TUNICA, MS - While over 600 players were in the early rounds of event #4 in the packed event center at Harrah’s Tunica (with 200 more in the poker room), the third event of the 2009/2010 Circuit Events at Tunica was in its final stage.
The remaining nine players of the $550 buy-in no limit Hold’em event battled it out for a first place prize of $32,397 and the coveted World Series of Poker Circuit Event ring.
The highest buy-in event of the Circuit so far attracted a field of 286 entrants and generated a final table of disciplined and astute players.
|
Name |
Hometown |
Seat |
Chip Count |
|
Shawn Brown |
St. Louis, MO |
1 |
635,000 |
|
Darren Dwyer |
Salem, IL |
2 |
240,000 |
|
Charlie Dawson |
Owensboro, KY |
3 |
715,000 |
|
Jerry Banach |
North Aurora, IL |
4 |
175,000 |
|
Jason Mayfield |
Cabot, AR |
5 |
205,000 |
|
Phillip Parker |
Union Grove, AL |
6 |
150,000 |
|
Ryan Watson |
Fayetteville, AR |
7 |
500,000 |
|
Doyne Finney |
Batyville, AR |
8 |
320,000 |
|
Robert Hankins |
Nashville, TN |
9 |
330,000 |
Ninth Place
Halfway through level 24 with blinds and antes of 5,000/10,000/20,000, the first two eliminations of the night took place when three players, Doyne Finney, Jason Mayfield and Jerry Banach got involved in a three-way all-in pre-flop.
Finney turned over the low pocket pair, while Mayfield showed . Banach, however was ahead of both of his opponents with .
The flop was a seemingly benign , however a on the turn gave Banach cause for alarm as Finney picked up the flush draw.
An hit the river sending the crowd of spectators into an uproar. Finney, the oldest player at the table by far at 70-years old, sat relieved as he sent his two junior opponents to the rail. Banach earned $2,760 for 9th while Mayfield collected a $3,253 8th place prize.
Seventh Place
A short while later, Phillip Parker, a 44-year old NASA technician from Union Grove, AL, moved all in with and got a call from Shawn Brown, who turned over . The board helped neither player, ending Parker’s run. 7th place paid $4,013.
Sixth Place
Ryan Watson was eliminated in sixth after moving all-in with against Shawn Brown’s . A king on the flop and blanks on the turn and river sent Watson to the payout table. The 31-year old "cable guy" from Fayetteville, AR picked up $6,012 for his efforts.
Fifth Place
After a flop of , Darren Dwyer moved all-in with and got a call from Brown. Brown showed pocket aces leaving Dwyer looking for another diamond to complete his flush. Dwyer bricked the turn and river and his day was done. The 22-year old from Salem, IL took home $8,012.
Fourth Place
Robert "Skinny" Hankins, a 29-year old poker pro from Nashville, TN was the next player to bust after moving his short-stack all-in with pocket sevens. The timing couldn’t have been worse for Hankins as Finney turned over pocket jacks. Hankins, who final tabled twice last year at the Tunica Circuit, was unable to catch another 7 on the board, ending his ring bid. Fourth paid $10,025.
Third Place
The final three players saw Brown with about 1 million in chips to Finney’s 1.4 million with Charlie Dawson the short stack at 500,000. Shortly after the dinner break, Dawson thought he had an opportunity to stack a few chips, shoving all-in with A-3 off-suit after a limp from Finney.
Finney, however slow-rolled his opponent, showing . A king on the flop put Finney even farther ahead before blanks hit on the turn and river. Third place resulted in a $14,024 payday for Dawson.
Second Place
Heads-up play began at 8:22 pm. Brown and Finney had comparable stacks with blinds and antes at 12,000/24,000/4,000. After a few hands of play, the two were all-in after a flop of . Finney showed for top pair, but Brown was ahead, having double-paired with . An ace on the turn and king on the river ended the tournament with Brown taking home a hefty $32,397 and a WSOP Circuit Event Ring. Finney collected $19,703 for second place.
Brown, a 28-year old screen press company owner from St. Louis, MO says table image was critical to his win. "I was playing like a maniac when we were down to two tables," said Brown.
"They thought I was the worst player, but after a while they figured out that that wasn’t the case."
Brown’s Circuit Event win was also his first cash. The winners of Events #1 and #2, Michael Crump and Jonathan Elliott were also first time Circuit Event Cashers.
Brown was ecstatic.
"Oh this is great man," said Brown. "Halfway through the tournament, I told myself I was going to win the ring. I refused to take anything other than first in this thing."
Still to come are 16 more events and single-day non-ring $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 10th.