Casino Tournament in Oklahoma - $3 Millions Prize Pool

Usually, in poker industry, when there is a tournament with prize pool more than $1 million, it is a part of some major poker tour. However, the Winstar World Casino in Oklahoma wanted to be different and it recently hosted a poker tournament with prize pool $3 millions, and $700,000 guaranteed for first place.

The name of championship was the River Poker Championship, and it was played on Sunday, August 23. First place won a poker player from Texas, Jim Carroll, and he went home with $700,000 of cash. We would like to congratulate Jim with this success, as this is a true achievement for him.

In total there were 1,450 players, who were all hungry, and wanted that piece of $3 million “cake”. Only the first 144 players received some part of the prize-pool.

Here is what Jim Carroll says about his success:

:”I knew I could win it! The staff was great, the tournament was well run and it all gave me a good feeling.”

We would like to say, it wasn’t an easy win for Jim, in the final battle, he met with professional poker player - Young Cho. They had the same chip count, but then Jim manager to take leader place, and in the last hand, he caught Cho with all-in bluff with a high pair.

The River Poker Championship final table results:

Place	Name	Hometown	Prize Money
1	Jim Carroll	Richardson, Texas	$ 700,000
2	Young Cho	Enid, OK	$ 365,000
3	Bob Poole	Rudy, AR	$ 213,000
4	James Smith	Dallas, TX	$ 150,000
5	Frankie Evans	Mesquite, TX	$ 120,000
6	Thomas Tu	Dallas, TX	$ 105,000
7	Sean Carlisle	El Paso, TX	$ 90,000
8	Brian Burney	Branson, MO	$ 75,000
9	Nathan Halbert	Winfield, KS	$ 67,500
10	Sara Chan		$ 60,000

Here is what Jay Wiles (Winstar World Casino poker room manager) says:

“This is the largest guaranteed tournament in the state of Oklahoma. We want the best for the players and will continue to provide them with the best we can offer.”

Hope this isn’t the last achievement of Jim Carroll, and we will hear about him in the near future. Good luck Jim, don’t stop on this win!