John "Ray" Durant wins 1st Prize in the $300+40 No-Limit Hold'em tournament at Grand Casino Tunica

Today's final table was the for Event #6, the $300+40 No-Limit Hold'em tournament, and once again the state of Texas was well-represented. A full third of the table calls the Lone Star State home, continuing a fine tradition of Texas poker that goes back to the days of Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim, and Doyle Brunson. The overall experience level of the final table was lower today than that of the last several events, but the level of play was once again quite high. The players, in order of seating assignment, are as follows.

	John Charpentier of The Woodlands, TX,  is a caddy on the PGA Tour. He has been playing for a couple of years, mostly in low-limit cash games, but has played tournaments in Tunica over the last few years. He came to the final table with $87,000 in chips.
	Tony Brown comes from Dutton, AL, and is a professional poker player. He mostly plays no-limit cash games, and this is his first major tournament final table. He began the day with $61,000 in chips.
	John Evans of Olathe, KS, is the CEO and founder of the National Pub Poker League and Collegiate Poker Tour. He's only been playing tournaments for the past year, but he has been playing Razz, Triple Draw, and 5-10 NL for the last 12 years. He started the day with $172,000 in chips.
	Adam Green comes from New York, where he is in real estate investments. He travels a lot to play poker, and played in this year's WSOP. He brought $166,000 in chips to the table.
	Scott Daily lives in Russellville, AR, where he is a student. Scott has been playing poker for 3 years, mostly low-limit cash games, and this is his first major final table. He started the day with $219,000 in chips.
	Ray Norcum is a small business owner from Madison, MS, who's been playing poker for over 50 years. He has cashed in many tournaments over his career, including 5th place in 2004 at the WSOP Omaha HL event. He started the final table with $29,000 in chips.
	Steve Seibert is a self-employed roofing contractor from Houston, TX, who's been playing poker for 15 years. He mostly plays 10-20 no-limit and pot-limit hold'em. This is his first major tournament final table, and he brought $36,000 in chips with him.
	Jason “Tampa Bay” Comis unsurprisingly comes from Tampa, FL, where he works in advertising. He's only been playing poker for 2 years but has won many online tournaments and he placed 22nd in Event #2 at the WSOP this year. He started the day with $83,000 in chips.
	John “Ray” Durant comes from Mount Pleasant, TX, and is a retired barber. He's been playing poker for 50 years. He brought $110,000 to the final table.

Seven minutes into the final table it became clear that this wasn't going to be a slow-paced table. Adam Green made an opening bet of $25,000, and Steven Seibert came over the top for his entire stack. Green called and showed ace-king, putting him a coin-flip situation with Seibert's pocket nines. The ten-six-two flop was no help for Green, but a queen on the turn gave him ten outs. A jack hit the river, filling his inside straight draw, and Seibert was sent home in 9th place with $3,750.

The second player eliminated was Ray Norcum, who was forced to move in with a short stack of $7,000 chips and was called by four different players. Scott Daily hit a pair of eights on the flop and Norcum took 8th place and $5,620. Tony Brown followed him five minutes later when he called John Charpentier's all-in raise from big blind. Charpentier was holding queens, and Brown had queen-jack offsuit. For his 7th place finish, Brown earned $7,495.

Six-Handed at the Final Table of WSOPC Event #6 at Grand Casino Tunica

The knock-outs slowed down once play was six-handed, but the chips continued to change hands. Adam Green ran into a nightmare sequence after about an hour had passed. First he raised with pocket queens and Scott Daily came over the top; Green folded his hand face-up. Next, he called a $40,000 preflop raise by John Evans with king-queen offsuit and was forced to muck when the flop came ace-ten-four and Evans opened for $50,000. Finally, John Evans limped in on the button and Green pushed all-in from the small blind with king-six of diamonds. The only player Green had to worry about, Scott Daily, woke up in the big blind with ace-king offsuit and pushed his chips in as well. Evans folded and Green found himself a 3-to-1 underdog. Two diamonds on the flop gave him hope, but that hope was dashed when the turn and river were blanks. Green took down $9,370 for his 6th place finish.

Jason "Tampa Bay" Comis was now the table short-stack and he ramped up his aggression. All-in moves from him seemed to come every other hand, and most of them were well-timed enough to pick up pots and keep him in the running. It's been said that the all-in move works every time but one - and Comis found this out when he came over the top of Scott Daily's button raise. Daily turned over pocket aces, and Comis was holding jack-two offsuit. There was no help for "Tampa Bay," and he left in 5th place for $11,245.

The table tradition of running into absolute monsters continued when Scott Daily and John Evans faced off in a heads-up pot. When the flop came ace-jack-eight, all clubs, Evans led out for $30,000 and Daily immediately came over the top. Evans called just as quickly, and it turned out that Daily was drawing dead - both men had flopped flushes, Daily with the six-three and Evans with the queen-five. To add insult to injury, the turn and river produced a queen-high straight flush for Evans. Daily took home $13,120 for finishing in 4th place.

Heads-Up at the Final Table of WSOPC Event #6 at Grand Casino Tunica

The pace picked up again once the table was three-handed. When the players returned from a ten-minute break, John Ray Durant moved all-in and John Charpentier called immediately. Durant turned over ace-king offsuit, and Charpentier showed ace-seven offsuit. No cards helped Charpentier, who took 3rd place and $14,990. Minutes later, Evans bet out on a flop reading ace-king-ten with two spades and Durant flat-called. Evans bet out on the turn, a four, and Durant moved all-in. Evans called and showed ace-two of hearts, while Durant had turned two pair with his king-four offsuit. The river card was no help for Evans, and he finished 2nd to claim $28,675. Durant claimed the first prize of $54,395 and also won the gold championship ring.

The final table of Event #6 was the shortest of the last week's action, clocking in at almost 3 hours exactly. And for the fourth straight day, a Texan captured first prize at the Tunica WSOP Circuit. Durant is the most experienced of them all, and he looked quite pleased to have the gold and diamond ring on his finger at the end of the day's action. It seems that Texans know what to do whether the play moves slowly or quickly - they play to win, and so far they've been paid off quite well. Tomorrow brings another chance for an outsider to win a ring, when the $500+50 Pot-Limit Hold'em final table will take place. As always, you can read a full recap of the final table here at Blind Bet Poker.