Johnny Landreth Triumphs At WSOPC Horseshoe Tunica

Johnny Landreth has won the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica Main Event, after besting a field of 457 players over three days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $147,388 first-place prize. Following an impressive win which pushes his live tournament earnings to $585,979, the 67-year-old from Alabama, said:
“I’ve got a lot of friends that have a ring. I played a lot of events and it just hadn’t fallen my way. It did this time.”
The $1,675 Main Event was held at the Horseshoe Tunica in Mississippi, and created a prize pool worth $685,000. Amongst the notable pros then seeing a return on their buy-ins was Paul Sokoloff in 42nd ($2,872), Kyle Cartwright in 36th ($3,174), Kory Kilpatrick in 34th ($3,174), Nathan Bjerno in 25th ($4,593), Ari Engel in 19th ($6,727), Tripp Kirk in 17th ($7,472), and Ryan Tepen in 15th ($9,021).
By the time the final table had been reached, Johnny Landreth was the chip leader, followed close behind by Tom Thomas, with both players together holding roughly 70% of the chips in play. Johnny Landreth then eliminated Keith Murrell in 6th ($28,311), Jeremy Drewery in 5th ($37,113), Norman McKeldin in 4th ($49,349), and Aphideth Nakhoneinh in 3rd ($66,569) to go heads-up against Tommy Thomas for the title.
As the final battle commenced, Landreth held a roughly 2-to-1 chip advantage over Thomas, but at one point Landreth was ground down to just 15bb before staging a comeback. Explaining his thoughts at the time, he said:
“I’m not going anywhere, I’m not giving up. I had to manufacture some chips when he had me down on the ropes.”
Landreth subsequently managed to forge ahead once more before the deciding hand was played with both Thomas (5-4) and Landreth (6-3) going all-in on a 5-4-2-10 board. The 10 on the river changed nothing, and so Tommy Thomas had to be contented with a runner-up finish worth $91,124, while Johnny Landreth was crowned the WSOPC Horseshoe Tunica champion.
Final Table Results:
1 Johnny Landreth – $147,388
2 Tommy Thomas – $91,124
3 Aphideth Nakhoneinh – $66,569
4 Norman McKeldin – $49,349
5 Jeremy Drewery – $37,113
6 Keith Murrell – $28,311
7 Tommy Bishop – $21,902
8 Jamie Strickland – $17,185
9 Russ Head – $13,676