Golf Pro Jim McCorkle Shoots Par To Win Event #3, $1,000 No-Limit
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 70s 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 35,700
SEAT 2 Jim McCorkle 88,700
SEAT 3 Ronnie Yarbrough 3,200
SEAT 4 John Rolnick 35,300
SEAT 5 Robert Workman 72,100
SEAT 6 Nick Guagenti 46,800
SEAT 7 John Shanks 17,800
SEAT 8 Nate Pal 56,800
SEAT 9 Brett Thomas 30,500
SEAT 10 Patrick Dalton 60,600
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. -- by Max Shapiro
For more information, please contact:
Max Shapiro -- WSOP Media Director at (323) 356-3303
Or visit our official website: www.worldseriesofpoker.com
World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack
Director of Poker Operations for Harrah’s Entertainment – Jack Effel
Caesars Indiana Poker Room Manager – Jimmy Allen
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