Minnesota Sin City Showdown State Final Results
The event was a blast and featured various side tournaments including a fun Tag Team event and a Heads Up Tournament. A lot of players came in Friday night and played the $45 buy in tournament in the casino's poker room. Early on, the reigning National Champ, Nels Peterson from the Ultimate Sports Bar stole the show by racking up the early chip lead. Nels day took a sour turn after the 2nd break when his stack got diminished and in the end he fell short of his goal of qualifying for an unprecendented 4th time in a row at a state championship event. Nels received a big round of applause when he busted in 36th place in recognition of his accomplishments in the league. There were so many other successful league players in the field it's impossible to give them all mentions. Former champs Jody Hamilton, Jeremy Lee, Greg Anderson, as well as former National Champ Clay Lipke were big winners in the past and indeed made this what we feel is the toughest tournament EVER at a Minnesota state championship event. In the end, there was a fresh crop of winners, with the exception of Anthony Thompson from the Blue Fox in Arden Hills, who won a 2nd trip to Vegas in as many promotions and will have a shot at besting his final table appearance at the Gold Rush 2 National Final. Haile Demise became the first player ever to qualify for national TWICE in the same promotion. He took down the Sherwood Lounge Tournament of Champions (Super-TOC) to already qualify in April. With the 2nd qualification he receives a DOUBLE chip stack at Nationals and additional airfare and hotel bonus.
The top 13 players earned a seat at the Sin City Showdown National Final and the top 6 won airfare and hotel accommodations. Anthony Thompson made the final 6, giving him back-to-back national final qualifications (he made the final table of the Gold Rush 2 final) and Haile Demise from Sherwood Lounge in St. Paul became the first-ever league player to qualify TWICE in the same promotion. Haile won the Super-TOC at Sherwood Lounge to qualify directly, and by qualifying again at the state tournament he earned the only double chip stack at nationals!
Winners - Top 6 pictured right)
- John Magnuson* - Z103 Bar & Grill in Fergus Falls
- Haile Demise* - Sherwood Lounge, St. Paul
- Joe Belgarde* - RC's Silver Spur, Grand Rapids
- Lenny Anderson* - Mike's Uptown, Hill City
- Dwight Perkins* - The Patch, Warroad
- Anthony Thompson* - Blue Fox in Arden Hills
- 7th - Dave Shasky - JC's Corral, Glyndon
- 8th Al Wickstrom - Harpo's
- 9th - Rick Antilla - Ultimate Sports Bar - Waite Park
- 10th - Sue Ellwanger, Bertha Liquor Store
- 11th - Tim Wadekamper, Dawns Corner Bar - Dundas
- 12th - Roger Halvorson, Hitterdahl Liquor Store
- 13th - Mike Kline - Sebeka Liquor Store
The rest of the top 25:
- 14th Cat Nelson
- 15th Rick Heinecke
- 16th Tom McGrath
- 17th Rick Allen
- 18th Chris Cain
- 19th Tony Wacholty
- 20th AJ Bunkowske
- 21st John Rottman
- 22nd Rick Claydon
- 23rd Gloria Millsap
- 24th Craig Belcourt
- 25th Jeremy Lee
- 21st John Rottman
The top 13 players will join the 4 other online winners from Minnesota and several Super-TOC winners at the Sin City Showdown. Good luck to all! See more photos and video on our Facebook page!
