Terry Gloe Wins Again in South Dakota State Final
For the first time ever the South Dakota Championship was taking place in Tyndall, SD at the Sportsmen's Rendezvous. The field was quite extensive and the players were getting after it early and often. Charlie Lawrence from the Only One was off to a commanding lead early as he knocked out the first player within 20 minutes of the tournament start. Mark Elmer from Jackson's Golf Club was the unfortunate victim when he held top two pair only to run into Charlie's trips.
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harlie continued his good fortune to the dinner break knocking out many players and being the chip leader with 74,500. While at dinner break Eric Tycz (pictured right) the owner of the bar took some time to entertain the players with some card and magic tricks. If you ever get the chance to see them they are highly recommended. We are hoping at the National Championship he can show some off again as Eric went on to qualify for the National Championship.
When we got back from the dinner break it was make it or break it time for a lot of the short stakes. When we were down to 18 players the hand of the tournament happened. Terry Gloe from Shenanigan's Pub was holding 4-7, Tanya Rausis from the Brandon VFW had A-A, and Nick Nyreen from Cheap Shots had 9-9. With a flop of 7-7-Q Terry took a huge lead, but the turn retook the pot back for Tanya as and Ace came. And as you guessed it the turn was the one out 7, scooping the whole pot with quads and knocking out two players.
When we got to the final table it looked like this:
1.) Gary Jepsan from Sharkees with 77,000
2.) Terry Gloe from Shenanigans Pub with 195,500
3.) Tony Binger from Starters with 127,000
4.) Melissa Marshall from Shenanigans with 13,000
5.) Doc Benson from the Brandon VFW with 82,500
6.) Heather Miles from the Decoy Bar with 112,500
7.) Todd Cunningham from Double Shots with 72,000
8.) Craig Behrens from Shenanigans Pub with 59,000
9.) Eric Tycz from the Sportsmen's Rendezvous with 72,000
10.) AJ Meland from thte Decoy Bar with 64,000
Craig Behrens was freerolling on the final table as he had already qualified for the National Championship by winning the monthly tournament online. He got very close of having a double chip stack at Nationals and winning a second package. Unfortunately for him he came up just a bit short which is okay since he's still a big winner already.
The final table grinded for a while and the chips were being shared around the table. When we had our top six we had our qualifiers and it was on to play for the packages as the top three won those. The qualifiers were Heather Miles, Terry Gloe, and Eric Tycz. Both Terry and Eric know what it's like to be a previous champion, Terry having won just recently in the Gold Rush 2 Championship now going back to back, quit a feet. Eric won a couple years back being one of our 21 big winners at the Party at the Palms Promotion.
The top three big winners that won Sin City Championship packages to Las Vegas were AJ Meland (pictured left), Gary Jepson, and Todd Cunningham. All three are brand new champions, congratulations guys and we will see you in Las Vegas!