SD Fall Specacular Championship Review

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It didn't take long after the action started for the drinks to begin flowing and to get the music pumping. Everyone was having fun, even though pots were been shipped all around the tables. We had our first all-in and a call within a half hour; the all-in survived and we continued on. Shortly after, Justin Venners moved all-in for his tournament life but was unable to survive, taking the pressure off 67 other players by being the first one out. Two hours into the tournament we had lost some more players and had broken our first table. Some of the early chip leaders at first break were Dale Yeager and Tim Nelson, both from The Stadium in Madison.

As the tournament day moved along there were a lot of big names still left in the field, including Eric Tycz, Monte Evans, Jake Obermeier, Grant Evans and Andy Anderson. But, by dinner break we were down to 35 players, and unfortunately for Eric and Monte their tournament action had ended. The chip leaders at dinner break were two of the chip leaders from the first break who seemed to just roll right along with the punches. Although they had swapped spots, Tim Nelson and Dale Yeager were still the top two in chips. Third in chips was Ed Rieger from the Aberdeen Eagles Club. An interesting thing also happened on supper break. Players gathered round one of the pool tables as former champion Eric Tycz (pictured left) from The Sportsmen's Rendezvous in Tyndall preformed card magic tricks--and not your garden variety ones. To see more entertaining pictures of magician Eric and the entertained spectators, check out the pictures on our Facebook page.

On our way to the final table we lost Andy Anderson, who went out around 15th place, and Jake Obermeier, who was eliminated in 20th place and which also meant that we would have a brand new champion (Jake was the last previous champion remaining). In addition, Grant Evans was taken out in 15th place.

Our final table looked like this: 

Seat 1 - Dale Yeager from The Stadium in Madison with 36,000
Seat 2 - Todd Miller from The Fireside in Sioux Falls with 40,000
Seat 3 - Glenn Schaefers from Bucks & Alpine in Sioux Falls with 87,000
Seat 4 - Joey Fischer from The Aberdeen Eagles Club with 69,000
Seat 5 - Travis Letsche from Starters Lanes in Redfield with 73,000
Seat 6 - Ed Rieger from The Aberdeen Eagles Club with 34,000
Seat 7 - Tim Nelson from The Stadium in Madison with 166,000
Seat 8 - Josh Sopko from The Stadium in Madison with 18,000
Seat 9 - Mike Overland from Alpine in Sioux Falls with 84,000
Seat 10 - Curt Swier from Shenanigans in Sioux Falls with 84,000

Short-stacked Josh Sopko had just doubled up thanks to Travis Letsche when his pocket Nines held up against A-Q.  Josh then got 'em all-in again against another short-stacked player Todd Miller. Josh had pocket Jacks this time and Todd was holding A-K. Unfortunately Todd's luck didn't improve and he was eliminated in 10th place.

Ed Rieger, a chip leader throughout the whole day who got tangled into some pots before the final table, was wounded with a short chip-stack and ended up saying goodbye in 9th place. Travis Letsche was the next to go as his K-8 top pair on a board of 8-6-5 didn't hold up to Curt Swier's 5-6 for two pairs.

Joey Fisher's 7-7 got into a coin flip against Josh Sopko's A-J. Tournament emcee Pete Bushey (pictured left) was right on the action as he pulled out a coin and flipped it. Joey won the coin toss, but we still ran out the board. Everything was looking true to form for Joey right up until a river Jack scooped the pot for Josh and eliminated Joey in 7th place. Dale Jaeger was the next to go in 6th place when he went all-in, only to be checked down the row with two Aces on the board. Too bad for Dale, but Glen Schaefers woke up to A-Q in the big blind. Soon after that Josh Sopko ran into some bad fortune of his own as he got into a pre-flop coin flip holding A-Q against pocket Jacks. The flop was A-A-J, which ended up crippling Josh. Then, once again, Glenn Schaefers eliminated another player when crippled Josh's A-Q went against Glenn's A-10, only to be beaten by Glenn when a 10 came out on the flop, tossing Josh out in 5th place. 

Next to go was the chip leader in the final table Tim Nelson (pictured right), who slowly lost his chip lead along with the rest of his chips. Tim was short-stacked and against Glenn Schaefers who held A-6 to Tim's J-9 of Diamonds. An Ace on the flop sealed the deal and Tim went out in 4th place, leaving three players a chance at the two grand prizes.

Soon after, short-stacked Mike Overland went all in with K-J and was called by Curt Swier's A-10. The flop brought three Spades in 2-4-10, and Curt took an overwhelming lead by hitting his 10 (neither player held a Spade). Mike looked for a K-J or running straight cards, but the turn was a blank being the Two of Clubs. Now Mike was drawing to one of the three remaining Kings or Jacks, and the river brought another blank with the Six of Diamonds. This ended Mike's great tournament run, but he still received some great consolation prizes.

That left our two new Fall Spectacular South Dakota State Champions: Glenn Schaefers and Curt Swier, who will join the 23 other state champs in sunny Las Vegas for the National Championship.Glenn and Curt's prize packages include an airfare and hotel package for three nights in Las Vegas and a seat in the National Championship Event this April at Caesar's Palace for a chance to win more than $12,000 in buy-ins, including a $5,000 main event seat in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event. Congratulations to you both! 

For all the spectators that stayed around there was also a tag team tournament that paid out more than $200 in cash and prizes. Ending at nearly the same time as the main tournament action, the teams finished in this order:

Tony Weelborg and Alex Buse - $120
Monte Evans and Darrel Rohlfs - $60
Jennifer Lee and Phil Gatliff - $20
Chris Betts and Tonya Rausis - Medallions
Tony Binger and Tommy Tomsha - Merchandise

Although Starters was new to hosting a championship event, the staff were experts in exceptional customer service. Cheers to Monte, Grant, Brit, Lisa, Rosie and all the other staffers for being wonderful hosts! And thanks to all the players and spectators who came out. We hope to see you all again at the next South Dakota Championship Event. Until then, may lady luck be on your side!