TAPSCOTT TAKES DOWN EVENT 11

TUNICA, MS – While 162 women were playing in the ladies event at the Harrah’s Tunica Event Center, two found their place at the $550 buy-in Event #11 Final Table. The first females to make the final table so far at the 2009/2010 Harrah’s Tunica Circuit Event, Lisa Farmer and Rose Cooney were poised to make it a true ladies’ night.

Cooney’s husband Mark just missed making the final nine, being the tenth place finisher.

Had Mark Cooney made the final table, it would have made them the first husband and wife team in WSOP Circuit Event history to accomplish the feat.

Mr. Cooney’s elimination set the final table stage.

The nine players who reached the Event #11 final table and their chip counts are as follows:

With blinds and antes at 4,000/8,000/1,000, Brett Connally made it 32,000 to go preflop from early position before Herb Trapscott re-raised all-in. Connally made the call with pocket fives, but was far behind Trapscott’s pocket queens. The king high board was no help to Connally and he was out. The 23-year old student has plenty of Top Ramen in his future with the cash for $2,170.

Mrs. Cooney was eliminated after moving all-in with her remaining 56,000. Unfortunately it was bad timing, as she ran her     into an opponent’s pocket aces. Cooney took home $2,556 for eighth.

Earlier in the match, Robert Meyers took a horrendous beat from Michael Sanders after Sanders caught runner-runner full house. Meyers was left nursing just a few big blinds. Shortly after doubling back up to 100,000, Meyers moved all-in with     and was called by Charlie Dawson with pocket 3’s. Treys held strong for Dawson, busting Meyers in seventh. Meyers works in commercial real estate and owned a rare book store. He picked up $3,154.

Erik Badgley, a 32-year old engineer and host of Rounders Radio’s "The Daily Grind" poker radio show, moved his remaining stack all-in with     and got a call from Sanders, who showed    . The 8-high board was no help to either player, ending Badgley’s run. Sixth paid $4,726.

Dawson, was the next player eliminated after his pocket sixes failed to hold all-in against Sanders’ Q-8 suited. Dawson is a real estate investor. His sixth WSOP Circuit final table appearance earned him $6,298.

Michael Jordan, a retired officer with the NYPD, was eliminated in fourth place after moving all-in with     vs. Tapscott’s    . This was Jordan’s fourth WSOP Circuit final table. He earned $7,870.

Lisa Farmer played a strong final table and had a good chance of winning it all. But after taking a few hits to her stack, she failed to double up on an all-in, resulting in a third place finish. The married mother of two from Atlanta, GA picked up her fifth Circuit Event cash for $11,024.

With blinds and antes at 10,000/20,000/3,000, heads up was between Sanders with 700,000 chips against Tapscott, who had a 1.7 million chip stack. In the final hand of the tournament, Sanders was all-in with pocket nines vs. Tapscott with pocket fours. Tapscott flopped a set before blanks hit the turn and river.

Sanders earned $15,577 for second while Tapscott took home $25,369 first place prize and the WSOP Circuit Event gold ring.

"I feel really good," said Tapscott after his first major tournament win. "This event was very entertaining; there were a lot of good players here today."

Tapscott owns a finance company and has had a number of major tournament cashes since 2003. He describes his playing style as passive and says he will be playing in some more events through the rest of the series.

Still to come are 8 more events and daily single-day non-ring $125 and $230 buy-in events which begin at 4 pm and 7pm. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s Tunica runs through February 10th.