SNPC IV enters second week of action in Tulsa

By: Earl Burton

The Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV, being held at the Cherokee Casino in Catoosa, Okla., is now deep into its second week of play. Several players have been able to take advantage of the tournament schedule to walk away with titles and seats to the $5,000 Championship Event, which will commence play Nov. 18.

Monday saw action in the $200 No-Limit Hold'em event, supplemented with the addition of a cruise for the winner of the tournament. The event saw 235 poker players step up to partake in the event, building a prize pool of $39,500 to be divided among the top 27 players.

 

In the end, Fort Worth, Texas' Todd Laviolet was able to scoop up the $12,410 first place check and the highly sought after cruise that went along with the funds. The final table played out as follows:

 

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize
1st	Todd Laviolet	Fort Worth, Texas	$12,410
2nd	Louie Aamer	Tulsa, Okla.	$6,952
3rd	Bill Burks	White Oak, Texas	$3,555
4th	Gerald Hughes	Neosho, Mo.	$2,765
5th	Edward Parvu	Mountain Home, Ark.	$2,370
6th	James Grimes	Houston, Texas	$1,975
7th	Scott Linsenmeyer	Stillwater, Okla.	$1,580
8th	Michael Hopkins	Elkland, Mo.	$1,185
9th	Dennis Holter	Tulsa, Okla.	$790

 

On Tuesday, it was an opportunity for the Omaha specialists to come to the felt for action. The $200 Omaha Eight-or-Better (Hi-Lo) competition drew in 182 players who battled it out for the first prize of $11,411. Eighteen players got a piece of the $34,580 prize pool and taking the lion's share was Jim "Mississippi" Williams of Bella Vista, Ark. The final-table finishers were:

 

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize
1st	Jim Williams	Bella Vista, Ark.	$11,411
2nd	Patricia Quinlan	Lenexa, Kan.	$6,294
3rd	Dennis Otto	Corpus Christi, Texas	$3,458
4th	Mauk Spears	Gainsville, Texas	$2,766
5th	David Mackey	Fayetteville, Ark.	$2,075
6th	Vincent Ware	Hernando, Miss.	$1,729
7th	Colin Barlow	Ballwin, Mo.	$1,383
8th	Daniel Zehm	Van, Texas	$1,037
9th	Jim Shaw	Lawton, Okla.	$692

  Tuesday also saw the $175 No-Limit Hold'em Bounty tournament start play at 6 p.m. with 246 players putting up the buy in. Each player would have a $25 bounty on their heads, which ensured that there was plenty of action at all the tables.

 

Twenty seven players earned something for their efforts (along with the bounties taken during the run of the event), with the top prize of $7,083 and the title going to Jason Benanzer in the end.

 

The other final-table finishers looked as such:

 

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize
1st	Jason Benanzer	Clayton, Okla.	$7,083
2nd	Matt Newcombe	Ada, Okla.	$3,897
3rd	Andrew Sterkel	Guthrie, Okla.	$1,993
4th	A.J. Jafari	Houston, Texas	$1,550
5th	Charbel Bou Labouz	Tulsa, Okla.	$1,328
6th	David Wintroub	Omaha, Neb.	$1,107
7th	Nathan Pal	Mishawaka, Ind.	$886
8th	Frank Howerton	Grove, Okla.	$664
9th	John Millsap	Tulsa, Okla.	$443

 Tournament action on Wednesday turned to the $200 Short-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event, where 193 runners came to the line. Twelve people would divvy up the $31,520 prize pool with tournament veteran Eric Crain, who has done well in World Series of Poker Circuit events throughout the Midwest, taking down the first place trophy and the $11,032 prize.

 

The final table finished like this:

 

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize
1st	Eric Crain	Murphysboro, Ill.	$11,032
2nd	Pete Lawson	Sandy, Utah	$5,989
3rd	Courtney Farrel	Norman, Okla.	$3,782
4th	Ronald Whitlock	Charlton, Mich.	$2,837
5th	Britt Wasson	Tulsa, Okla.	$2,049
6th	Zachery Abbott	Ada, Okla.	$1,576

  The $100 Seven-Card Stud also took place on Wednesday with 123 participants. Due to the smaller field, only the final table would make any money.

 

In the end, the two survivors at the final table, Brandon Breeding and Joseph Karriman, decided to chop the championship after playing into the early hours.  They both earned $3237 of the remaining prize money and were followed by these players:

 

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize
1st	Brandon Breeding	Lake Kiowa, Texas	$3,237
	Joseph Karriman	Grove, Okla.	$3,237
3rd	Samuel Clements	Liberty, Mo.	$1,439
4th	Darren Rogers	Verdigris, Okla.	$1,052
5th	Mojgan Stringham	Houston, Texas	$775
6th	Billy Talor	Durant, Okla.	$554
7th	Brian Hottinger	Shawnee, Okla.	$443
8th	Brian Clark	Frisco, Texas	$332

  

Thursday also saw two events taking place, with the $200 Pot-Limit Hold'em event starting the day at 11 a.m. A prize pool of $15,180 was built from the 107 players who entered, with only the final nine taking away any of the largess offered by the event. 

 Adam Murphy of Wagoner, Okla., was the victor of the event, winning a $6,071 check and a seat into the $5,000 Championship Event, but the event was also notable as it was the second final table finish of the SNPC for Daniel Zehm. 

 

The final-table finishers were: 

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize
1st	Adam Murphy	Wagoner, Okla.	$6,071
2nd	Ted Brooks	Axtell, Texas	$3,491
3rd	Matthew Terral	Shreveport, La.	$1,822
4th	Matt Wilson	N. Richland Hills, Texas	$1,063
5th	Daniel Zehm	Van, Texas	$835
6th	Doug Rust	Cypress, Texas	$683
7th	Gary Maize	Park Hill, Okla.	$531
8th	T.J. Toney	Edmond, Okla.	$380
9th	Scott McKinney	Oklahoma City, Okla.	$304

 

The second event on Thursday, the $100 No-Limit Hold'em tournament, drew an astounding 350 players to the Cherokee Casino for action. The prize pool built by these numbers amounted to $31,500 broken up among 36 players. 

 Tulsa, Okla.'s Mary Watt took the crown and the $9,765 check, with the the final table finishing as such:

 

Place	Name	Prize
1st	Mary Watt	$9,765
2nd	Leon Mueller	$5,040
3rd	Douglas Rogers	$2,520
4th	William Nichols	$2,205
5th	Danny Vo	$1,890
6th	Charles Moore	$1,575
7th	Cory Brown	$1,260
8th	Scott Krupa	$945
9th	David Summers	$630

  

There is still more than a week of preliminary action remaining in the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge IV. There are large events on the way, including a $1,000 buy-in event next Wednesday and a $500 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament (with re-buys) on Thursday. 

 

All of the events lead to the start of the $5,000 Championship Event on Nov. 18, expected to be attended by the namesake of the tournament, Scotty Nguyen, defending champion "Kido" Pham and a host of other top professionals.

 

As you can see, poker action isn't limited to Vegas with the Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge continuing its run for the next ten days.