Kai Landry Wins WSOP Tunica Circuit Championship

The $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship event at the World Series of Poker Circuit stop at Harrah’s Tunica attracted 154 players and created a prize pool worth $735,900. Two days of poker had whittled this field down to nine final contenders, and chief among them was Matt Stout. He was one of the few notable professionals remaining in the field, along with Mike Leah, and he held a massive chip lead with 1,000,500. His closest competitor didn’t hold half as much. Here is a look at the chip counts when things began:

Matt Stout: 1,000,500
Jeremy Byrum: 404,500
Kai Landry: 375,000
Leonard Eidson: 375,000
Mike Leah: 335,000
Glenn Hyde: 155,000
Brian McCoy: 150,200
David Dao: 150,000
Frank Wyville: 138,500

Frank Wyville was unable to get anything started with his short-stack, and he was the first to fall in ninth place ($22,077). This left Brian McCoy as the shortest stack left at the table, and he followed suit, busting in eighth place ($29,436). McCoy left his chips to Stout, who increased his chip lead even further. Mike Leah jumped into action next and eliminated Glenn Hyde in seventh place ($36,795) with an eight-high flush.

The first three eliminations came within the first hour of play, but play shifted during the battle for sixth place, and it was almost two hours before Leah was the next player to fall on a cooler. He held pocket queens in the hole when he moved all in on third street, but Stout held two red aces and quickly made the call. The aces held, and Leah was out in sixth place ($44,154). Kai Landry was the next player to receive pocket queens just two minutes later, and he doubled up on the hand to start his march to the championship. Leonard Eidson received two ladies six minutes after Landry, and they held for him, as well. Eidson knocked out Jeremy Byrum in fifth place ($51,513), and action continued four-handed.

Landry doubled up again after that, this time holding pocket jacks against David Dao. The power struggle at the final table shifted when Stout and Dao dueled in a large pot that crowned Dao as the new chip leader. Dao check-raised all in on a flop of 7 5 2, and Stout made the call holding A Q. Dao flipped over 6 2, and the turn and river fell 3 and 5. Dao held 950,000 after the hand, while Stout was down to 850,000.

Landry then made good on his multiple double ups and moved into action. He eliminated Eidson in fourth place ($61,816) and charged into the chip lead with 1.45 million. Dao scored a huge double against Landry, though, and knocked him back down to 370,000. Landry doubled up yet again through Stout, and then he knocked him out of the tournament in third place ($73,590). Stout held A-Q on his final hand, but his cards were unable to find any help to defeat Landry’s pocket seven. The action was down to heads-up and the chip stacks were close to even:

Landry: 1.6 million
Dao: 1.48 million

It took just 20 minutes for a huge confrontation to take place that propelled one player to a huge advantage. Landry limped preflop on the button, and Dao raised to 124,000. Landry made the call, and the flop was dealt 6 6 2. Landry bet 150,000, and Dao moved all in. Landry made the call and flipped over pocket queens. Dao showed down two fours, and the turn and river ran out 2 and J. This shot Landry to more than 2 million, giving him a huge advantage over Dao, who held less than 800,000.

The final hand was dealt within 10 minutes. Both players saw a board of K 10 4 A before Landry opened the action with a bet worth 50,000. Dao raised to 150,000, and Landry reraised all in. Dao made the call and turned up J 7 for a royal flush draw. Landry held the lead with Q J, but Dao had outs left in the deck. The river brought none of them when the 6 hit the table and eliminated Dao in second place ($117,744). Landry was awarded $183,974 in prize money, along with a WSOP Circuit championship ring and a seat in the 2009 WSOP main event.

The next WSOP Circuit stop will take place at the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs, Iowa, from Feb. 12-25. The $5,000 no-limit hold’em championship event will run for three days beginnings on Feb. 23.

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