Poker Tournament Results

Oklahoma State Championship of Poker

Tony Alai

Tournament Report

TULSA, OK - Tony Alai of Olmstead Falls, OH, took down the 12 pm, $300+40 Triple Draw Lowball Championship event Saturday, February 23, during the 'Oklahoma State Championship of Poker' at the Cherokee Casino, in Tulsa. After winning Steve explains his love for the game saying, 'I use to play a lot of high-low with the old timers.' There was a small field of 54 entrants fighting their way to first. Michelle Merrill, 2nd place finisher in the Ladies Championship event, pushed her way through the lowball field and took 5th place. Folks have come from all across the nation to play in the OSCP. There have been nine championship events and of those, four were won by Texas players, two by Oklahomans, one from Washington, one from Illinois, and one from Ohio. There have been a total of 2,400 entrants into all of the events with a total prize pool of $639,780. The largest pay out was in the No-Limit Hold'em Championship Event on February 15 at $211,120. In 2006, Doug Paxton took the Main Event for $449,820. He is here again to reclaim his title. Hal Kirkpatrick took it from him in 2007 where he banked a cool $377,000 win. The nine championship event winners of 2008 have won a combined total of nearly $150,000. The nine event winners and the former champions will face off with satellite winners and straight buy-in players for a chance to win the 2008 Oklahoma State Champion title, a luxurious cash prize and a championship ring that appraises from $12,000 and up.