trending in Vancouver, he's going to need every penny!