Council Bluffs, IA—Pat Olsen is a fork lift operator at a meat-packing plant in Emporia, Kansas who plays mostly cash games. He decided to try a tournament here for diversion and entered the fifth event of the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, $300 No Limit Hold’em.
He was accompanied by his daughter, Kristian, who also signed up. Her favorite hand is pocket deuces, and that turned out to be the hand that won the event for him! His daughter is also a better tournament player than he is, he admitted.
First place paid $36,935. However, when Olsen had only a slight lead over his final opponent, they made an even-money chop. Olsen has been playing poker for four years, and his prior tournament activity has pretty much been limited to small buy-in events. Tonight he was able to move up a little at every level. His style was tight in early going, aggressive at the right time later on.
This event drew the largest turnout so far in this series, an impressive total of 423 players who built a prize pool of $123,093. Final-table play started with blinds of 6,000-12,000, five minutes left. Holding a substantial lead with 812,000 chips was Evan Brockman.
In quick action, Kevin Parmely was down to 35,000 when Graham Beynon paired an ace to outrun Parmely’s treys. But Parmely rebounded a hand later when his A-Q filled as he crushed Paul Eichfeld’s pocket 7s.
9th place: With blinds now at 8,000-16,000. David Yee, holding J[d] , flopped a flush when the board showed and he moved in. Holding for top pair and a better flush draw, Beynon called all in. Two offsuit babies came, and Beynon, first out, cashed $2,462 for ninth. Beynon, 30, is a software engineer from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
8th place: Second out, with blinds now at 10,000-20,000, was Paul Eichfeld, a 45-year-old retired police officer from Yankton, South Dakota. Holding Q-10, he went all in when a flop of J-9-2 gave him an open-end straight draw. He missed, lost to an ace-high, and took out $3,693 for eighth. Eichfeld started playing in New Jersey 10 years ago and now plays online and in live tournaments with his wife Amy.
7th place: When a flop of 7-6-4 looked safe, Vince Leonardo tried an all-in move holding A-8 and ran into a straight when Olsen turned up a 3-5. Leonardo made aces-up, but it was too little too late and he went out with $4,924 for seventh. Leonardo is a landscape contractor from Kansas City, Missouri. He has a win in the Winter Classic at Reno.
6th place: Blinds moved to 12,000-24,000. Next to cash out was Brockman when his pocket treys were beaten by a river straight. He moved in, was called by Parmely with A-10, and the board then came J-9-J-Q-8. Brockman is a chef from Omaha.
5th place: Two big stacks with two big hands now went up against each other. With an arsenal of 591,000 chips, Jordan Blair raised 200,000 with pocket queens, then called when Yee, with 611,000 chips, moved in. Yee turned up two cowboys, flopped a set, and Blair left in fifth place, worth $7,386. Blair is a 22-year-old student from Kansas City, Missouri who placed 18th in this event last year.
4th place: With 1,235,000 chips, Yee had now amassed more than half of all those in play. We had blinds of 15,000-30,000 with 5,000 antes, and all players were still here when blinds went to 20,000-40,000. After a long time we finally got down to three when Charlie Gran moved in with A-9. Yee called with A-6, spiked a river six, and Gran picked up $8,617 for fourth. Gran, 31, is a city superintendent from Kennebec, South Dakota.
3rd place: We then got heads-up when Parmely moved in with A-8 and was called by Olsen, holding pocket 7s. The pair held up when the board came 3-6-10-2-Q and Parmely was paid $9,847 for third. Parmely is a trapper and iron scraper from Huron, South Dakota who finished fourth in an earlier no-limit event.
Olsen now led in chips and he increased his lead to about 3-1 as play went on. Then, after going all in with 10-7 against Olsen’s A-9, Yee got lucky, flopped a set of 10s and pulled close to even. The two made their deal, and play continued.
2nd place: Soon after blinds climbed to 30,000-60,000, this event ended. Yee moved in with A-J, Olsen called with his daughter’s favorite hand, and the deuces prevailed when the board came 10-9-3-7-5. For second, Yee, who is from Omaha and gave his occupation as a former student and now a “bum,” took home $19,818. –Max Shapiro