Got a Gold Ring?
Mark “the Milkman” Burford Milks the Competition Dry
Tournament Veteran Danny Doucet Takes Bad Beat and Finishes Second
Horseshoe Bossier City Area Hosting First-Ever WSOP Circuit Events through September 19th
Bossier City, LA (September 15, 2011) – Mark Burford is well known around the Shreveport area as “the Milkman.” That’s because he owned and operated his own dairy farm for several years, which he recently sold off to a large company. The Burford family dairy was located about 30 miles south of Bossier City, which is the site of the latest World Series of Poker Circuit stop.
Since he sold off his business, Burford, now 37, has spent a lot of his free time playing poker. Given what he accomplished in the most recent WSOP Circuit event, perhaps his nickname is more apt in describing what he does to his opponents at the poker table. “The Milkman” won Event #8 of this year’s Bossier City series and collected $27,063 in prize money.
For his victory, Burford was presented with the coveted gold ring, which is the ultimate token of achievement for winning a WSOP Circuit tournament.
Burford’s victory was well-deserved. Coming into this tournament, he already had two major accomplishments. He finished 344th in the 2010 WSOP Main Event. He also final tabled a Limit Hold’em event two years ago at the WSOP. Burford also cashed in an event at this year’s WSOP.
That’s not to say Burford didn’t have a bit of good fortune go his way on this night. On what was undoubtedly the most critical hand of the tournament, Burford managed to outdraw his opponent, runner up Danny Doucet. But that’s tournament poker, and both players were well aware of the ups and downs that are dealt out when everything’s at stake.
While Doucet had to settle second place, Burford ended up with this first major tournament victory. So now, instead of Burford following the slogan of the popular ad campaign and asking “Got Milk?” instead when he enters a poker room, he’s going to ask, “Got a gold ring?”
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The inaugural WSOP Circuit at Horseshoe Bossier City has proven to be a big success. The average turnout has been about 300 players per event, so far -- an impressive attendance figure given this is the first year the Circuit has ever visited Northern Louisiana. Based on the turnout and enthusiasm, it appears the WSOP Circuit could become an annual attraction for poker players throughout the South.
The eighth of 12 gold ring events was completed today, as another nice turnout showed up for the poker festival currently happening on the Red River. Event #8 was a $500 (+55) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament. There were 226 entries, about what was expected for the Wednesday-Thursday midweek competition. The total prize pool came to $109,610. The top 27 players were paid. All players who cashed received WSOP Circuit National Championship ranking points.
A full list of all players who cashed in Event #8 can be seen here.
After most of the starting field was eliminated on Day One, only two full tables of 18 survivors from the starting field of 226 returned for Day Two action.
When play began on late Thursday afternoon, longtime poker veteran Danny Doucet was the player to beat. He had both the experience and the chip lead, but ended up finishing second. The eventual winner Burford began play in fourth place. The nine finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:
Seat 1: Mark Burford (Gloster, LA) – 340,000 in chips
Seat 2: James Coon (Shreveport, LA) – 248,000 in chips
Seat 3: Chuck Lande (Rowlett, TX) – 105,000 in chips
Seat 4: Scott Carver (High Ridge, MO) – 247,000 in chips
Seat 5: Danny Doucet (Opelousas, LA) – 600,000 in chips
Seat 6: J.T. Anderson (Bronson, TX) – 222,000 in chips
Seat 7: Hiep Pham (Bossier City, LA) – 455,000 in chips
Seat 8: Courtney Wulfe (Houston, TX) – 210,000 in chips
Seat 9: John Jones (Spotsylvania, VA) – 374,000 in chips
Final table play began at 5 pm and ended at 12:30 am – making the total duration about 7.5 hours. The official order of finish was as follows:
Ninth Place: The first casualty of the final table was Scott Carver, from High Ridge, MO who finished in ninth place.
Eighth Place: Chuck Lande went out just a few hands later, and ended up in eighth place. He is a business owner from the Dallas area.
Seventh Place: Seventh place went to John Jones, from Spotsylvania, VA. He is a 40-year-old senior business analyst. An interesting side note about Jones is that he holds several juggling world records. In what is the equivalent competition to the WSOP of juggling, Jones holds 12 gold medals, which makes him makes him a more accomplished in juggling than Phil Hellmuth in poker.
Sixth Place: James Coon ended up in sixth place. He is a 62-year-old part-time poker player from Shreveport. This was his first time to cash in a WSOP-related tournament.
Fifth Place: Hiep Pham took fifth place. He is a local player from Bossier City. This was Pham’s second final table appearance at this series. He finished ninth in Event #1. Pham was paid $6,763 in prize money for this fine effort.
Fourth Place: Courtney Wulfe, from Houston, hoped to become the second female gold ring winner of the new season, but instead finished in fourth place. She won the Cleopatra Open (Ladies Championship) held at Caesars Palace Las Vegas two years ago. This time, Wulfe ended up with a nice payout totaling $9,004.
Third Place: J.T. Anderson, from Spring, TX had a decent-sized stack when play was three handed. But he lost a race holding A-Q against Danny Doucet’s pocket tens, and was eliminated. Anderson, who has several major tournament cashes – including 8 WSOP Circuit in-the-money finishes -- earned $12,175 in prize money.
Second Place: Danny Doucet, from Opelousas, LA finished as runner up. He earned a very respectable $16,728 in prize money as a consolation prize.
The final duel of the tournament began with Doucet holding about a 2 to 1 chip lead over Burford. Heads-up play lasted about 45 minutes, during which Burford seized control of the match following a critical hand which was unquestionably the turning point of the final table. Here’s how the key hand played out:
Doucet –
Burford –
Flop –
Turn –
River –
Burford was in big trouble with a dominated hand – holding K-J versus A-J. he was all in pre-flop. But things turned around fast when Burford caught two pair of the flop. Doucet made things more interesting when he picked up a straight draw on the turn. But the river was a blank. About 10 minutes later, Burford won the last hand and was declared the winner.
First Place: Mark Burford became the eighth WSOP Circuit champion of the new season. He earned his first major tournament victory and first WSOP Circuit gold ring with an impressive win at Horseshoe Bossier City. First place paid $27,063.
With his victory, Burford moved into the top ten players as the chip leaders on the WSOP Circuit leader board. The race to win the best all-around title here at the Horseshoe Bossier City series is heating up. At present, Felicia Johnico holds the top spot. She has a first- and fourth place showing thus far, making her the player to beat. Johnico is also the national leader – at least until someone posts multiple high finishes here at Bossier City and beyond.
The player who accumulates the most overall points in the twelve gold ring tournaments receives a pre-paid entry into the $1 million 2011-2012 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held in Las Vegas, next May. At least two players from this tournament series will qualify for the WSOP Circuit National Championship, which is classified as a WSOP gold bracelet event.
There are six more gold ring events remaining in what is being billed as a “12 rings in 12 days” poker series. The WSOP Circuit at Horseshoe Bossier City continues through September 19th. This year’s schedule includes not only the gold ring events, but multiple second-chance tournaments (at 5 pm and 7 pm most days), single table and mega satellites, plus cash games going around the clock inside the Horseshoe Poker Room.
An explanation of the WSOP Circuit National Championship point system can be found here.