Thomas McEachin Takes Event #6 and $66,000 in Prize Money

The last tournament before the start of tomorrow's main event championship was a $500 buy-in no-limit hold'em event which attracted 395 entries. Among the participants was the reigning 2005 World Series of Poker champion, Joe Hachem. Unfortunately, the cards did not exactly fall Hachem's way. He busted out late on day one. It took 13 hours to eliminate 385 other players, leaving the final nine to take the main stage inside the Harrah's New Orleans Showroom for the final table. With several family members and spectators watching and cheering, the final table began with Ronnie Yarbrough, from Memphis, as the chip leader.

It took four hours to play down to a single winner - Thomas McEachin from New Orleans. McEachin seized the chip lead late at the final table and vanquished his last two opponents, thus earning his first major tournament victory. Players were eliminated as follows:

9th Place - Pocket kings are often called "ace magnets," because often when a player is lucky enough to be dealt kings, it follows that someone calls with an ace and then catches an ace on the flop. Miguel De los Santos very likely has some other colorful language to describe his pocket kings, which were flattened on his final hand of the tournament when an ace flopped. De los Santos went out first and collected ninth-place money amounting to $3,832.

8th Place - Ronnie Bartlett went out next. Bartlett, who runs various arcade and billiards-related businesses in Macon, GA was low on chips and busted out when he failed to make a pair. Bartless has previously finished high in poker tournaments in Tunica. He earned $5,747 for eighth place.

7th Place - The next three eliminations might as well have been caled the curse of Baton Rouge - Louisiana's state capital. Robert "Clint" Schafer, from Baton Rouge, went out in seventh place. He was lowest in chips at the start of play, but did manage to move up two places on the money ladder. Schafer collected $7,663 in prize money.

6th Place - Adam Simoneaux, another player from Baton Rouge, went out in sixth place. After about an hour of play, he was low on chips, failed to make a hand, and was eliminated. His pay day came to $9,579.

5th Place - Robbie Matthews appeared to be in good position to double up on his final hand when he was dealt K-9, moved all in, and caught a king on the flop. But an ace fell on the river, giving his opponent a higher pair. Ace magnets, indeed. Matthews, yet another player from Baton Rouge, finished in fifth place. Matthews, who is in the trucking business, rode off with $11,495.

4th Place - With the entire Baton Rouge delegation gone, it was time to knock out a local. Craig Gullung, who lives across the Mississippi river in Marrero took a tough beat when his A-10 was topped by Thomas McEachin's 8-7. All the money went into the pot after the flop came 10-8-6. But McEachin caught a third 8 on the river, sinking Gullung's top pair, with top kicker. Gullung collected $13,410 for fourth place.

3rd Place - Ronnie Yarbrough was the chip leader during much of the finale, but eventually lost the lead to Thomas McEachin on a key hand when McEachin moved all in with Q-Q and was called by Yarbrough with A-4. A queen in the turn doubled up McEachin and Yarbrough was low on chips. He managed to move back over 100,000 in chips at one point, but finally went out with 2-2 against McEachin's K-Q (which ended up making a straight). Yarbrough, a gambler from Memphis who won the WSOPC event in Tunica earlier this season, collected $15,326 for third place.

2nd Place - When heads-up play started, McEachin enjoyed a better than 2 to 1 chip lead over Mitch Bono - 414,000 to 179,000. The final hand took place when McEachin was dealt A-Q and called an all-in bet by Bono, holding K-8. Bono needed help. He didn't get it. The final board showed 6-6-2-10-Q, giving McEachin top pair and the victory. The runner up was Mitch Bono, a contractor for the federal relief agency FEMA. Bono received $30,652.

The winner, Thomas McEachin is a 33-year-old local attorney who specializes in commercial litigation. His official settlement came to $66,609.

-- By Nolan Dalla