RIDE'em COWBOY

TUNICA, MS – John Land is the winner of WSOP Circuit Event #16 at Harrah’s Tunica.

"Cowboy," as he is known in poker circles, was primarily a cash game player, but started playing tournaments a few years ago.

Land made his way through the 196 player field into a final corral of nine players.

The Dallas, Texas resident started the final table second in chips, and outlasted a final table that included residents from seven different states.

Heading into the final table, chip stacks looked as follows:

Ninth Place

Final table play started shortly before 3:30 pm with blinds and antes at 5,000/10,000/2,000. UTG, Gary Lucht raised preflop to 30,000 with   . Wayne Philpot raised to 100,000 and Lucht moved all-in.

Philpot quickly called, turning over pocket aces. The board came          , resulting in a ninth place finish for Lucht. Lucht is a 62-year old farmer from Cissna Park, IL. He collected $1,590.

Eighth Place

Blinds and antes moved up to 8,000/16,000/3,000. A few hands into the level, Terry Crosby moved all-in from the big blind after Scott Uithoven limped-in from the button. Uithoven got in his remaining chips with    . Crosby turned over    . The jack-high board helped neither player, sending Uithoven to the payout table in eighth place. Eighth paid $1,872.

Seventh Place

Christopher Gray was the seventh place finisher. The 42-year old landlord from Atlanta, GA earned $2,310 for his two-day run.

Sixth Place

Crosby made it 50,000 to go from the button before Philpot re-raised all-in. Crosby called, showing     while Philpot flipped over    . A 10-4-8 flop followed by a 10 and 3 on the turn and river ended Philpot’s tournament run. Sixth place paid $3,462.

Fifth Place

Soon after, Matt Lawrence was all-in from the big blind and got a call from Land from the small. Lawrence’s     was unable improve over Land     on a jack-high board, busting Lawrence out in fifth. Lawrence is a 26-year old poker player from Tulsa, OK. He cashed in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. He picked up $4,613 for fifth.

Fourth Place

With play down to four runners, the blinds and antes moved up to 10,000/20,000/3,000. Shaun Johnston moved his remaining chips all-in with     and got a call from Brian Niekerk, who turned over    . The board came ten high, missing both players and eliminating Johnston. Johnston is a poker tournament director from Tunica, MS. He collected $5,765 for fourth place.

Third Place

Terry Crosby was the third place finisher after Niekerk’s pocket nines held against his A-4 all-in. The retired pilot from Memphis, TN earned $8,075 for his third place finish.

Second Place

With seven men down, Cowboy was at substantial chip disadvantage in the one-on-one showdown against Niekerk, but was able to double-up through his opponent with pocket nines. The final hand of the night came with Niekerk all-in with     vs. Land with pocket queens. The flop came      .

Though it appeared it was all but over, Land refused a congratulatory handshake from Niekerk.

"Naw man, don’t jinx me," he cautioned.

But after a deuce of diamonds on the turn, formalities were permitted and the two men shook hands as a benign   hit the river.

"Man, this is awesome, I can’t believe it," said Land after his win.

Even though he’s from Dallas, TX and wears the defining wide-brimmed hat, the former construction company owner says that he didn’t get the name cowboy from tending cattle.

"I’m as GQ as they come," said Land of his nickname. "This is just my good luck hat and people just started calling me cowboy."

Still to come are 3 more events and single-day non-ring $125, $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 10th.