10:40pm  WINNERS!

Brian Aune (Floyd's-Portland) & Lisa Hedstrom (Sportsman's-Wilton) are going to the Caribbean!

It came down to this.  3-handed, Ron Olson made a move on Brian Aune but Aune had it...AK.  Ron's A-10 did pick up a draw on the turn but missed on the river and that left Brian.

3rd - Ron Olson $200 poker buy-in of choice 

4th - Kenny Thornton $100 cash

5th - Vince Biesot

6th - Dale Hoskin

The celebration begins!

9:52pm  COMEDY HOUR

This is definitely one of the liveliest final tables we have ever seen.  Round after round of shots. 

Mitch asked everyone on the final table who they would take with them on the cruise.  Everyone said, "My wife/husband" except Vince who announced, "I'll be having tryouts!"

9:45pm 

Ken Albrecht (KK) 9th place.  Busted to Ron Olson (AJ) when Ron got QUADS.

Doug Schneider busted to Brian Aune to finish in 8th place.

Steve Prochnow busted to Vince in 7th place.

Dale Hoskin doubled thru Brian Aune and then survived another all-in against 2 players, then finally busted in 6th shortly after to Brian Aune. 

8:45pm FINAL TABLE

Mike Marek busted in 10th place right as Dick Woods busted in 11th.  We are now at a final table of 9 players.

They are:

Kenny Thornton (Seib's Sports Bar - Elgin) 68k

Ken Albrecht (Bismarck VFW) 116k

Steve Prochnow (Bismarck VFW) 63k

Brian Aune (Floyd's - Portland) 443k

Dale Hoskin (Big Mike's - Maxbass) 47k

Ron Olson (Old Broadway - Fargo) 238k

Vince Biesot (Champs Paragon Bowl- Dickinson) 113k

Doug Schneider (Lonesome Dove - Mandan) 56k

Lisa Hedstrom (Sportsman's - Wilton) 143k

8:30pm FAST AND FURIOUS!

A big rush of huge pots.  There were two $200k+ pots. 

Dave Sorenson 14th busted to Lisa Hedstrom (Sportsmen's Bar)

Brian Aune is making a crazy run.  He has also been having the most fun of any player in the tournament all day, and now he has good reason to be.  He was involved in the two biggest pots of the tournament, crippling Dick Woods, and then busting Jesse Kiecker in a monster pot.  He has over 400k in chips.

Seth Barnhardt Busted 15th. 

Ryan Thompson 13th

Doug Schneider drew out on Dick Woods for his tournament life.  All-in preflop 77 vs 88, the board came 5-10-8-J-9, giving Doug a straight after Dick flopped a set!  Mitch acclaimed, "What a beautiful game we play!"

Moments he proclaimed poker was a "Sick game played by sick people" which got a big laugh from the crowd.

8:00pm  GRACE HAUGLAND BUSTED

We're down to 14 players.  Grace Haugland busted in 15th place. 

 The big chip stacks are wtih Ron Olson (Fargo), Vince Biesiot (Dickinson), and Jesse Kiecker (Edgeley).

7:00pm  GETTING CLOSER

We're down to 30 players.  Here are some of the chip leaders after the dinner break:

Ron Olson 55k - Fargo

Kenny Thornton 56k - Seib's, Elgin

Seth Barnhardt 72k - Liquid Assets, Dickinson

Mike Marek 70k - Bucks, Grand Forks

4:05pm  

Kenny Thornton from Seib's Sports Bar in Elgin is off to a great start.  He has about 55k in chips heading into the 600/1200 level.  He's thanking his lucky stars right now, after nailing a 4 on the river to suckout on a player with pocket Kings. 

3:50pm  HUGE HAND ALERT!

Wow.  Ron Olson just busted Gina Bushey and Deb Gullickson with Aces versus Kings versus Queens!  This is the pot of the tournament so far, Ron has about 60k in chips.  Phew!

We are now down to 10 tables.  Sit-n-go freeroll side games are now starting up. 

2:20pm  FIRST BREAK

Art Zieman is the early chip leader with 31,000 in chips.  We've lost a total of 6 players so far. 

The staff is having fun with the players.  Before todays championship, the staff (Steve, Pete, Brook, Mitch, Eric, and Jason) held a "fantasy draft".  Steve nicknamed his players "Team Ramrod" and the table he is dealing is in the spirit - they've taken no less than 7 rounds of shots!

Steve is dealing in this picture (note: the "Hawaiian" shirt is a tribute to the Caribbean cruise).

This tournament might get a little interesting...

We saw Aces verses Kings all-in preflop 3 times on the SAME table.  One of those times, Gina Bushey (who won a WSOP seat at the Vegas Invasion national final) held the aces one of those times.  In a 3-way showdown the aces held up against KK and JJ.  Gina needed the triple-up.  She was down to about 4k but now has over 12k.