SWEET MUSIC

TUNICA, MS – As tournament director Kevin Ferguson announced the name of the player in seat nine, a sudden burst of applause and cheering burst out in the Event Center at Harrah’s Tunica.

The unexpected barrage of loud whistling, clapping and shouts of encouragement from the room when Luther Lewis’ name was read was in stark contrast to the standard obligatory hand clapping.

Lewis, a 39-year old country singer and songwriter was probably the most surprised, seemingly taken aback from the crowd support.

"Lewis is the nicest player in this room," said Rose Cooney, who plays regularly with Lewis at the Horseshoe in Tunica and says she’s never seen him berate a player after taking a bad beat or even go on tilt.

"And he’s polite to the ladies."

In addition to home court advantage, Lewis had something else going for him heading into the final table of the $440 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, the chip lead.

Ninth Place

The final table got underway at 3:20 pm after Terry Alvert was eliminated. With blinds and antes at 5,000/10,000/2,000, the first hand of final table action saw Matt "Cub" Culberson and Mike Wolf all in pre-flop. Culberson was ahead with A-7 off against Wolf’s    . Culberson flopped top pair and maintained his lead through the river. Wolf earned $2,274 for ninth.

Eighth Place

Shortly after, Ray Hall moved all-in with pocket queens pre-flop and Scott Standridge called with pocket sixes. The Jack high board was no help to Standridge, sending him the payout table to collect $2,805.

Seventh Place

After Nathan Burdette raised to 45,000 in late position, Culberson re-raised all-in with pocket 10’s for his remaining 90k. Burdette called with    . The board improved neither player’s hand, ending Culberson’s tournament run. Culberson picked up $4,204 for his efforts.

Sixth Place

A few hands later, Jeter Brock made it 75,000 to go from the button while Zack Lawmaster moved in the rest of his chips from the small blind with    . Brock called with     and won the coin flip after no aces or sixes appeared on the board. Lawmaster, a poker dealer from Tulsa, OK earned $5,602 for sixth place.

Fifth Place

With blinds at 8,000/16,000/3,000, the remaining five players struck a deal. While the details were not disclosed, they decided to play it out for the ring. In the very next hand, Burdette ran his     into Luther Lewis’ pocket aces. The queen high board was no help to either player, ending Burdette’s ring bid. Fifth place officially paid $5,602.

Fourth Place

The fourth place finisher was Ray Hall. All-in pre-flop, his pocket 9’s could not improve against Mike Ashar’s pocket jacks on an ace-high board. Hall took home an official $7,000 payout.

Third Place

Lewis played conservatively throughout the final table and maintained his tight play down to the end, at one point folding pocket nines all-in pre-flop to 62-year old attorney Mike Ashar, who showed A-5 off.

Lewis’ patience eventually paid off after calling an all-in from Ashar, who had pocket 7’s. Lewis turned over pocket jacks, which held through the river on a 10-high board. Ashar officially earned $9,805 for third.

Second Place

At a decisive chip disadvantage to Lewis, Brock called his heads-up opponent aside. After a couple of minutes of discussion, the tournament was over with Brock taking home an official payout of $13,823 and Lewis the official $22,604 first place prize and the Circuit Event gold ring.

"This is amazing man, I can’t believe it," said Lewis, whose musical stylings can be heard at his website www.lutherlewis.net.

When asked about nice guys finishing last: "Well, I guess I’ve proved today that it’s not always true," replied Lewis, smiling.

Still to come are 9 more events and daily single-day non-ring $125 and $230 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 10th.