Johnny Landreth Wins WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica Main Event for $147,388
The 2014/2015 World Series of Poker Circuit completed its latest $1,675 Main Event at Horseshoe Tunica, a tournament that attracted 457 entries and created a prize pool of $685,500. After three days of play it was 67-year-old Johnny Landreth of Lanett, Alabama who captured the $147,388 first-place prize, the gold championship ring, and a seat into the season-ending National Championship.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johnny Landreth | Lanett, AL | $147,388 |
| 2 | Tom Thomas | Amarillo, TX | $91,124 |
| 3 | Aphideth Nakhoneinh | Tampa, FL | $66,569 |
| 4 | Norman Mckeldin | Chattanooga, TN | $49,349 |
| 5 | Jeremy Drewery | Arlington, TN | $37,113 |
| 6 | Keith Murrell | Kansas City, MO | $28,311 |
| 7 | Tommy Bishop | Pearl, MS | $21,902 |
| 8 | Jamie Strickland | Memphis, TN | $17,185 |
| 9 | Russ Head | Lindale, GA | $13,676 |
Notable finishes: Ryan Tepen (15th - $9,021), Tripp Kirk (17th - $7,472), Ari Engel (19th - $6,727), Nathan Bjerno (25th - $4,593), Kory Kilpatrick (34th - $3,174), Kyle Cartwright (36th - $3,174), and Paul Sokoloff (42nd - $2,872)
Prior to the win, Landreth, a retiree and father of five, had $438,591 in lifetime earnings, including a $185,797 score back in 2005 for taking down a $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event at the Sixth Annual Jack Binion World Poker Open. Landreth has had several other wins over the years — most in the south and smaller buy-in events, but it'd take him a decade and three weeks to notch his second six-figure score.
"I've got a lot of friends that have a ring," Landreth told WSOP officials after the win. "I played a lot of events and it just hadn't fallen my way. It did this time."
According to WSOP updates, Landreth began the third and final day as chip leader with 3.155 million, just slightly ahead of Tom Thomas' 3 million, meaning together they held 70 percent of the chips in play. In fact, the other six players were all under 800,000, so it was no surprise to see them hit the rail one-by-one to leave Landreth and Thomas to battle heads up.
"I knew I was going to have to be patient, but I have to be aggressive on top of that," Landreth told the WSOP. "You have to get to know a player, and that's what we did for so long, and that's why we started off so slow."
Landreth, an old-school player in his own right, described his opponent as "really conservative," so it was no surprise to see things play out slowly with both players holding the chip lead. At one point Thomas managed to grind Landreth down to 15 big blinds, but the veteran refused to give up.
"I'm not going anywhere, I'm not giving up," Landreth told the WSOP of his thought process at the time. "I had to manufacture some chips when he had me down on the ropes."
Landreth was able to do just that in Level 31 (50,000/100,000/10,000) when he limped from the button and Thomas checked his option from the big blind to see a flop of 5♦4♠2♠. Thomas bet 250,000, Landreth called, and the dealer burned and turned the 10♦. Thomas bet 500,000, Landreth shoved, and Thomas called.
Thomas: 5♣4♣
Landreth: 6♣3♥
Thomas flopped two pair, but it was no good as Landreth flopped a straight. The 10♠ river failed to help Thomas, and Landreth scored the double.
Over the course of the next two levels, Landreth captured the chip leader, and then in Level 33 (80,000/160,000/20,000) Thomas shoved for his last 2 million or so holding the K♥9♠. Landreth called with the 6♦6♥ and held after the board ran out a clean A♦5♠4♠3♦A♣. Thomas took home $91,124 for his runner-up finish.
Congratulations to Johnny Landreth on winning the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica for $147,388, a gold ring, and a seat into the season-ending National Championship. In addition, Scott Stewart's 18th-place finish in the Main Event, combined with his win in the opening event, was enough to give him the Casino Championship honors for the stop, which secured him a seat in the National Championship.
"It couldn’t be better because this is my first time to the South, my first time to Tunica," Stewart said after the initial win, which came over a field of 338 entrants for $23,326. "Winning the first event, the rest is going to be a freeroll. I’m [here] with a couple friends so I’m really excited."
The win earned him 50 points on the Casino Championship leaderboard, and also marked Stewart's second WSOP Circuit win of the season after he took down a reentry event at Harrah’s Southern California last month.
Here's a look at all those that captured gold rings at the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica.
| Event | Winner | # of Entries | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | Scott Stewart | 338 | $23,326 |
| #2 $365 Pot-Limit Omaha | Chico Pho | 130 | $10,919 |
| #3 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | Daniel Gilmer | 393 | $25,942 |
| #4 $365 No-Limit Hold'em Reentry | Derek Schroeder | 1,370 | $70,898 |
| #5 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | Jeffrey Nordstrom | 266 | $19,547 |
| #6 $365 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed | Gregory Lamson | 281 | $21,916 |
| #7 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | Dave Moersdorf | 276 | $19,875 |
| #8 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | David Delaney | 254 | $18,667 |
| #9 $580 No-Limit Hold'em | Tim Cullen | 228 | $28,502 |
| #10 $1,650 Main Event | Johnny Landreth | 457 | $147,388 |
| #11 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | Dale Jones | 125 | $10,500 |
| #12 $365 No-Limit Hold'em | TBD | 146 | TBD |
The 2014/2015 WSOP Circuit continues at Palm Beach Kennel Club from Feb. 4-16. PokerNews will have a recap of that Main Event upon its conclusion.
*Photos and data courtesy of the WSOP.
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