Jim McCorkle Shoots Par To Win Event #3, $1,000 No-Limit at Caesars Indiana

2006 Caesars Indiana
World Series of Poker
(WSOP) Circuit Event
Event #3 - $1,000 + $60
No Limit Hold'em
Tournament Report

Golf Pro Jim McCorkle Shoots Par To
Win Event #3, $1,000 No-Limit

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Jim McCorkle, 57, is a golf pro who's played the PGA and U.S. and British
Opens, with a couple of top 10 finishes to his credit. Then he played the
Seniors for a couple of years until some health problems forced him off the
course last year. So now it's back to poker, a game he started playing as a
kid. Back in the 70's he was playing in Vegas in a $10-$20 limit game,
when that was considered high-stakes.

Tonight he had his biggest cash-out ever when, playing carefully and
consistently, he scored a fairly easy victory in the third event of the WSOP
Circuit at Caesars Indiana, $1,000 no-limit hold'em. He arrived at the final
table as chip leader, was never far off the pace, took a dominant lead
when he crippled co-leader Robert Workman, and coasted to a $56,254
victory after that. "I wasn't overly aggressive," he said later. "A lot of the
others were overplaying their hands."

McCorkle, from Columbus, OH, plays mostly cash games, no-limit or limit up
to $40-$80. His other hobby is watching his son play college golf.

On day one, it took about two hours to lose player number 11. The 10
finalists arrived the next day playing with blinds of 1,500-3,000, 400 antes
and 40:41 left at that level.

Here were the seat positions and chip counts:

SEAT 1            Danny Grayson
SEAT 2            Jim McCorkle
SEAT 3            Ronnie Yarbrough
SEAT 4            John Rolnick
SEAT 5            Robert Workman
SEAT 6            Nick Guagenti
SEAT 7            John Shanks
SEAT 8            Nate Pal
SEAT 9            Brett Thomas
SEAT 10          Patrick Dalton

McCorkle, with 88,700, was in front, while Ronnie Yarbrough, with only
3,200, was barely hanging on. He didn't hang on long. On the first hand,
he went all in under the gun with As-7s. Nick "Biggie" Guagenti raised with
pocket jacks to get heads-up, and when the board showed 6-5-3-6-J,
Yarbrough, a 57-year-old gambler from Memphis, left with $2,778 for 10th
place. Yarbrough, who's been playing poker only two years, won a Circuit
event at Tunica a few weeks ago.

Hand 4 started with three-way action. Heads-up on the river, with a board
of A-J-2-4-8, Workman bet 18,000. After several minutes of thought,
Guagenti, abandoned the pot and showed pocket kings. Workman now led
with a bit over 100,000.

Five hands later, Danny "Double Deuce" Grayson, a 37-year-old operating
engineer from Avon, IN, moved in for 19,500. "You've got me, but I can't lay
down," Nate Pal said, calling with pocket 10s. The 10s had the lead against
Grayson's A-J. The board missed each player, and Grayson, playing poker
since age five, cashed in ninth for $3,473. He described his poker career
highlight as "beating Johnny Chan heads-up for $10,000."

Pocket 10s did the trick again one hand later. McCorkle called with 10-10
after Brett Thomas re-raised all in for 15,00 with A-K. All rags hit the board,
and Thomas, a 41-year-old poker player, went out with $5,209 for eighth
place. Thomas, who is from Baxter Springs, Kansas, was a dealer before
turning pro. He won a $300 WSOP Circuit event at Tunica last month. He
learned poker playing free games on the Internet.

When blinds went to 2,000-4,000 with 500 antes, Workman and McCorckle
were co-leaders, both with a bit over 100,000. On the second hand of the
new level, Guagenti, a 22-year-greenskeeper-turned-pro, was knocked out
in seventh place. He raised all in for 33,000 with pocket jacks and got a call
from John Rolnick, a 31-year-old Atlanta attorney who had big slick. An ace
flopped, and that was all it took as Guagenti checked out, $6,945 richer.
Guagenti, from Columbus, Ohio, is another player who learned his trade on
the Internet.

John Shanks, who came to the final table as the shortest stack, lasted to
sixth place. After McCorkle raised, Shanks put in his last 6,000. He had A-9,
McCorkle had A-K. The board came K-4-2-7-8, and we were down to five.
Shanks, 31, works for the city of Paris, Kentucky, where he lives. What
does he do? "Anything they ask me," he responded. A lifelong poker player
for 20 years, he has won many second-chance events and made a couple
of Card Player Cruise final tables. Sixth place was worth $8,682.

Gentlemen, watch your enunciation. As play progressed, Patrick Dalton, in
the big blind, said something that sounded like "All in," and that's what a
tournament staffer immediately announced. "Hold it," a surprised Dalton
cried out. I said "Roll it".

The key hand of the night came on the 29th deal as the two chip leaders
tangled in a huge pot. In a classic match-up, McCorkle had A-K to Q-Q for
Workman. When the flop came K-2-2, McCorkle moved in for 48,500.
Workman called, lost, and was now down to the cloth, while McCorkle had
a dominant lead with more than 200,000.

On the next hand, Workman moved in for 8,000 with 10s-5s, got two
callers and tripled up when he turned a flush. But two hands later he was
gone. In three-way action, he called a raise holding J-9, then moved in for
10,500 on a flop of A-J-10. Rolnick called with Q-J, and the better kicker
was decisive as Workman finished fifth, winning $10,418. Workman, whose
occupation is home sales, is 61 and hails from Greenup, Kentucky. He's
played poker for 45 years and has money finishes in tournaments at Tunica
and Las Vegas.

A few hands later the level ended and blinds went to 3,00-6,000 with 500
antes. At this point, McCorkle was still well in front with 189,500, followed
by Dalton, 107,000; Rolnick, 78,500; and Nate Pal, 72,500.

A few hands later, Dalton busted on an ill-timed bet. With a board of
J-9-8-10, he moved in for about 80,000 with just 10-5, running into
McCorkle's Q-9 straight. Dalton, 41, is from Cecelia, Kentucky and owns a
software engineering company. He got to this final table by making a royal
flush, and jokes that he works to support his poker habit.

It was now down to three, with McCorkle holding about 280,000 of the
447,500 chips in play. Not long after, Nate Pal, a mortgage broker from
Mishawaka, Indiana, went out exactly the same way that Dalton did,
moving in on the turn with a paired 10 and running into McCorkle's monster
hand. He had 10-9, and when the board showed 5-5-4-10, he pushed in,
only to see McCorkle turn up pocket 4s for a full house. Pal, 35, has been
playing for 10 years and last year won main event Circuit events here and
in New Orleans. Third place paid $17,363.

McCorkle now had roughly a 3.5-1 chip lead against Rolnick. It took 34
hands to get heads-up, and 34 more to end things. As play continued,
McCorkle steadily wore down his opponent. Rolnick had one good hand,
when McCorkle raised 22,000 with Qs-Js. Rolnick moved in for 76,000 more
with pocket aces and made a set on the river. The game continued, with
the golfer sinking his final putt holding pocket kings. Rolnick opened for
25,000 with Js-10s, McCorkle put him all in with a 50,000 raise, and Rolnick
was drawing dead when a king turned. Rolnick, settling for a second-place
$29,517, has only played poker two years, and this was his first
tournament.

Report by Max Shapiro

Max Shapiro -- WSOP Media Director
World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack
Director of Poker Operations for Harrah’s Entertainment – Jack Effel
Caesars Indiana Poker Room Manager – Jimmy Allen

35,700
88,700
3,200
35,300
72,100
46,800
17,800
56,800
30,500
60,600

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