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Terry Ketterer Survives a Wild West Shootout to Win the Record-Smashing RPT South Dakota State Poker Championship
Terry Ketterer’s magical run at the $1,140 Roughrider Poker Tour South Dakota State Poker Championship is something he envisioned all the way back at the start of the week.
Ketterer and fellow Bozeman, Montana native Mikiyo Aoki joked when the tournament began that they would make it heads-up against each other. That dream actually became a reality, and Ketterer, a cupcake shop owner with just $35,000 in live tournaments earnings before this week, went wire-to-wire today and emerged as champion over a record-breaking field of 671 players to take home the Double Pistol trophy and $138,000 top prize.
RPT South Dakota State Poker Championship Final Table results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terry Ketterer | United States | $138,000 |
| 2 | Mikiyo Aoki | United States | $83,000 |
| 3 | Lance Schuchard | United States | $62,000 |
| 4 | Alan Curl | United States | $46,000 |
| 5 | Josh Matti | United States | $35,000 |
| 6 | Dave Ouellette | United States | $26,000 |
| 7 | Preston Dean | United States | $20,000 |
| 8 | Nicholas Hammarstrom | United States | $16,000 |
| 9 | Harold Brenden | United States | $11,870 |
“That is the coolest trophy that I’ve ever seen. I’m going to build a shelf in the house just for that trophy,” he said after beating Aoki in a short heads-up match.
“I got to play heads-up against one of my good friends. We joked about it all week, and we actually got to play heads-up against each other, so that was pretty cool. If I had to choose who I would want to play heads-up for the trophy, I would choose Mikiyo. I was pumped.”
While Aoki is a seasoned pro with multiple WSOP final tables on her resume, Ketterer only plays poker recreationally. He and his wife own a cupcake shop back home in Bozeman. The first prize far surpasses his previous live results combined, but Ketterer has no plans to change how he approaches the game going forward. “I just love playing poker. It’s a big part of my life," he said.
"Right now, we’ll probably stil make cupcakes, raise kids, and play poker when I can, as I can. Hopefully I can get into a couple of bigger tournaments here and there,” he said.
Day 2 Action
The 671 entries over three starting flights built up a prize pool of $671,000, making this the largest event in South Dakota poker history. Just 91 players returned to the Silverado Casino in Deadwood at 11 a.m., and only 72 would survive to make the money. Ketterer began the day as the chip leader and only player above 1,000,000. John Schroer, the 2023 champion of this event, was an early casualty, while 2024 champion Nate Shervheim fell on the money bubble when Bryan Engebretson spiked a straight on the turn to beat ace-king.
Miles Barnum (72nd), last year’s runner-up Alex Smith (71st), Terence Reid (57th), three-time RPT Player of the Year Arlie Brandvold (54th), and Brent Slaubaugh (47th) were among those to make their way to the payout desk after the bursting of the money bubble. Aoki moved up past 2,000,000 and into the chip lead when she hit a flush to eliminate Skyler Sand in 29th. Not even family could get in the way of her relentless charge up the leaderboard, as she called the shove of brother Nobu with ace-queen and had Nobu’s ace-jack dominated. Nobu received no help on the board, and he was eliminated in 23rd place.
Ketterer picked up two kings against Ken Lybeck’s jacks to bust Lybeck in 18th place, while Lance Schuchard doubled up with ace-king against Heath McAllister’s ace-queen. McAllister was left with just one big blind, and while he managed to double up once, Ketterer made trip threes to send McAllister to the rail in 12th place.
Eric Hanson was all in for 1,300,000 and had Aoki dominated with ace-queen to ace-jack, but Aoki spiked a jack on the flop to bust Hanson in 11th place. Preston Dean, the RPT Casino State champion from January, had a chance to bring the field down to the final table when he had Harold Brenden all in for 785,000 on the turn with a wheel. Brenden had a set of fours and needed the board to pair on the river, and he caught the full house to stun Dean and double up.
Dean managed to triple up, then hit trips to double off Damon Muehl. Brenden then opened to 215,000 under the gun and Muehl shoved for 1,900,000 from the small blind. Ketterer snap-called in the big blind and showed Muehl the bad news when he opened up two aces. Muehl had run into a massive cooler with two kings, and no miracles arrived for him as he fell in 10th place. “That’s a good story,” Muehl said, taking the beat in stride and graciously shaking everyone’s hand as he left the table.
Ketterer was back in the lead with 5,325,000 at the start of the final table, while Aoki was in second with 4,900,000. On the first hand, Schuchard picked up two aces against Brenden’s jacks to double up for 1,200,000. Brenden was forced all in from the big blind the next hand and was eliminated in ninth place.
Dean was then all in for 1,300,000 with two sevens, but he ran right into Aoki’s aces and was at serious risk of elimination until he spiked a set on the flop to double up. Nicholas Hammarstrom had Josh Matti dominated with ace-king against ace-queen and was poised to double up for 925,000, but Matti spiked a queen on the river to bust Hammarstrom in eighth place.
Dean then opened to 450,000 in the small blind and Schuchard called in the big blind. The flop came nine-high and Dean continued for 500,000. Schuchard moved all in for 1,525,000, and Dean called with a pair of sevens. Schuchard, though, had top pair to double up and leave Dean nursing a short stack once again. There would be no miraculous comebacks for Dean this time, as Ketterer spiked a flush a few hands later to bust Dean in seventh place.
Dave Ouellette and his dog Jack were all in for 1,000,000 and racing with ace-queen against Ketterer’s nines. Ouellette hit top pair on the flop to take the lead, but Ketterer rivered a straight. A stunned Ouellette walked away from the table and slunk down on a chair after busting in sixth place. Matti was the next to fall, shoving his last 1,500,000 right into the kings of Aoki, while Alan Curl called off his last 1,300,000 with king-seven but was dominated by Ketterer’s ace-king on his way to the payout desk in fourth place.
Aoki was all in for 2,500,000 with two nines, and Schuchard called with ace-queen. Aoki held on to double up, and Schucahrd then moved all in for 2,800,000 a few hands later with ace-four. Ketterer had him dominated with ace-jack, and the board brought no help to Schuchard who was eliminated in third place.
Ketterer led Aoki 14,000,000 to 6,000,000 at the start of heads-up. “I’m so pumped. This is cool,” he told her. He got paid on a river bet of 1,000,000 with trips to drop Aoki down to 3,000,000, while Aoki then called off her last 1,800,000 with jack-ten. Ketterer had queen-six, and Aoki got no help on the board as Ketterer claimed the trophy.
The town of Deadwood is the embodiment of the image of the old Wild West that exists in the popular imagination. Just steps from the Silverado Casino is the spot where, in August 1876, the legendary “Wild Bill” Hickock was shot and killed while holding the “Dead Man’s Hand,” aces and eights, in a game of poker. His grave is on a hill overlooking the casino. Gunslingers, frontiersmen, and gold prospectors once came through here, seeking their fortune in a strange and unusual land.
Deadwood is more of a tourist destination now then a lawless frontier outpost as it was in the 19th century, but fortunes can still be made here. Ketterer proved that today, baking up a perfect performance and icing it with a magnificent trophy.
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of a record-setting week here in Deadwood as a new South Dakota poker champion was crowned.