Robert Hankins Wins Sixth Ring, WSOPC Southern Indiana Main Event ($142,560)
Robert Hankins capped off a dominating series at World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana by winning the $1,675 Main Event for $142,560 in a field of 432 players.
Hankins grabbed his sixth WSOPC ring in the process. He had shipped No. 5 just days earlier in the $365 Pot-Limit Omaha event and had also made two other final tables in the series.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Hankins | Murfreesboro, TN | $142,560 |
| 2 | Hank Sitton | Greenville, SC | $88,096 |
| 3 | Lytle Allen | Nashville, TN | $64,372 |
| 4 | Ben Keeline | Oswego, IL | $47,796 |
| 5 | Karen Hodge | Fishers, IN | $36,042 |
| 6 | Gary Simms | Shelbyville, KY | $27,585 |
| 7 | Alan Wyse | Wauseon, OH | $21,423 |
| 8 | Keven Stammen | Cincinnati, OH | $16,784 |
| 9 | Al Hencheck | Loveland, OH | $13,478 |
The two starting days of the event saw the prize pool reach $648,000 that would be paid out to 45 players.Chad Eveslage, Ryan Tepen, Jake Bazeley, Josh Lowing, Charles “Woody” Moore, Michael Hahn and BJ McBrayer were among the players who cashed but bowed out before the start of the official final table of nine.
When that final table began, according to the live updates, it was Lytle Allen holding the chip lead and looking to do one better than his second-place finish in the WSOPC IP Biloxi Main Event. Hankins was in a virtual tie for second with Colossus II champ Ben Keeline.
After Al Hencheck bust, tournament crusher Keven Stammen fell in eighth courtesy of a cooler. On a checked-down board of J♠5♠2♥Q♦K♦, Stammen got stacks in on the river with 10x9x but saw Allen turn over Ax10x for the nuts.
Keeline grabbed the lead when he picked up queens seven-handed and busted Alan Wyse, who couldn't get away from sevens for his last 25 big blinds. Another big pair - this time kings - allowed Keeline to bust a short-stacked Gary Simms, who jammed A♥3♥. He followed that with yet another elimination when A♥8♥ held against the A♦7♠ of Karen Hodge.
Hankins was knocked down to 21 big blinds in the meantime, first losing a race to circuit regular Hank Sitton and then seeing Sitton hit the four-card flush on him with A♥8♠ on a board of 10♥5♠4♥J♥8♥. Hankins claimed to have mucked a turned flush after calling a bet on the end.
The comeback for Hankins started at blind of 25,000/50,000/5,000. He jammed in the small blind for 1,325,000 with K♠Q♠ and got a call from a dominated Q♣J♣ held by Keeline, winning unimproved.
Then, Hankins was dealt two big pairs to finish Keeline. First, he four-bet shoved over a Keeline three-bet with queens and saw Keeline lay down to preserve his remaining 30 big blinds. Hankins got the rest with jacks by check-raising a 9♠5♠3♥ flop and holding after Keeline called it off with Q♠10♠. He didn't hit one of his many outs on the turn and river.
Suddenly, Hankins had command with more than half of the chips three-handed. He was able to bust Allen with sevens against K♦9♦ all in preflop, running a straight when his opponent flopped two pair.
Hankins had a little more than a 2-1 lead heads up against Sitton, and he had whittled Sitton down to 20 big blinds when the South Carolina native limped the button with K♠J♣. Hankins jammed with A♣J♦ and Sitton opted to call it off, failing to get lucky as the board missed both players.
Hankins collected the ring, the prize money and a $10,000 seat for the WSOP Global Casino Championship.
