TUNICA, MS. – World Series of Poker Circuit Event action continued Tuesday at Harrah’s Tunica Casino and Resort with the conclusion of Event #5, $345 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em. The latest Circuit Event champion was Kasey Stanford, a 31-year-old married father of four from Ozark, MO.
With the win, Stanford breaks through the 50-point mark shared by previous Harrah’s Tunica Circuit Event winners, Chip Ervin, Paul Sokoloff, Andrew Mcilvain and Matthew Weber, to take sole possession of the Harrah’s Tunica Casino Championship points lead.
The Casino Champion is the player who earns the most points through the 12 events at Harrah’s Tunica. This player will earn an automatic seat to the $1 million WSOP Circuit National Championship to be held in late May.
WSOP Circuit Event #5 drew 394 total entries, generating a total prize pool of $113,304.
16 players survived into day two, but it would be nearly three hours before the official final table was set.
| Name | Hometown | Seat | Chip Count |
| Joey Hebda | Bloomington, IN | 1 | 601,000 |
| Michael Kelly | Mentor, OH | 2 | 412,000 |
| Jennifer Parrish | Alma, AR | 3 | 747,000 |
| Mike Hibler | Springfield, MO | 4 | 211,000 |
| Ron Bone | O’Fallon, MO | 5 | 238,000 |
| Dan Routte | Lake Ozark, MO | 6 | 359,000 |
| Russell Ivy | Carrizo Springs, TX | 7 | 385,000 |
| John Dahlberg | St. Louis, MO | 8 | 152,000 |
| Kasey Stanford | Ozark, MO | 9 | 825,000 |
9th Place Short-stacked, John Dahlberg waited for a good spot to get his remaining chips all in and soon found one with A-K. Kasey Stanford obliged, tabling . Dahlberg looked as if he would double up after a seemingly benign flop with two diamonds, but found himself on the rail after two more diamonds fell on the turn and river. 9th place earned him $2,357.
8th Place
Ron Bone of O’Fallon, MO was the eighth place finisher in this event. He took home $2,950 for his two-day effort.
7th Place
The bust outs continued to come hard and fast, as Russell Ivy got his remaining stack in the middle with vs. Joey Hebda’s pocket sixes. The flop came down 10-10-6, giving trip aces to Ivy, but a full house to Hebda. Ivy was unable to improve on the turn or river and his tournament day was done. Ivy is a 47-year-old retiree from Carrizo Springs, TX. He has made three previous WSOP Circuit final tables this season. His fourth at Harrah’s Tunica earned him $3,746.
6th Place
After a flop with pocket aces, Stanford led out enough to put his heads-up opponent, Dan Routte, all-in. After some consideration, Routte made the call and tabled . Routte was unable to make either end of his straight draw and was out in sixth. Routte is a 54-year-old married father of three and avid fisherman from Lake Ozark, MO. Sixth place paid $4,823.
5th Place Mike Hibler moved all-in after making top pair on a flop. Jennifer Parish obliged and showed . Hibler was able to fade turn, but the river came the deuce of clubs, ending Hibler’s tournament run. Hibler co-owns a bar and grill in his hometown of Springfield, MO. He took home $6,302 for fifth.
4th Place
After claiming Michael Kelly’s stack and sending him off to the payout table to collect fourth place prize, worth $8,357, Parrish looked to be the odds on favorite three-handed holding two thirds of the chips in play. She increased her equity further after eliminating Joey Hebida in 3rd ($11,256), giving her almost a 3-1 lead over Stanford.
Stanford was undaunted by the task ahead. Not getting much pressure from Parrish, Stanford was able to see numerous hands through the river, which is where he was able to take a few stacks off of Parrish. The hand of the night developed after Stanford check-raised Parrish all-in on the river with two pair, sixes and nines. After tanking for a few minutes, Parrish put Stanford on a bluff and made the call turning over a pair of sixes. It was a critical mistake that gave Stanford the chip lead.
From then, Stanford never looked back. After chipping Parrish down to about 600k, Stanford bet enough to put Parrish all-in with . He turned over and remained ahead through a 3-A-A-7-6 flop, leaving Parrish to settle for a disappointing runner-up finish.
Incredibly, Parrish was down to just over three big blinds late in day two, but was able to surge back into contention and into second place, worth $15,404. Parirish’s second place finish puts her well over the 100 point mark in the WSOP Circuit National Championship points race. Her 9th WSOP Circuit cash this season earned her $15,404.
For the win, Stanford took home $24,929 and the WSOP Circuit Event Gold Ring.
Still to come are 7 events. The WSOP Circuit Events at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 13th.