Making No Bones About It

ST. LOUIS, MO. – Meet Gene “Bones” Esker.  Esker has led a storied life which began in Fults, IL, a village in the 30,000-person population of Monroe County, IL

Like many young men and women, Esker saw military service as a way to give back to his country, gain career and life experience and to see the world outside of Fults.

And like many of those noble young servicemen and women in the 60’s, Esker found himself thousands of miles away from home in the midst of the decade-long conflict that was the Vietnam War.

Esker served multiple tours in Vietnam. In the first, he logged hundreds of flight hours in reconnaissance missions with the First Infantry Division. In his second tour, he joined the Fourth Infantry Division as a scout where he conducted night recon missions behind enemy lines.

“We were sort of like rabid dogs, get out there, find ‘em, shoot ‘em up, get the heck out of there and let the gunships take control.”

After a decorated career in the military, Esker married, had children and went into the fur trapping and trading business in which he enjoyed years of success. A decline in the fur industry led Esker to commercial fishing, where he was profitable until retiring and passing the business on to his son.

Nowadays, “Bones” and his wife spend much of their time playing poker. While his son continues to rake in profits from the family business in the search of sturgeon, the 66-year-old retiree pulls in profits of his own from fish at various poker rooms around the Midwest.

Esker played a outstanding final table, making sizable bets when he sensed weakness from his opponents. He was also able to get away from strong hands when much of his stack was on the line, although begrudgingly and not without showing flopped top or pocket pair.

Event #6, $300 (+50) buy-in No Limit Hold’em drew a field of 319 players, generating a total prize pool of $92,829. The final hand of Day One saw the eliminations of two players, Christopher Cardenas of Woodridge, IL and Aaron Corson of St. Louis in ninth and tenth places, respectively.

Eighth Place

The final table of Event #6 got underway with blinds and antes of 8,000/16,000/2,000. The first casualty of the day happened early in play when John Kelly moved all-in preflop from late position with    .

Jerry Zehr quickly called, showing pocket aces. Kelly was left needing running straight cards after a flop of      . A flicker of hope came by way of a   on the turn, but was quickly extinguished after a river deuce. Kelly made his early exit to the payout table to collect $2,219. 

Seventh Place

The very next hand, Steve Reynolds, a controls engineer from Ballwin, MO and also a Vietnam vet, moved his short stack all-in from the cutoff with    .  Mark Pearse could only call from the big blind with     and the two players saw a flop of      . Blanks on the turn and river resulted in an eighth place finish for Reynolds, which paid $2,729. 

Sixth Place

Esker took some hits to his stack falling to about 450,000 before this hand ensued. In a huge pot, he and Zehr saw a board of         which both players checked to the river, which was a  . After an all-in and call, Esker turned over     for two pair to take the massive pile of chips and leave Zehr with less than a blind.  

After blinds and antes moved up to the 10,000/20,000 level, Zehr, a 54-year-old minister from Florence, KY, experienced something of a revival after tripling and then doubling up. 

Jay Little, who was nursing a short stack of his own, was all-in pre-flop with    .  Esker made the call with     before the board played out          , eliminating Little in sixth. The 49-year-old from Vandalla, IL headed to the payout table to a consoling “Hey, at least you don’t have to pay taxes!” from the remaining players. Sixth place paid $4,094.  

Fifth Place

Johnny Bryant, a 60-year-old who owns an insurance agency in his hometown of Monroe, GA was the fifth place finisher. Although second in chips heading into Day Two, he took a number of hits to his stack, including one from Zehr, who doubled up through him en route to a comeback attempt from 15,000 chips.  

After a flop of      , Bryant attempted to force his opponent off the hand, moving all-in with pocket deuces. The opponent, David Ridgeway, had flopped top pair however and made the call, tabling    . No deuces hit the turn or river and Bryant’s day was finished. Bryant pocketed $5,458. 

Fourth Places

Blinds and antes were now at 15,000/30,000/4,000. Having come back to life from three grey chips, Zehr was at a crossroads after moving all-in with pocket fives. Both Esker and Ridgeway made the call and the three saw a flop of     . There was no side pot as the two live players checked the   turn and   river. Esker showed     to take the pot and end Zehr’s run. Zehr added $6,823 to his coffers.  

Third Place

With blinds and antes at 20,000/40,000/5,000, Ridgeway moved all-in from the button with     and was called by Pearse who had quietly chipped his way up to a huge stack. Pearse tabled pocket 8’s before the board came          . Ridgeway played a strong game to finish in third which paid $9,552. 

Second Place             

Pearse had a commanding lead over Esker when heads up play began, but within a few hands, Esker pulled to within 400,000 chips of his opponent. With the tournament now going either way, the two agreed to chop first and second and play on for the ring.  

After a couple of back and forth swings, the final hand saw Esker raise to 100,000 chips before Pearse moved all-in. Esker had Pearse covered and made the call with     vs. Pearse’s    . Pearse was closer to a double-up after a flop of      . 

However, the turn came  , leaving Pearse looking to dodge a four or one of the nine remaining hearts in the deck. Pearse wasn’t so lucky though when the   hit the river, eliminating the 40-year-old correctional officer from Taylorville, IL in second. Second place paid $13,405, officially.

Video of the final hand of event #6 

Esker took home official first place prize money, worth $22,083 and a WSOP Circuit Event gold ring. 

Of his plans for the future, Esker says it’s in the cards.  

“I play a lot of poker nowadays, I’m getting too old to do almost anything else,” he joked. “Poker’s about the main event I got right now.”           

Still to come are 6 more events and nightly (single-day) non-ring $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7 pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s St. Louis runs through April 15th.