ST. LOUIS, MO – The winner of the Harrah’s St. Louis WSOP Circuit Seniors Event is Bob Irby of Keller, TX.
Irby said that the $300 + (50) buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em event was some of the most fun he’s had at the poker table. In addition to his two days of folly, Irby picked up $14,344 and a gold WSOP Circuit Event ring.
Irby played his way through the 181-player day one field on Easter Sunday to become one of the final nine who returned Monday to play down to a winner. Sue Smith, an LPN from Poplar Bluff, MO was the lone woman among the nine, the first to make the final table in three events so far at Harrah’s St. Louis.
|
Name |
Hometown |
Seat |
Chip Count |
|
Sue Smith |
Poplar Bluff, MO |
1 |
180,000 |
|
Bob Irby |
Keller, TX |
2 |
138,000 |
|
Joe Laure |
O’Fallon, MO |
3 |
91,000 |
|
Pat Fleming |
Bement, IL |
4 |
214,000 |
|
Dave Simon |
St. Louis, MO |
5 |
74,000 |
|
Fred Lynch |
Lansing, MI |
6 |
278,000 |
|
Louis Ballo |
Chicago, IL |
7 |
154,000 |
|
Pat Olsen |
Emporia, KS |
8 |
221,000 |
|
Lowell Walker |
St. Louis, MO |
9 |
99,000 |
Ninth Place
Play resumed promptly at 2:00 pm with blinds at 4,000/8,000 and 1,000 antes. Little took place in the early hands with many pre-flop pots going to late-position raisers.
New blinds of 8,000/16,000 induced action, some of it involving Pat Olsen who moved all-in with KJ offsuit against Pat Fleming, who had AQ off. Olsen hit his jack on the flop, but unfortunately for the 57-year-old forklift operator from Emporia, KS, it was accompanied by two queens.
A deuce and nine on the turn and river eliminated Olsen in Ninth. Olsen shipped Event #5 earlier this year at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs Circuit Events. He collected $1,227 for his efforts.
Eighth Place
Lowell Walker went out in eighth place after failing to improve all in with against Dave Simon’s . Walker is from St. Louis and has two WPT final tables under his belt. He took earned $1,448 for his two days of play.
Seventh Place
After a lull in the action, Irby moved all-in from the button pre-flop with pocket 7’s and got a call from Fred Lynch, who turned over . The flop came , giving Lynch top pair but Irby a set of 7’s. After a 6 on the turn, a third 10 on the river wasn’t enough for Lynch and his day was finished. Lynch, a 60-year old retired Marine and Harley rider, took home $1,786 for seventh.
Sixth Place
Louis Barlu was the sixth place finisher. The 64-year old parks and recreation employee and race horse trainer from Chicago, IL earned $2,676.
Fifth Place
Fleming was eliminated in fifth place after being outflopped all-in with KQ off vs. Simon’s A3. The 58-year old AG equipment manager from Bement, IL collected $3,566.
Fourth Place
Simon and Joe Laure saw a flop of
. After an ace on the turn, Laure moved all-in with
. Simon called and showed
for two pair. A third jack on fifth street completed the boat for Simon and Laure headed to the payout table.
Laure is a landscape designer from O’Fallon, MO. He had a shot of becoming the youngest-ever WSOPC Seniors Event champion, having turned 50 on Day One of the tournament. (50 is the minimum age to enter the seniors event) Instead, he settled for a $4,456 fourth place finish.
Third Place
Three-handed play brought possibilities of two firsts at Harrah’s St. Louis – a first seniors champion and a first woman to claim WSOPC gold.
Unfortunately for Sue Smith, it was not to be after Simon moved all-in from the button with pocket deuces and Smith called with K4. The flop brought a 4 for Smith, but also trip deuces for Simon. Blanks hit the turn and river, sending the grandmother of six to the rail. Third place paid $6,242.
Second Place
Heads up play between Simon and Irby lasted only a few hands, the last of which saw Simon all-in with against Irby’s . The board came to give Irby the win.
Simon took home $8,838 for his runner-up finish. He is a 61-year old computer programmer/analyst from St. Louis who final tabled an event this year at the WSOPC Tunica.
Irby was all smiles as he was presented with a WSOPC gold ring and the distinction of first seniors event champion at Harrah’s St. Louis.
"This event was a lot of fun. The people here at Harrah’s St. Louis, the players and casino staff are just terrific," said Irby.
Irby has been playing poker since 1960 and says he has seen the game constantly evolving.
"The games used to be much easier, even online poker back in 2001 but players started reading books, so I started reading myself to keep up."
Irby says that this was only his second seniors event, but that he plans to play a lot more in the future and has already registered for the 2010 World Series of Poker Seniors Event at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Still to come are 9 more events and nightly (single-day) non-ring $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm.
The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s St. Louis runs through April 15th.