Congratulations to Kurt Jewell, Winner of the WSOP Circuit Harrah's Tunica Main Event ($192,984)
After three days of intense play, the World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's Tunica Main Event has crowned a winner. What started with 647 players, up 167 from the year before, had been reduced to the final 16 on the start of Day 3 action. After nine hours, Kurt Jewell emerged victorious to capture his third gold ring, the $192,984 first-place prize and a seat in the National Championship.
Speaking of the National Championship, it was confirmed on Monday that Matthew Weber captured the Harrah's Tunica Casino Championship with 80 points. That meant Weber and the eventual winner of the Main Event would punch their ticket to a $1-million freeroll, a fact not lost on the final 16 players.
After a long night on Sunday, players returned “bright and early” at Noon on Monday to determine a winner. It didn’t take long for the first elimination of the day to occur as short-stacked Michael “Carwash” Schneider failed to make a comeback and was dispatched in 16th place. Over the course of the next couple of hours, he was followed out the door by Kyle Hamlin (15th-$11,814), Frank Mull (14th-$11,814), Doug “Rico” Carli (13th-$11,814), Jae Chang (12th-$14,516), and John Cecil (11th-$14,516).
At about the same time as Cecil’s elimination, a hand developed at the other table that saw Houston White call a raise of 52,000, only to have Jacob Bazeley three-bet to 175,000 from the small blind. The original raiser folded, Houston made the call, and the flop fell 
. Bazeley bet 150,000, Houston moved all in for around 650,000, and Bazeley called with 
. Houston tabled 
and couldn’t catch as both the turn and river blanked. Just like that, the final table was burst.
Here’s a look at how the official final table of nine stacked up:
Harrah’s Tunica Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd Chew | 514,000 |
| 2 | Jacob Bazeley | 2,200,000 |
| 3 | Dan Blakeman | 1,930,000 |
| 4 | Ray Weaver | 924,000 |
| 5 | Dustin Gardner | 1,129,000 |
| 6 | Michael “Great MJ” Cooper | 763,000 |
| 7 | Steve McClusky | 1,200,000 |
| 8 | Kurt Jewell | 1,275,000 |
| 9 | Chris Thompson | 3,400,000 |
It took less than a half hour for the first elimination to occur at the final table and happened when Steve McClusky opened the action with a raise to 80,000 and Ray Weaver called from the small blind. The flop came 
, Weaver checked and McClusky bet 200,000. Weaver called to see the 
turn and checked. McClusky moved all in and Weaver called.
Showdown
| McClusky |   |
| Weaver |   |
McClusky flopped two pair but Weaver was drawing live to a straight and a queen. Unfortunately for him, the 
river was a blank and Weaver, who had finished as the chip leader on Day 1a, was eliminated in ninth place.
Todd Chew was the next to go after he ran top-two pair into the jack-high straight of Chris Thompson, and he was followed out the door by Michael "Great MJ" Cooper, who’s 
was cracked by the 
of Bazeley when the board ran out 
. A short time later, McClusky was sent to the payout desk in sixth place and left just five players, which is when one of the most interesting hands at the final table developed.
It happened after action folded around to Dustin Gardner in the small blind and he limped, inspiring Kurt Jewell, who was at the final table for the second year in a row, to exercise his option in the big with a raise to 115,000. Gardner looked at his opponent for a few moments before announcing all in for 1.44 million total.
Jewell seem interested but took his time and asked for a count. About 30 seconds later, he slid in a stack to represent a call.
Showdown
| Gardner | |
| Jewell | |
Gardner clapped his hands together and was clearly excited he got it in good, but things grew serious on the 
flop. Jewell had picked up an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw, so things were still very much up for grabs. The turn was of no consequence, but the river was. Jewell hit Broadway as he went to the rail to celebrate with his friends; meanwhile, a downtrodden Gardner shook hands with the table and made his exit in fifth place.
As if that hand wasn’t exciting enough, Bazeley and Jewell created a monster pot when the former got all in holding 
on a 
flop only to run into the 
of the latter. A shell-shocked Bazeley was eliminated in fourth place while Jewell vaulted into the chip lead.
The next to go was Dan Blakeman, who had started the day as the chip leader. He grew short stacked and was unable to make a comeback when his 
failed to pull ahead of Jewell’s . Blakeman’s elimination left Jewell taking 7,200,000 chips into heads-up play against Chris Thompson, who had 5,665,000.
It was a good match as the two swapped the chip lead back and forth, but it was Jewell who was out in front when the final hand developed. It was also Jewell who was out in front when the hand ended. The victory was especially satisfying to Jewell who squandered a golden opportunity in this event last year when he held over half the chips in play with eight players left only to finish in eighth place. On Monday evening, Jewell was back at the final table and showed the world that he had more focus, more determination, and more importantly, the will to win.
Harrah’s Tunica Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Kurt Jewell | $192,984 |
| 2nd | Chris Thompson | $119,415 |
| 3rd | Dan Blakeman | $87,586 |
| 4th | Jacob Bazeley | $65,134 |
| 5th | Dustin Gardner | $49,093 |
| 6th | Steve McClusky | $37,495 |
| 7th | Michael “Great MJ” Cooper | $29,013 |
| 8th | Todd Chew | $22,744 |
| 9th | Ray Weaver | $18,056 |