A former Utican, Joseph Tehan, won the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship in Las Vegas, a stop on the World Poker Tour, and the 25-year-old Tehan pocketed the top prize of $1,033,440.

"The intensity was so high, Joey was shaking like a leaf when he won," said his father, Basil, 63, of Utica, who was sitting in the audience as his son topped a field of 350 players over five days to win the title June 8. "Joey cried when he was done playing and won."

Tehan trailed in that final hand heading to the final card. He sported two pair (9s and 8s), but trailed opponent Burt Boutin’s two pair (aces and 10s) until the magical final card gave Tehan the winning full house.

Some may credit Lady Luck for turning Tehan into a winner, but he has another idea.

"The day I won was special because it was my late mother’s birthday. I believe she was watching over me," he said.

As a new millionaire, Tehan said he will definitely play in the World Series of Poker when it begins later this month in Las Vegas. Otherwise, he doesn’t see himself spending a lot of his winnings.

The Mandalay Bay Poker Championship and the WPT tournament finals airs on the Travel Channel in March 2007.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 19th, 2006 at 10:16 am and is filed under Land-Based Casino Poker, Poker Tournaments, Poker Winners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.