The fourth and final series of the year at Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Okla., is in the books and it was a man from Tulsa who captured the top prize. Eric Thompson won $103,228 after defeating nearly 500 players en route to winning the $1,100 main event, which had a $300K guarantee and two flights.
It was another successful and well-run tournament event by Jimmy Sommerfeld and his Poker Executives crew. The series ran Oct. 23-Nov. 2, sporting 34 events that included money added, guarantees, Jack and Jill, Working Man’s, pot-limit Omaha, ladies, seniors and satellites. There truly was something for everyone.
The $10K-added kickoff event drew 441 entries as Kathleen Gregory won the title and $5,427. Event 2 was the popular Jack and Jill tag-team match as Anne Medel and Robert Cote took it down for $1,928 each. My partner, Thea Temple (former Oklahoma ladies state champion) and I final-tabled, but we fell in 10th place.
Event 4 was the $150K guarantee with four starting flights, a $125 buy-in and liberal re-entry opportunities. It paid 5 percent of the field of a whopping 1,963 sitters, and when the dust cleared, Mario Barrera was the last man sitting, putting $35,239 in his pocket.
The PLO event drew 63 players as Justin Wainscott earned $4,155 for first.
Event 7 ($350) had 50 entrants try to beat my good buddy Brian Tolbert and fail. He finally took down a series event instead of one of the daily or weekly tournaments, and this time it was to the tune of $5,362.
The $20K-added Monster Stack (Event 10. $350) saw nearly 375 entries fall to Larry Bramsey, who won $19,866.
Helen Bivin won the ladies tournament (Event 11) for $2,038.
One of the more interesting formats in the series was the Working Man’s $240, which was contested over two days, starting at 7 p.m. to allow those with jobs to play during the week. It looks like an event name change might be in order since Deborah Espe won the first one for $4,223. The second Working Man went to Garland Thomas ($4,019) and David Blow won No. 3 and we hope he doesn’t blow the $5,211 he picked up for the victory.
The $125 seniors (Event 20) saw 194 entries and Randy Steward outlasted them all for $4,891.
Finally, the last chance event (No. 34, $350) saw Walter Bell best 80 players for $7,542.
— Email John at anteupjohndshort@gmail.com.
