Home / Poker News February 2011 / WSOP-C Harrah’s Tunica – Sam Barnhart wins
WSOP-C Harrah’s Tunica – Sam Barnhart wins
Posted by: Randy Williams - Sat, 2011-02-19 00:59
The WSOP Circuit event held at Harrah’s Tunica attracted a starting field of 480 players. Of those guys, only 9 remained for the final day of the poker tournament, and they all returned with their eyes on the $148k top prize and the guaranteed
WSOP-C National Championship Million Dollar Freeroll seat, that would also end up in the winner’s possession.
When it was all said and done, Sam Barnhart was the only one left at the table, all the chips in front of him and the top prize in his pocket. He didn’t raise his hand in victory before being dragged through a wild ride of a final table though.
Only 758k chips in his possession, Barnhart certainly did not look like the favorite when the action kicked off. The first victim of the day was John Holley’s whose chips went into the middle on pocket 4s. He got called by Kurt Jewell, who had As, 5s. The board brought 3 more spades by the turn though and thus Holley’s tournament fate had been sealed.
Jewell didn’t stop after having drawn first blood though. He proceeded to trounce John Nguyen next. That feat marked the end of Jewell’s luck at the table though. From that point on, he couldn’t scrape together a win for the life of him, as he slowly but surely distributed his chips to all the short-stacks. Eventually, with everyone chipping away at him, he faded away and he was eliminated in 8th place.
Preston Derden followed him to the rail in 7th, followed in turn by Nguyen.
Mary harden’s elimination set up the heads-up stage of the action between Barnhart and Jesse White.
The heads-up action lasted little. The final hand saw Barnhart’s pocket Ks best White’s J,10o. The board ran out 7,5,4,7,5, not really giving any of the two players anything. White walked away with $91k for his second place.
