Inaugural Circuit Event at Harrah’s St. Louis Draws 675 players- Largest poker tournament ever in Missouri
Event #1 of Harrah’s St. Louis first-ever WSOP Circuit is in the books.
Dustin Grimm of Cedar Hill, MO outlasted an impressive 675-player field, earning $40,837 and a coveted WSOP Circuit Event Ring, a high mark of achievement in tournament poker.
The $300 +(40) buy-in tournament was the largest ever held in the state of Missouri and generated a total prize pool of $196,134.
WSOP Director and Vice President of International Poker Operations, Jack Effel, was on hand to address the mass of day 1 starters. Before announcing the tournament rules, he thanked the players for the large turnout and for representing a booming poker community in the Midwest.
Video of Harrah’s St. Louis Circuit Event opening announcements.
Effel also thanked the staff and management of Harrah’s St. Louis, who for over a year, had been diligent in bringing a major tournament to the Gateway City.
Local poker celebrity Paul Harris, co-host of “The Final Table” radio show, also said a few words before making the customary announcement to shuffle up and deal.
Play began shortly after noon and ended promptly at 2:00 am with just 23 players remaining. About an hour and a half after the Saturday 2:00 pm restart, the final ten players racked up their chips and made their way to the final table. Blinds and antes were at 15,000/30,000/4,000.
Final Table Chip Counts
Brett Reinhart Laporte, 1 827,000
Nick Weber St. Louis, MO 2 562,000
Sam Lehman St. Louis, MO 3 390,000
Dustin Grimm Cedar Hill, MO 4 325,000
Charles Beggs Fishers, IN 5 325,000
Gregory Headrick St. Louis, MO 6 387,000
Mark Voll Chicago, IL 7 313,000
John Feigl Caseyville, IL 8 981,000
John Thompson Terre Haute, IN 9 780,000
Tim Vance Millstadt, 10 530,000
Tim Vance Champion suffered a bad run of cards and was eliminated in 10th place. The 2008 EPT Copenhagen Champion was disappointed but still all smiles as he left the remaining nine players to resume play.
Ninth Place
Blinds moved up to 20,000/40,000 with 5,000 antes. Despite heading to the final table with the chip lead, Feigl saw many of his chips get divvied up among the table’s shorter stacks.
Heads-up against Gergory Headrick on a flop of 4hAcJs, Fiegl was confident enough with his AQ to get the rest of his stack in the pot. Headrick, however was sitting on a dominating AK. Blanks on the turn and river resulted in a disappointing finish for the self-employed 49-year old who started playing poker a few months ago. Ninth place paid $3,275.
Eighth Place
With blinds now at 30,000/60,000 with 5,000 antes, short-stack Mark Voll’s tournament run was all but finished after moving all-in for just under 300,000 with Ah5d and getting a call from Charles Beggs who turned over pocket queens. The king-high flop was no help to Voll, nor was a second king on the turn. However an As on the river doubled up the 23-year student from Chicago and gave him new life.
Voll moved all-in again the very next hand. This time, it was Nick Weber who made the call. Weber expected a race at best as he turned over pocket 8’s but was left looking for a miracle of his own after Voll tabled pocket kings.
The board did not oblige Weber who was left in a bad way after doubling up Voll to about 1.13 million. Weber was all-in for about 300,000 shortly after with QdJs, only to be called by Gregory Headrick with pocket aces. A queen on the board was not enough for Weber and his tournament run was over. The 25-year old student from St. Louis picked up $3,864.
Seventh Place
Still reeling from his earlier bad beat, Beggs moved all-in with ace-high and got two callers by way of Headrick and Voll. The two live stacks checked the board down to fifth street, which Beggs got none of, sending him to rail. Beggs is an IT specialist from Fishers, IN. He collected $4,766 for his two-day effort.
Sixth Place
In a monster three-way hand, Grimm shoved his 355,000 stack with Ac7d. After tanking a bit, Brett Reinhart looked to isolate the all-in player by moving all-in with Ah8h. Sam Lehman couldn’t lay down his AdQd and made the call.
Grimm shouted “yes!” in relief after pairing his seven on a 7sQc10d flop, but was quickly subdued after Lehman pointed out that he had top pair queens. Mania quickly returned for Grimm after a 7h hit the turn and a king on the river.
Grimm tripled up to over a million; Reinhart took a slide down the leader board while Lehman was left with two measly gray 5,000 chips. After anteing up the next hand, Lehman tossed his other gray in the pot with 5s4s. He was unable to improve on the board against Voll’s 10h7h. Reihnart is a 24-year old who teaches middle school in inner city St. Louis. He earned $7,159 for his sixth.
Fifth Place
Shortly after blinds crept up to 40,000/80,000/10,000, John Thompson made it 200,000 to go from the button and got a call from Grimm in the BB. After a flop of Ad2hKc, Thompson made a move on the big blind, moving all-in with J8 off, but got called by Voll with A6. Blanks hit the turn and river, sending Thompson to the payout table to collect $9,532. Thompson is a 39-year old HVAC service tech from Terre Haute, IN with cashes at tournaments at the Bellagio and Caesars.
Fourth Place
Headrick was next to bust after re-raising Voll’s 180k bet all-in from the button with Kh9c. Voll called with QsJs, pairing his queen on the flop. The turn and river were no help to Headrick and the 26-year old poker pro with a Masters of Accounting was eliminated. He took home $11,925 for fourth.
Third Place
Aggressive pre-flop play from Reinhart picked him up some much needed chips but caught up to him after the 22-year old moved his 750,000 stack all-in with J5 suited. Grimm made the call with pocket 8’s. It appeared that the 8’s wouldn’t hold for Grimm after a 2dJs7h flop, but a 9c turn and 10d river completed a straight for him, ending Reinhart’s tournament run. Third place paid $14,494.
Second Place
Grimm had a marginal chip lead over Voll as heads up play began at around 6:15 pm. Grimm strengthened his lead with a number of post-raises against his opponent, and moved to about an 8-1 chip lead after rivering trip sixes and getting a call from Voll for much of his stack.
Voll doubled back to over a million after flopping a flush on Grimm’s pocket aces, but would not gain any more ground than that.
In the final hand of the evening, Voll re-raised Grimm all-in for about 900,000 with A7. Voll called with pocket tens and the two saw a flop of 8c9h5c. A Qc on the turn and 9s on the river gave Grimm the win, worth $40,837 and a Circuit Event gold ring. Voll collected $23,203 for second.
Grimm owns and operates Top Pair Poker, a startup that sets up free poker tournaments at area bars. This was his largest tournament win.
The 34-year old hugged his parents who were watching from the rail along with a teary-eyed wife before wiping a bit of moisture from his own.
He says that he was down to only 1,300 chips from a starting stack of 8,000 after taking a bad beat early in the tournament, but after chipping back up felt that the tournament was his to win.
“About eight hours into the tournament, it was weird, I felt that I was meant to be here this time, I’ve never felt that way about any tournament that I’ve played in.”
When asked about his future plans, Grimm says that he’s looking at playing the main event, and will take his wife on a well-deserved vacation.
Still to come are 11 more events and nightly (single-day) non-ring $230 and $340 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s St. Louis runs through April 15th.
Final Results:
1 Dustin Grimm Cedar Hill, MO $40,837
2 Mark Koll Chicago, IL $23,203
3 Brett Reinhart La Porte, IN $14,494
4 Gregory Headrick St. Louis, MO $11,925
5 John Thompson Terre Haute, IN $9,532
6 Ralph Lehman St. Paul, MN $7,159
7 Charles Beggs Fishers, IN $4,766
8 Nick Weber St. Louis, MO $3,864
9 John Feigl Caseyville, IL $3,275
10 Timothy Vance Millstadt, IL $2,883
11 Jeff Tullis Centralia, IL $2,883
12 Gregg Boss Ballwin, MO $2,883
13 Andrew Barfield Mt Sterling, IL $2,354
14 Scott Au Pekin, IL $2,354
15 Kevin Manley Arlington Hights, IL $2,354
16 Austin Alridge St. Peters, MO $1,961
17 Andy Kazen Chesterfield, MO $1,961
18 Pat Rowen Poplar Grove, IL $1,961
19 Michael Fong Overton Park, KS $1,726
20 Vadim Skakhnovich Chesterfield, MO $1,726
21 James Silotto Sherman, IL $1,726
22 Floyd Norton Bowling Green, MO $1,530
23 Derek Clifton Columbia, MO $1,530
24 Steven Hipes St. Louis, MO $1,530
25 Ismael Cabrera Marietta, GA $1,393
26 Brian Bishop Toledo, OH $1,393
27 Michael Stephens Godfrey, IL $1,393
28 Kimberly Bieller Poplar Bluff, MO $1,275
29 Thomas Hannan Murphysboro, IL $1,275
30 Jeffrey Boggs Springfield, IL $1,275
31 Brandon Brackney Springfield, IL $1,177
32 Benjamin Pope Marceline, MO $1,177
33 Thomas Brett Baxter Springs, KS $1,177
34 John Rose Indianapolis, IN $1,098
35 Craig Bernadet St. Charles, MO $1,098
36 Gregory Whitsitt Lees Summit, MO $1,098
37 Timothy Fowler Belleville, IL $1,059
38 John Reiss Omaha, NE $1,059
39 Adam Fuchs Springfield, IL $1,059
40 Charles St. Clair Wayland, MO $1,059
41 Scott Hiett Pegram, TN $1,059
42 Michael Urbaniak O’Fallon, MO $1,059
43 Ross Levison Chesterfield, MO $1,059
44 Jeffrey Fahnestock Peoria, IL $1,059
45 Brian Combs Belleville, IL $1,059
46 Todd Self Plymouth, IN $902
47 Jonathan Mings Columbia, MO $902
48 Clyde Lorance Saddlebrooke, MO $902
49 Terry Vance Dunlap, IL $902
50 Josh Von Behren Springfield, MO $902
51 Don Jeffries Barnhart, MO $902
52 Joshua Schindler St. Louis, MO $902
53 Larry Beilfuss W. Allis, MO $902
54 Thomas Gassner Hillsboro, MO $902
55 Eric Walterhouse Oakland, CA $785
56 Raymond Lantz Gibson City, IL $785
57 Angelo Raciti Florissant, MO $785
58 Shimiron Preis Marthasville, MO $785
59 Andrew Hale University City, MO $785
60 Gary Litterest Minnith, MO $785
61 Scott Carroll Pekin, IL $785
62 Timothy Shipman Washington, MO $785
63 Darren Reasons Harrisburg, MO $785
64 Stephen Morgan Mason, OH $686
65 Kevin Miller Decatur, IL $686
66 Keith Murrell Kansas City, MO $686
67 Steven Heeley Ballwin, MO $686
68 Preston Derden Houston, TX $686
69 Brenton Rincker Shelbyville, IL $686
70 Roy Riley Mahomet, IL $686
71 Jason Marsh Florissant, MO $686
72 Gandjar Permana Benton, IL $686
