New Orleans, LA – Fireworks were expected at the latest Bayou Poker Challenge tournament final table. Instead, the much-anticipated show ended up as a bust. It was a firecracker with a wet fuse. Not that anyone complained. The tournament’s top three finishers agreed to a deal and went on their merry ways.
But anyone who was expecting to witness the most interesting final table of any held thus far at Harrah’s New Orleans departed with a bitter sense of disappointment. It was like watching the time trials of the Indianapolis 500, and then calling it a real car race.
Of course, deals are a big part of poker. And, it’s the players' prerogative to negotiate deals amongst themselves. After all, players post the prize pools through their entry fees and once skill discernable differences become measured by razor-thin margins, sometimes altered by the turn of a single card, then it makes perfect sense to hammer out a deal.
That’s what Ricky McGowan, Tony “Tekk” Seunsom, and Gene “Timberrrr” Timberlake all did in World Series of Poker Circuit Event #16. McGowan got his piece. Seunsom got his. And, Timberlake took his. The final table might as well have been a bare carcass laying on the prairie after a pack of starving wolves had devoured all the meat. Oh, and McGowan ended up taking the gold ring. Let’s all hear it for the “winner!”
This was the 16th of 19 gold ring events on this year’s WSOP Circuit schedule at Harrah’s New Orleans. The $340 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament was played over two consecutive days during May 15th and 16th. The tournament attracted 51 entries. But the prize pool was bolstered by a whopping 262 re-buys, which amounted to more than four per player. The top nine finishers divided a prize pool totaling $40,255.
After 45 players were eliminated on the first day, six-handed play began at 2:00 pm. The nine finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:
| Seat | Player | Hometown | Chip Count |
| 1 | A.W. (Tony) Vidmer | Nashville, TN | 132,000 |
| 2 | Gary Bolden | St. Louis, MO | 88,000 |
| 3 | “Captain” Tom Franklin | Gulfport, MS | 69,000 |
| 4 | Gene Timberlake | Houston, TX | 60,000 |
| 5 | Tony “Tekk” Seunsom | Houston, TX | 240,000 |
| 6 | Ricky McGowan | Eunice, LA | 140,500 |
“Some” players were eliminated in the following order:
Sixth Place: “Captain” Tom Franklin Given Honorable Discharge
Former WSOP gold bracelet winner “Captain” Tom Franklin busted out about an hour into play. His AAxx ended up losing to a straight. Franklin, a former Vietnam vet, won a gold bracelet in the Limit Omaha event at the 2009 WSOP. He now has $2.6 million in accumulated live tournament winnings. Franklin, who now lives in Gulfport, MS collected $2,415.
Fifth Place: Gary Bolden
Gary Bolden, a 31-year-old poker from the St. Louis area, ended up in fifth place. This was Bolden’s fourth WSOP Circuit cash and third final table appearance. He has also previously cashed at the WSOP in Las Vegas. Fifth place paid $2,918.
Fourth Place: Film Director Cut
Film director and screenwriter A.W. “Tony” Vidmer battled his way to a fourth-place finish. He lives in Nashville and ended up with $3,622 in prize money. Vidmer is best known in the poker world as the writer and director of the film “High Roller,” a biographical story of the late poker icon Stu Ungar. This marked Vidmer’s second time to cash at this year’s Bayou series, following a ninth-place finish in Event #12.
Third Place: “Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” -- The Spirit of Competition Falls
Gene Timberlake, a longtime poker player and accountant from Houston, took third place. Timberlake was running over the table the previous day, but lost chips late and was short-stacked the entire duration of the final table. Timberlake, who has never won a poker tournament in his life, decided it was the best thing to work a deal.
Timberlake now has innumerable final table appearances (notch one more mark on his belt), and zero wins. His resume currently shows about $350,000 in career tournament earnings, no doubt pumped up by a few extra thousand after collecting $5,132, the official payout for the third-place finisher.
Second Place: Tony “Tekk” Seunsom Takes Second – Again and Again and Again
Tony “Tekk” Seunsom plays poker for money. He made yet another deal and relinquished his opportunity to win a first WSOP Circuit gold ring, instead choosing to pocket some extra jack. He’s now got something like 563,912 second-place finishes, but who’s counting? The official meaningless figure Seunsom presumably collected amounted to $8,051.
First Place: “Ricky McGowan Wins!” “Ricky McGowan Wins!” “Ricky McGowan Wins!”
The closing moments of the latest WSOP Circuit tournament won’t rival Bobby Thompson’s so-called “shot heard ‘round the world” in the Dodgers-Giants playoff game, but the result of a three-way handshake was just the same as a blast into the left field bleachers. Ricky McGowan, from Eunice, LA collected a gold ring and could rightfully declare himself as the champion. So, McGowan ultimately gets his name in headlights for a day and the history books forever (well, the Internet forever), while a few also-rans could presumably take some satisfaction in their expert negotiating skills.