Josh Turner Goes Wire To Wire and Wins WSOP Circuit Lumiere Place

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Mar 03, 2015 3 min read

The World Series of Poker Circuit recently completed its stop at Lumiere Place in St. Louis. The $1,675 Main Event, the cornerstone of the 12-ring stop, attracted 415 entries and created a prize pool of $622,500. From the get go it seemed Josh Turner was destined to win as he finished as the chip leader on the first two days. He then made a wire-to-wire victory official on Day 3 when he finished it off for $136,945, his second gold ring, and a seat into the season-ending National Championship.

Turner, who previously won Event #4: $365 NLHE Turbo at the WSOP Circuit stop at Horseshoe Southern Indiana back in October of last year, notched his 11th cash of the 2014/2015 season, which included his seventh final table appearance. As mentioned, the hometown hero's victory came in impressive fashion when he finished Day 1a with 400,500 in chips, which was well out in front of the second-place finisher, who bagged 261,000. After Day 2 saw the field whittle itself down to the final nine, Turner had worked his stack up to 2.129 million, which was enough to give him the chip lead. He wouldn't relinquish it at the final table.

"This is awesome," Turner told WSOP officials after the win. "It's hard to even talk. I would need to win a bracelet to feel I accomplished something bigger than this. I would never want to win a ring anywhere else but here. For it to be the Main Event, it's even more important. It was cool because I didn't even sleep the night before. I actually played all Day 1 on no sleep, so I was a little out of it, then just went wire to wire. I felt great. I felt like it was my tournament, I really did. I felt destined I was going to win it. My family thought I was going to win it. I even told my two nieces this morning that we're going to Disney World."

Final Table Results

Others to earn a payday in St. Louis were "Captain" Tom Franklin (43rd - $2,814), Yuval Bronshtein (41st - $2,814), Michael Sanders (28th - $3,897), Josh Reichard (25th -$4,451), and Chris Conrad (19th - $6,032).

According to WSOP updates, it took 66 hands before things heated up at the final table. That is when Mike Rieck fell after his J♦7♥ failed to overcome the K♥8♠ of Turner. From there, the eliminations came at a brisker pace, and by Hand #150 of the final table just Turner and Spain's Javier Zarco remained.

In what would be the final hand of the tournament, which happened in Level 28 (25,000/50,000/5,000) on Hand #176, Zarco limped from the button and Turner raised to 200,000. Zarco then shoved all in for right around a million, and Turner made the call.

Zarco: A♣3♠
Turner: 8♣8♥

The A♠10♣8♠ flop paired Zarco's ace, but it also gave Turner a set. The 4♠ turn left Zarco drawing live to a flush, but it didn't come in as the Q♣ blanked on the river. Zarco was eliminated in second place for $84,629 while Turner took down the $136,945 first-place prize.

Here's a look at all those that captured gold rings at the WSOP Circuit St. Louis.

The 2014/2015 WSOP Circuit continues at Horseshoe Baltimore now through March 9. PokerNews will have a recap of that Main Event upon its conclusion.

_{*Photos and data courtesy of the WSOP.}

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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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