Truck Driver Curt Temperley Speeds 3rd Cash
Council Bluffs, IA — Curt Temperley, a 51-year-old grocery warehouse truck driver from Battle Creek, Nebraska, should get a ticket for speeding.

The WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluffs has been running for just four days, but he already has racked up three cashes and two final tables, his latest being a win in this $200 No Limit Hold’em. He also placed third in Omaha Hi-Lo.

In high gear, Temperley nailed down his win tonight by driving over his last two opponents on the final hand.

 
His victory brought him $13,840.  It was by far his biggest cash, his other tournament winnings being mainly in small local events. Driving all around the Midwest, Temperley has plenty of opportunity to get in some poker along the way and is able to play about 50 tournaments a year. He splits his time between tournaments and live games, playing whichever he seems to be running well at. Tonight he shrewdly picked his spots, moving in whenever he thought he had the best hand.

Temperley, who has been playing poker seriously for seven or eight years, also puts in time at bar league poker tournaments, where he gets a lot of enjoyment out of aggravating his friends with occasional erratic play.
  
Some 223 players entered this one-day event, and the prize pool was $43,262. Only eight players made the official final table because, with 10 players left, two got knocked out on the same hand. On that deal,.Andrew Franks had J-10 against an A-3 suited and a Q-7 suited. When the board came J-K-Q-9, Franks had made a straight, and the two all-ins were both all-out.
 
With more chips, Bradley Lau took ninth while Jerold Bray ended up 10th. Eight-handed play began with blinds of 5,000-10,000 and 2,000 antes, 23 minutes left at that level. Leading with 287,000 chips was Davis Hengen, with George Brand close behind with 283,000.
 
Here were the final table chip counts:
 

Seat

Name

Chip Count

1

Ryan Thorson

58,000

2

David Hengen

287,000

3

George Brand

283,000

4

Garry Kipp

106,000

5

Curt Temperley

174,000

6

Duane Gerleman

202,000

7

Kevin Wheeler

174,000

8

Bradley Lau

202,000

 

 

 
8th place: Opening action was fast and furious, with three players quickly knocked out. First to fall was George Brand. He had lost almost all his chips when he took two big hits, once with pocket jacks against pocket kings. Soon he was all in from the big blind with J-3. Kevin Wheeler had only a 6-5, but when the flop came 2-4-6, the paired 6 was all he needed to leave Brand in eighth place, paying $1,298.
 
Brand, 39, is an engineer from Dublin, Ohio. His poker highlight is finishing 24th out of 301 players in a WSOP $1,500 stud event.

7th place: Immediately after, Ryan Thorson was all in with Q-10, losing to Hengen’s A-K after the board showed 2-5-J-Q-A. Thorson, collecting $1,730 for seventh, is from Rapid City, South Dakota, and in the trucking business.
 
6th place: Franks was next to depart. He had A-9, Wheeler had pocket 5s, and the pair did the job when a board of 4-J-8-3-2 missed both players. Franks, 27, is a railroad worker from Omaha. Sixth paid him $2,163. 

5th place: As action continued at a fast pace, Wheeler was next to drop out when he went in with K-4 and lost to Duane Gerleman’s K-J after the board came Q-10-A-3-10. Wheeler, getting $2,596 for fifth, is an underground sprinkler technician from Omaha.

4th place: Blinds now were 6,000-12,000.  And yet another player soon went out. First, Garry Kipp moved in and Gerleman called. Then, after Hengen moved in with his much larger stack, Gerleman made what turned out to be a good fold after Hengen turned up pocket kings.
 
“I’m dead,” Kipp exclaimed, showing a Q-10. He was. The board came A-6-J-9-5, Kipp missed his straight draw and cashed fourth for $3,028. Kipp, making his first Circuit final table, is a CPA from Bellevue, Nebraska.

Meanwhile, Temperley had been taking down pots and moved into the chip lead. The grand finale to this massacre ended when two players were run over on the final hand. First, Gerleman pushed in for 128,000. Next, Hengen pushed in all his chips. And then Temperley called, covering them both.
 
Gerleman turned over K-Q, Hengen showed pocket deuces, and Temperley, A-J. When the flop came 6-9-Q, Gerleman took the lead with his paired queen. Next a 5 turned, changing nothing. And then an ace on the river gave Temperley top pair, the pot and the tournament.
 
3rd place: Gerleman got $3,894 for third. He is a farmer from Ridgeway, Iowa who’s made three final tables here in the past two years. He also finished 23rd out of 2,200 players in the 2008 WSOP Seniors event.

2nd place: Holding more chips than Gerleman, Hengen took second place, paying $7,614. He is 38 and is an attorney from Omaha. –Max Shapiro