The winner of the final ring event of the 2010/2011 World Series of Poker Circuit Events at Harrah’s St. Louis is La Sengphet, a tournament pro from Dallas, TX. Sengphet, who along with her boyfriend, DC Clark and companion Andy Nguyen, are tournament grinders who follow various Circuits around the country.
The trio were have experienced much success since making the decision to focus their time and efforts on the WSOP Circuit, with Sengphet and Clark now at three rings between them since January and Nguyen finishing in second in an event at Harrah’s Tunica - to none other than Sengphet.
The St. Louis stop proved not to be as fruitful to them as previous stops had been, but that all changed when Sengphet beat out 252 competitors to steal away the last WSOPC gold ring of this year’s series at Harrah’s St. Louis.
In addition to her second gold ring, Sengphet earned $17,855 and fifty points in the WSOPC National Championship points race, making her a virtual lock to compete in the nationally televised, million-dollar freeroll tournament to take place May 27 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
The final table chip counts were as follows:
| Name | Hometown | Seat | Chip Count |
| Chris Barton | | 1 | 198,000 |
| Andrew Smith | Austin, TX | 2 | 552,000 |
| La Sengphet | Dallas, TX | 3 | 550,000 |
| Geraine Doss | St. Louis, MO | 4 | 114,000 |
| Eddie Smith | Quincy, IL | 5 | 67,000 |
| Wistar Holt | St. Louis, MO | 6 | 211,000 |
| Darrin Crook | Ballwin, MO | 7 | 543,000 |
| Simon Mancini | St. Louis, MO | 8 | 147,000 |
| Wes Martin | Mckinleyville, CA | 9 | 279,000 |
The last final table of the 2010/2011 WSOP Circuit Events at Harrah’s St. Louis got underway just after 2:00 pm. It was a two ring circus in the tournament venue with spectators flocking back and forth between it and the Main Event final table.
Interestingly, although the event had a prize pool about nine times smaller than that of the Main, play was markedly more conservative. Eventually, the first elimination of the afternoon took place after Darrin Crook was all-in with pocket tens vs. Wes Martin’s A-9. Martin rivered his ace to end Crook’s ring bid. Ninth place paid $1,634.
Chris Barton saw his exit after his pocket tens failed to hold up all-in vs. La Sengphet’s A-2. Barton took home $2,043 for eighth.
The seventh place finisher was Wistar Holt. The 56-year-old married father of seven from St. Louis had it all in vs. Wes Martin with pocket fours, which were no good vs. Martin’s higher pocket pair. Seventh place paid $2,595.
Eddie Smith took a beat to end his tournament life on the river with A-K all in vs. Sengphet’s 10-9 after fifth street made her king-high straight. Smith is a 31-year-old restaurant manager from Quincy, IL. For his two-day effort, he pocketed $3,349.
Wes Martin was the fifth place finisher in this event. The married father of one from McKinleyville, CA went home with a $4,395 payday. Simon Mancini hit the rail not long after, falling short in an all-in vs. Andrew Smith. Mancini is a 50-year-old sales manager and married father of five from St. Louis. He has a number of WSOPC cashes under his belt including a previous final table appearance. His efforts in Ring Event #10 earned him $5,867.
Smith took a few hits to his own stack and was soon all-in with and was called by Sengphet, who tabled . Ace-king held up through an eight-high board, ending Smith’s tournament run. The 34-year-old from Austin, TX was paid $7,972 for third place.
Heads up, Sengphet had a strong lead over her final opponent, Geraine Doss. The matchup proved to be short-lived however, after Doss ran his pocket eights all-in vs. Sengphet’s pocket kings. Kings held through the river and Sengphet walked away victorious.
Doss is a poker room supervisor from St. Louis, MO. He collected $11,034 for his runner-up finish.
For her second WSOPC win, Sengphet took home $17,855 and gold ring #2. In addition, Sengphet picks up 50 points in the WSOPC National Championship points race, putting her at a total of XXXX. This makes her a virtual lock in the hunt for a seat to the $1 million WSOPC National Championship Freeroll event to be held in May at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
This was the second year that the World Series of Poker Circuit Events has come to Harrah’s St. Louis. Tournament organizers have deemed this year’s series to be an overall success with increases over last year’s attendance and prize pools. This year’s opening event saw a 20% increase in attendance over 2010.
The next stop on the 2010/2011 World Series of Poker Circuit Event schedule is Caesars Palace Las Vegas. The sixteen-day event runs from April 14 through April 30th.
See the full 2010/2011 WSOP Circuit schedule here. To see the full results and reports for each of the official ring events at Harrah’s St. Louis, click here.