Poker brothers heading to Vegas for main event finale

Grant Hinkle and Blair Hinkle, the brothers who grew up in Weatherby Lake and each won bracelets at this year's World Series of Poker, will be spectators when the Main Event resumes in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The tournament sponsors invited the Hinkles to return and watch the finale from prime seats in the theater of the Rio hotel and casino. "It'll be just kind of a fun Vegas trip for us," Grant Hinkle, who lives in Overland Park, says.

On May 31, Hinkle, an online marketing consultant, paid a $1,500 buy-in and won a no-limit Texas hold 'em event at the World Series. Hinkle outlasted Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and other well-known pros. His prize: $831,462.

Twelve days later, younger brother Blair, who lives in Columbia, won a no-limit hold 'em World Series event with 1,344 entrants. He walked away from the table with $507,563 and the cheesy gold bracelet that all poker players covet.

The Hinkle brothers paid the $10,000 necessary to enter the Main Event, which drew 6,844 players, creating a prize pool of more than $64 million. Both were knocked out on the second day of the tournament.

The Main Event field was cut to nine before play stopped on July 14. The nearly four-month break in the action was taken to accommodate television. ESPN has been showing edited coverage of the tournament in recent weeks, giving viewers a chance to get to know the players before the final table is reseated on Sunday. ESPN will condense the final hours of play into a two-hour broadcast on Tuesday night.

Grant Hinkle says he and his brother are rooting for two players, Darus Surharto and Dennis Phillips.

Suharto, an accountant, is being coached by a friend, Eric "Rizen" Lynch of Olathe. Lynch finished 24th in the 2006 Main Event, banking $494,797.

Phillips, the chip leader, manages a trucking company in St. Louis. Grant Hinkle believes that if Phillips wins, poker might experience a surge similar to the one in 2003, when Chris Moneymaker, an accountant playing in his first live tournament, took first place. Hinkle says Phillips could provide a "second wind for the poker boom."

Hinkle says he been playing occasionally on night and weekends. He hopes to compete more in live tournaments after the first of the year. He recently helped organize a YouthFriends charity poker event, which raised more than $30,000 for mentoring programs in Kansas City. The tournament winner received the entrance fee for the 2009 hold 'em event that Hinkle won in the spring.

News Added: 07 November, 2008

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