Dakota Poker League Fall 05 Championship Report
gathered for the fall championship tournament at Playmakers Sports Bar in Fargo. Players on the final table pictured are Tom Parkman-Elks Lodge, Sheri Olson-Proz End of the Line & Ryan Koffler-Borrowed Bucks-Fargo.
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| The cards were in the air shortly after noon on Sunday, 92 out of 93 qualified
players showed up from around the state. The venue was Playmakers
Pavillion, which provided an amazing atmosphere for the championship
event. Special thanks to Skogie & Playmakers for providing very nice
consolation prizes and for the outstanding service.
Nobody busted out of the initial round and you could sense a lot of tension on the felt. Every table was a tough table as this tournament was packed with solid players. The action seemed tight to start and it took quite a while before the first players busted out. After the first break, the action picked up and we witnessed player after player go down. The first big hand of the day featured Tara Heisenfelt, Chuck Haugvedt and Terry Linde. Tara held pocket 10's, Chuck pocket 8's and Terry was holding the nut straight with Q-9 when the board came J-8-10. What a flop! As you can imagine, all three players "got 'em in there". Terry surely had the lead but would need to survive the turn and the river without pairing the board to hold on. The turn was a blank but the river did pair the board giving Tara & Chuck each a full-house - and suddenly Terry had the worst hand. Tara Heisenfelt took this huge pot and the early tournament lead. Another player who got off to a fast start was Tom Habadank. He was on table 4 which was moving the most chips early. Tom was the chip leader at the end of the first break with 42,300.
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| Poker is a family sport! There were two husband-wife players in the tournament and one mother-daughter
combination. Dave & Sharon Vanlaere from the Elks Lodge-Fargo
qualified, as did Dick & Sheri Olson from Proz End of the
Line-Devils Lake. Sheryl Yocom and her daughter Erica
McCauley from The Original Bar-Minot (pictured left) also made the
trip. Erica had a fantastic showing and ended up at the final table
placing 9th place.
There were some crazy hands. Just before the dinner break we witnessed an Ace-high flush split the pot when a card on the river made a straight flush on the board. Unbelievable. |
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When the final
table was set, Tom Habedank (M&J Saloon)
was the chip leader with 191,000 in chips. Sheri Olson (Proz
End of the Line) let out a big "wa-hoo!" as she took down huge pots and
was the crowd favorite with a following from Devils Lake. She showed
down with pocket aces twice in a short span that put her 2nd in chips at
134,500. Ryan Koffler (Bucks-Fargo) was right behind with
122,500. Cam Millang (Stadium II-Bottineau) was the only
other player over the century mark at this point.
Ryan Koffler played a great tournament, start to finish. He is excited to be representing Dakota Poker League at the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas and will be traveling with his fiance Lindsay. We wish him the best of luck and if he plays like he did in this tournament we just might seem him on the final table in this World Poker Tour event! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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