Council Bluffs, IA—“I’m hot. I can’t ever remember running this good for this long,” Curt Timperley remarked after winning his second event at the WSOP Circuit tour at Horseshoe Council Bluffs, $200 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. The win in event 19 paid $4,400. Earlier he won a $200 No Limit tourney. And he has two other cashes as well, one being a third in Omaha Hi-Lo! Not bad for someone whose past tournament cashes were limited to small local buy-in events. Driving around the Midwest, the grocery warehouse truck driver frequently checks the action at casinos along his route. He splits his poker time between tournaments and live games, and is able to pack in about 50 tournaments a year.This tourney had 63 players and a $12,333 prize pool. When we got to the final nine, Doug Dickenson had a slight lead over Lawrence Berg, 75,000 to 72,000.
Final table play commenced with blinds of 1,000-2,000 and 24 minutes left.
9th place: Dave Schenk was all in with A-3-J-K against Berg with J-2-4-6. Neither player managed a low when the board came A-3-3-6-9, but Berg settled for deuces full, leaving Schenk in ninth place, worth $367. Schenk, 47, is a youth worker from Hiawatha, Iowa.
8th place: With blinds at 1,500-3,000, Jim McGill found himself all in from the big blind, with a nondescript 10-6-5-5. Doug Dickenson had A-3-7-9 with two spades, and when three spades came on a board of 9-4-4-Q-J, McGill left with $489 for eighth. McGill, describing his occupation as a “bar drinker,” is 57, from Carter Lake, Iowa, and this is his first live final table.
7th place: Blinds were now 2,000-4,000. Suddenly, two players with two big hands built a very big pot. Berg had A-A-2-5 and Timperley A-A-9-7. Pre-flop, Timperley bet the pot, Berg re-potted it and went all in, and Timperley called.
The board came K-7-8, giving Timperley a pair of 7s and Berg a draw to a nut low. Then two 9s gave Timperley 9s-full while Berg missed his low draw. Timperley had him covered and moved into a big lead as Berg, a 32-year-old Las Vegas poker dealer, cashed seventh for $611.
6th place: Next to go out was Dickenson. He had A-4-9-Q and a flop of K-2-3 gave him draws to a nut low and a heart flush. At the same time, Timperley, holding K-K-3-Q, flopped a set of cowboys. Dickenson missed low when two paints came, and he took home $733 for sixth. Dickenson, making back-to-back final tables, is a 68-year-old CPA from Kansas City, Missouri.
5th place: With blinds of 2,500-5,000, Jack Spencer was in the big blind and he was left with a single 1,000 chip when his J-10-8-4 went nowhere. He stayed alive for a few hands by twice making a set of fours to take half of four-way pots. All in again from the big blind, he had all four players going after him. When the board came Q-Q-5,Glen Walston bet out, and Spencer, with K-9-8-2, knew he was dead. The other two players folded, Walston turned up A-Q-J-7 for trip queens, and Spencer, a 54-year old farmer from Bedford, Iowa, went out after two more 5s didn’t help.
4th place: The next player went out after a set-over set flop.”Grocery” Joe Miklas had pocket deuces and flopped the lower set when the board showed Q-2-9. Timperley had pocket queens and the grocery man was now dead to a fourth deuce. Instead, two more 9s came, and Miklas cashed fourth for $978. Miklas, 55, is a small business owner from Crescent, Iowa.
3rd place: Hanging on with a single 500 chip, Ronald Grandgeorge committed it from the big blind. After his two opponents checked down a board of 2-6-2-7-7, Timperley turned up A-2-3-Q for a nut low and three deuces and Grandgeorge, with 3-4-8-6 went out with $1,344 for third. Grandgeorge, 53, is retired from the U.S. Air Force. He earlier finished eighth in Pot Limit Omaha event.
The two finalists, Timperley and Walston, started their match-up fairly even in chips. As play went on, blinds moved up to 4,000-8,000. Timperley soon moved into the lead and steadily kept increasing it. On the final hand the board showed . Walston had for two pair and no low. Holding , Timperley scooped with a flush. For second, Walston, a 60-year-old farmer from Bedford, Iowa, took home $2,444. –Max Shapiro