Gloe, Davis Pick Up SD Gold Rush 2 Wins
The action got underway at 12 pm, with 87 players gathered throughout Rosholt's spacious bar. Things got interesting early as Tournament Director and League Administrator Pete Bushey jumped in to deal during the first level and on his very first hand, George Cokens (Geo's - Freeman) hit a diamond Royal Flush! Three hands later Pete delt our first elimination as Dale Yeager (Stadium - Madison) coolered Ryan Rolfson (South Bar - Hartford) with AA's vs KK's and just like that Dale had turned his double stack into a triple stack!
Players and spectators alike were watching out for Brian Kozak (Sportsman's Rendezvous - Tyndall), the reigning national champion (Destination Las Vegas 2010) who hoped to capture yet another state championship title and another shot at the national championship. It was not to be though as his pocket Jacks ran into the pocket Kings of Bill Sunderman (South Bar - Hartford) a few hours into the day. Ben Tesch (Shenanigan's Pub - Sioux Falls) the overall points leader during one session of the promotion was also a player to contend with. His bad luck started early in the day as he had car trouble on the drive to the tourney and that luck continued as he would bust just after the dinner break.
The 5pm dinner break found the top 2 chip leaders from the same bar as both Dale Yeager (79k) and Steve Drew (49k) were both from the Stadium in Madison with veteran player Monte Evans from Starters in Redfield close on their heals with 46k. We returned to the action with 40 chip stacks remaining although 1 player was conspicuously absent even as we neared the end of the 1st level after dinner with Sioux Falls resident Terry Gloe heading out to do a little pheasant hunting on a beautiful Saturday afternoon (the date for this final was pushed back as it was originally planned on pheasant opener)!
Possibly the luckiest person in the room heading into this tourney was Justin Venners (pictured left), who was the winner of a Gold Rush 2 Grand Prize Package for scratching off four of the five cards to make a royal flush on our Royal Flush Scratch Card game, was also looking to pick-up another win to become the first person to win two grand prizes during one promotion. He made a very deep run but ended up busting out with only 2 tables remaining...
Eventually though, we were down to our final 10 as 8:15 pm neared and these skillful and lucky players were only hours away from seeing if they would become the next state champions and the winner of the grand prize Gold Rush 2 package:
- Scott St. Sauver - Shenanigan's Pub - 60k
- Terry Gloe - Buck's - 143k
- Jim Severson - Only One - 46k
- Steve Drew - Stadium - 108k
- Chris Risnes - Shenanigan's Pub - 68.5k
- Tanya Rausis - Alpine Lounge - 74.5k
- Jason Davis - Alpine Lounge - 83.5k
- Todd Cunningham - Drink Factory - 51.5k
- Dale Yeager - Stadium - 231k
- Frank Kapaun - Valley Lanes - 66.5k
After Pete introduced our final table to huge applause from a rowdy crowd, these players didn't waste any time as Frank and Dale got all the chips in preflop and Dale's AK was able to overcome Frank's QQ's to add 80k to Dale's already large chip lead and give him 1/3 of the chips in play after 1 hand. This was Frank's 2nd SD state tourney which is a little unique as he lives in Moorhead, MN but works in Brandon during the week and plays there on a regular basis...
Play did not slow as Jason Davis and Steve Drew both moved all-in pre-flop on the very next hand and things were looking grim for Jason's 66's vs Steve's AA's until the flop brought a 6 and crippled Steve and he would be out a few hands later. Jason however would use this pot as momentum to put him in position to be in the final 3...
Our last lady standing was the next to fall as Tanya went out vs Jason in a blind vs blind situation and Jim went out 7th as he was blinded down to only 5k and couldn't survive a river A as Todd's AK caught up to his 8-2 on an 8 high flop.
Chris Risness went out in 6th after flopping top pair but Terry "Doc" Gloe went runner-runner to hit a flush and Scott St. Sauver lost a flip with AK vs Dale's QQ to go bring us to our final 4. After our final break of the night, the 2 shortest stacks had a coin flip with Terry's 99's rivering a straight vs Todd's AQ and our final 3 were set. One more elimination would end the tourney and crown our next TWO SD winners....
Three-handed play was very even for quite a while but then the last hand finally came. After a series of raises, chip leader for most of the day Dale Yeager found himself all-in and in good shape with QQ's against Terry's A-10. While Terry's luck earlier in the day wasn't good as he missed his only shot at a pheasant, hit did hit an ace on the flop and quickly reversed the %'s and no miracle Queen could be found for Dale sending him out on the bubble in 3rd place after a great run.
Congratulations to our new South Dakota State Champions Jason Davis and Terry Gloe! We can't wait to see you this December in Las Vegas for the $20k National Final!