$1 MILLION IS UP FOR GRABS ON GSN’S THIRD SEASON OF THE WORLD SERIES OF BLACKJACK Ben Mezrich, Best Selling Author Of “Bringing Down The House,” And John Fugelsang Announce As Players Who Qualified From Casinos Across The Country Compete For The Title At The Las Vegas Hilton What: The third season of the WORLD SERIES OF BLACKJACK features a one million dollar prize pool with the winner earning $500,000. For the first time, players earned seats through qualifying tournaments at casinos across the country and via AOL. New features including “Knockout” cards and Burger King “Power Chips” were added to the tournament for each one hour show. The new qualification structure features players who won local tournaments at officially sanctioned casinos across the country earning a seat in the 40 player field. In addition, AOL had a sweepstakes with over 300,000 entries and a tournament for two qualifying seats. The remaining seats were filled by special invitations for the returning champion and other top ranked players. When: Monday, June 5 at 10 PM ET/ 9 CT. Who: Ben Mezrich, author of the “Bringing Down the House” and “Busting Vegas,” brings his expertise covering blackjack to the WSOBJ. He is joined in the booth with host John Fugelsang. Mezrich’s best selling books covered the MIT kids who developed a system to beat the casinos at blackjack. “Bringing Down the House” is also being made into a feature film starring Kevin Spacey. Fugelsang has been seen on numerous television shows including “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” A list of the 40 players and casinos they represent is also available. Press Release provided by GSN
Schedule of WSOB III episodes Tune in to GSN on your local cable, or DirectTV channel 309, or Dish Network channel 116, Monday nights at 10PM Eastern, starting June 5th. Here is the schedule of episodes: June 5th: Tommy Dyer (Cherokee), Sheila Taylor (Isle of Capri Biloxi), Ken Einiger, John Grannis (AOL), Paul “The Assassin” Haas (Mystic Lake) Results: 1st: Paul Haas, 2nd: Tommy Dyer, 3rd: John Grannis, 4th: Sheila Taylor, 5th: Ken Einiger June 12th: Anthony Lu (LV Hilton), Kami Lis, “Rock ‘n’ Roll” Daryl Arnold, Steve Bortle (Lucky Eagle), Charlie Montoya (Ute Mountain) Results: 1st: Charlie Montoya, 2nd: Kami Lis, 3rd: Anthony Lu, 4th: Darrell Arnold, 5th: Steve Bortle June 19th: Jeff Bernstein (LV Hilton), Mano Fuentes (Thunder Valley), Jamie Root, David Weston (Cherokee), Angie “Moneytaker” Hardy Results: 1st: Jeff Bernstein, 2nd: Angie Hardy, 3rd: Jamie Root, 4th: David Weston, 5th: Mano Fuentes June 26th: Henry Tran, Ted Cousins (Seneca Niagara), Jennifer Ortega, Randy Driggers (LV Hilton), Tommy Connor (AC Resorts) Results: 1st: Henry Tran, 2nd: Randy Driggers, 3rd: Jennifer Ortega, 4th: Ted Cousins, 5th: Tommy Connor July 3rd: Tony Duong (LV Hilton), “Hollywood” Dave Stann, Vicki Reed (Cherokee), Shawn Crowder (AC Hilton), John Payne (Pearl River) Results: 1st: Tony Duong, 2nd: John Payne, 3rd: Shawn Crowder, 4th: Vicki Reed, 5th: Dave Stann July 10th: Ken Smith, Elie Karam (Foxwoods), Paul Eckstein, Dominick Haven (Barona), Val Hunter (Seneca Niagara) Results: 1st: Dominick Haven, 2nd: Ken Smith, 3rd: Paul Eckstein, 4th: Val Hunter, 5th: Elie Karam July 17th: Frank Calderone (Foxwoods), Pat Nicholas (Ute Mountain), Henry Fletcher (Isle of Capri Lake Charles), Mikki Padilla, David Matthews Results: 1st: Pat Nicholas, 2nd: Henry Fletcher, 3rd: Mikki Padilla, 4th: Frank Calderone, 5th: David Matthews July 24th: Scottie Black (Ute Mountain), Marshall E. Lafferty (AOL), Erica Schoenberg, “Razor” Rob Boisvert, Randy Joyce (Seneca Niagara) Results: 1st: Rob Boisvert, 2nd: Erica Schoenberg, 3rd: Marshall E. Lafferty, 4th: Scottie Black, 5th: Randy Joyce July 31st: Wild Card Game (Tommy Dyer, Tommy Connor, Kami Lis, Ken Smith, Randy Driggers) (Tommy Connor won the drawing seat.) Results: Winner is Kami Lis August 7th: Wild Card Game (Jamie Root, Erica Schoenberg, Angie Hardy, Henry Fletcher, John Payne) (Jamie Root won the drawing seat.) Results: Winner is John Payne August 14th: Semi-Final #1 (Paul Haas, Henry Tran, Pat Nicholas, Jeff Bernstein, John Payne) Results: 1st: Jeff Bernstein, 2nd: John Payne August 21st: Semi-Final #2 (Charlie Montoya, Tony Duong, Dominick Haven, Rob Boisvert, Kami Lis) Results: 1st: Kami Lis, 2nd Charlie Montoya August 28th: Final (Jeff Bernstein, John Payne, Kami Lis, Charlie Montoya, Tony Duong) 5th: Charlie Montoya 4th: Kami Lis 3rd: John Payne 2nd: Tony Duong 1st: Jeff Bernstein ($500,000 winner)
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