Tom Morse Turns Satellite Win into $117K at HPT St. Charles
Tom Morse parlayed a $375 satellite win into $117,249 when he took down Heartland Poker Tour St. Charles $1,650 Main Event. The local player topped a field of 359 runners for his win.
Morse had just a little under $5,000 in total live cashes coming into the event.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Morse | $117,249 |
| 2 | Jeff Landherr | $74,224 |
| 3 | John Kurfman | $49,704 |
| 4 | Ed Sebesta | $34.665 |
| 5 | Mary Sturges | $25,999 |
| 6 | Everett Lawrence | $20,391 |
| 7 | Joseph Landazzi | $17,231 |
| 8 | Michael Urbaniak | $14,274 |
| 9 | Matt Bond | $12,286 |
The tournament paid out 36 places, with a couple of the most well-known competitors just barely missing out on the final table.
According to the live updates, Josh "JT" Turner got his stack in with A♠Q♠ and was flipping against the jacks of Everett Lawrence and failed to improve, busting in 11th.
Fellow multiple WSOP Circuit ring winner Sal DiCarlo bubbled the final table in a massive three-way all in with pocket fours on a 6♥5♣3♠ flop. Matt Bond and John Kurfman each had overpairs, with Kurfman's aces trumping Bond's tens.
Morse, however, went into the final table as chip leader after he doubled through Bond twice during the play down to the final table. Bond, who has over $500,000 in cashes and a WSOP Circuit ring of his own, could not recover from that slide and went out first at the final table.
After Mike Urbaniak ran pocket queens into Ed Sebesta's aces, it was Morse picking up a big pocket pair against a smaller one for a knockout. His kings held up against the nines of Joe Landazzi to send him out seventh.
Morse followed up with another knockout the very next hand when Lawrence shoved 21 big blinds in on the button with 6♦4♦ and Morse woke up with A♣Q♥ in the big blind. After a queen flopped, Morse collected another pot to move over 120 big blinds and extend his chip lead.
Kurfman three-barrel bluffed off a big chunk of his stack, but a stalemate followed that saw only short stack Mary Sturges eliminated. During this time, Morse's chip lead slipped away as Jeff Landherr took control of half of the chips in play four-handed. Landherr furthered that lead by knocking out Sebesta with A♦K♦ against A♠9♠.
Kurfman then shoved his 11 big blinds over an open from Landherr, only to have Morse wake up with pocket aces behind him. Kurfman's Q♥J♥ was no match for the bullets, setting up Landerr against Morse heads up.
Landherr held about a 3-2 lead but he took command of the early rounds of the match and increased that to more than 3-1. Moore managed to come back though, and it ultimately came down to a race when the two got all the money in preflop.
Landherr: A♥K♥
Morse: 7♦7♠
After a dead board of 6♥2♠4♠4♦8♣ hit the felt, Morse took down the title and the first-place money.
Photo courtesy of HPT
