Inaugural South Texas Poker Championship Awards Over $1.8M

Written By Hill Kerby on November 24, 2022 - Last Updated on November 30, 2022
Rounders hosts first million-dollar poker tournament

San Antonio’s Rounders Card Club stepped into the limelight of Texas’ tournament poker scene over the last two weeks. The members-only club ran its first-ever series, promising $1.5 million in guarantees and featuring a $1 million guaranteed Main Event.

Every event surpassed guarantee

Nearly all poker rooms in Texas are private clubs. Commercial casinos are prohibited in Texas, so to be able to operate, poker rooms must conduct business as private clubs with membership fees.

By all measures, the series at Rounders was a huge success. Every tournament exceeded its guarantee, awarding more than $1.8 million in prizes across nine events.

The Main Event, which offered eight starting flights over five days, drew 932 entries for a prize pool of $1.2 million. The final two players in Trung Pham of Temple, Texas, and Louisiana’s Jared Ingles, agreed to a heads-up chop, earning both players over $160,000.

Pham earns career-best score in Main Event

All Day 1 flights played into the money, resulting in 141 players cashing and advancing to Sunday’s Day 2. Another full day brought the field down to the final table of nine, which was live-streamed on Rounders’ YouTube channel.

Ingles (9 million) and Pham (7.7 million) entered the final table atop the chip counts, with blinds resuming at 125K/250K.

As the day progressed, the duo racked up five of seven eliminations en route to heads-up play. Pham knocked out Brian Buchhorn (7th place) and Jose Soto (3rd place), while Ingles caged Kaleb Harwell (8th place), Maury Solano (5th place) and Raja Sekhar (4th place).

When heads-up play began, Ingles held more than two-thirds of the chips in play. However, Pham proved to be a formidable opponent. With over $1.3 million in lifetime earnings, he ground his way to a slight chip lead before the two struck a deal that sealed Pham’s largest score of his career.

Ingles, who won a $1,700 WSOP Circuit Main Event at Cherokee, NC, earlier this year, had over $1.4 million in live earnings prior to the Main Event. His Main Event cash is the second-largest award of his career.

Final Table Results

PlacePlayerEarnings
1Trung Pham$168,000
2Jared Ingles$162,000
3Jose Soto$85,500
4Raja Sekhar$67,500
5Maury Solano$53,500
6Jonathan Alfonso$42,000
7Brian Buchhorn$33,600
8Kaleb Harwell$26,000
9Anthony Cano$20,000

Each event had a unique winner

Each of the nine events throughout the series produced a different winner, with four claiming career-best scores. In addition to Pham’s Main Event win, Edward Stanish, Randy Chavez and Si Yool Lee added new top scores to their live resumes.

As mentioned earlier, every event exceeded its guarantee. Event No. 5 ($300 PLO) more than doubled its $10,000 guarantee, with Events No. 1 ($240 Monster Stack) and No. 4 ($400 Big O) also smashing their guarantees by more than 50%.

South Texas Poker Championship Results

TournamentGuaranteeNumber of EntriesPrize PoolWinnerPrize
Event #1: $240 Monster Stack$40,000254$74,000Edward Stanish$14,750
Event #2:$300 4 Game Big Bet Mixed$10,00051$13,260John George$4,800
Event #3: $400 Big Texas NLH$300,0001,180$413,000Randy Chavez$60,000
Event #4: $400 Big O$15,00067$23,450Bret Atiyeh$4,300
Event #5: $300 PLO High$10,00091$23,660SiYool Lee$6,201
Event #6: $240 Monster Stack$40,000206$55,800Trey Mayers$12,500

Event #7: Mystery Bounty Freeroll$20,000258$20,000Dwayne Carreon$2.900
Event #8: $1,400 Main Event$1 million932$1.165 millionTrung Pham$168,000
Event #9: $450 Last Chance$50,000152$60,800Walter Rodriguez Ugarte$15,900

Upcoming Texas poker events

Just over a month remains in 2022, but Texas poker players still have some options across the state.

Notably, The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock is hosting a Black Friday tournament on Nov. 25, featuring a $300 buy-in and $100,000 guaranteed over two starting days.

Houston’s Prime Social Club then hosts its “All-In For The Holidays Series,” which runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 4. The $600 Main Event starts on Nov. 30, with five days’ worth of starting flights and a $300,000 guarantee.

Action then moves back to The Lodge for an 11-day series from Dec. 8 to 19, with an opening-weekend event that features a $150 buy-in and $150,000 guarantee. The $600 Main Event offers four days of starting flights and a $500,000 guarantee.

A week later, “The Last Poker Series” runs from Dec. 26 to 30, featuring five events with buy-ins ranging from $300 to $1,000.

Photo by Shutterstock
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Hill Kerby

Hill Kerby is a proponent of safe, legal betting, and is grateful to be able to contribute to growing the industry. He has a background in poker, sports, and psychology, all of which he incorporates into his writing for PlayTexas.

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