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Jeff Roper Wins the 2010 WSOP Circuit Stop in St. Louis

The inaugural WSOP (world series of poker) Circuit stop in St. Louis has crowned a champion at the local Harrah's Casino facility on April 16th, 2010. The champion of the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event is Jeff Roper, a corporate lawyer who lives in St. Louis. The poker tournament attracted a total of 129 participants and the total cash pool was worth $625,650.

Notable poker pros that participated in the tournament included Dennis Phillips, Grant and Blair Hinkle, Soheil Shamseddin, Paul Wasicka, Tom Franklin, Allen Kessler, Bernard Lee, Tim Vance and James Potter. None of the well-known poker players listed above were able to make the final table of the poker event.

Bernard Lee was the only notable poker player to cash-in, finishing in 11th place for $14,077. The final table of the poker tournament featured four local poker players so there was a considerable amount of people cheering them on.

Here is a quick look at the final table when things started: Seat 1: Matt Schwarmann-409,000 chips, Seat 2: Joel Casper-193,000 chips, Seat 3: Gregory Headrick-111,000 chips, Seat 4: Gary Bolden-66,500 chips, Seat 5: Jeff Roper-592,200 chips, Seat 6: Jordan Portell-116,000 chips, Seat 7: Gary Lambert-188,500 chips, Seat 8: Michael Sortino-70,000 chips and Seat 9: Jason Mo-184,000 chips.

Michael Sortino decided to moved all in on the 1st hand of play with A(diamonds) J(diamonds) in the hole. Gary Lambert made the call with A (clubs) Q(spades) and the board ran out A/Q/4/6/3. Sortino was sent home in 9th place and he won $16,017. That relegated Gary Bolden as the short stack and he soon decided to moved it all in with his pocket deuces.

But the pocket queens of Roper was waiting for him and the board was no help to either poker player. Bolden finished in 8th place and he won $18,957. Gregory Headrick played aggressively after that and while he saw an improvement in the short term, his aggressiveness eventually led to his exit from the event in 7th place. He won $23,337.

He moved all-in with pocket 10's and Lambert called with his K(clubs) 7(spades). The board ran out Q(clubs) 8(diamonds) 3(spades) 2(clubs) K(hearts) and Headrick was sent to the rail. Joel Casper was the next one to move all in and he accomplished that with his pocket aces.

Roper called with his pocket jacks and he won the pot because of a 6/5/6/J/6 overboard. Casper was sent home in 6th place and won $35,036. Jordan Portell possessed A-nine in the hole when he went all in on a flop of A(hearts) 4(hearts) 3(hearts) but he discovered he was way behind when Lambert revealed Q(hearts) J(hearts).

That was enough to take home the cash pot and Portell finished in 5th place with $46,673. Portell's elimination left Matt Schwarmann as the short stack. He moved all in for 140,000 with A-6 and he was up against Jason Mo's A-7. The dominant card hand won the money pot and Schwarmann was sent home in 4th place with $58,373.

The chip counts on the three-handed play are: Jeff Roper-1,040,000 chips, Jason Mo-607,000 chips and Gary Lambert with 294,000 in total chips. One of the biggest hands in the event started when Lambert decided to raised to 100,000 on a flop of A(hearts) 9(hearts) 5(hearts) and Roper made the call. The turn fell A(clubs) and Lambert moved all in. Roper called and they turned over their cards: Roper-Q(hearts) 10(hearts), Lambert-Q(spades) 8(spades).

Lambert was not drawing well and after the card hand, he won $81,710 for finishing in 3rd place. Roper won the hand and he improved his stack to a 2-1 chip lead heading into the heads-up showdown against Jason Mo. The two remaining poker players took a break before the final and when they resumed play Mo fought back against Roper.

He managed to even up the total chip count and even managed to take the lead for a short time. An important hand that saw Jason Mo's aces fall to Roper's aces up changed that balance and Roper once again grabbed a 2-1 chip advantage. The final hand started when Mo raised to 67,000 pre-flop and Roper re-raised to 175,000. Mo re-raised all in.

Roper called and they turned over their cards: Mo-A(diamonds) Q(clubs). The board revealed J(diamonds) 5(hearts) 3(hearts) 8(hearts) 7(hearts). Mo was sent home in 2nd place and he won $122,502.

05/13/2010, Thursday
Sherry Barlow

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