But Goodwin, a Cessna worker, bounced back with a straight to win the Park City Poker Round-up, billed as the largest Texas HoldEm tournament in the world.

"I qualified on my first day so I could come back and play just for practice. I got better and better," Goodwin said after besting nearly 15,000 other players from as far away as South Africa, Israel, Hawaii and a whole busload from Dallas.

"I told my friends that if I could get to the final table, I would have the advantage. All I had to do was be patient."

After eight hours and five minutes of play, the dealer turned over a queen, which gave Goodwin the straight he needed.

Coming in second -- so near yet so far -- was Greg Buell of Wichita.

"It felt pretty darned good to get this far. It was a hoot," said Buell, who earlier said he was representing all the players over 50 to show that seniors had the right stuff.

"I had three chances to win at the end, but I was only one card away," he said.

Goodwin won an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas and the $10,000 buy-in to participate in the World Series of Poker on July 15, where the top prize will be $5 million.

Park City's four-weekend poker tourney was sponsored by the Wichita-based Amateur Poker League, run by Shawn Riley and Kurt McPhail.

The $10,000 buy-in prize, however, was provided by Chisholm Creek Ventures LLC, a group headed by former Wichita Mayor Bob Knight that is seeking to build a destination casino in Park City.

Tournament players were asked to donate $25 each day they played because Kansas law forbids charging a fee. But fewer than half the players actually gave any money.

"I was disappointed at the number of people who played for free because this was an expensive event for us to put on," said Park City Mayor Dee Stuart, who took office only five days ago.

Park City Pride, a nonprofit civic group, had hoped to raise funds from the tournament for a skate board park. Estimates now are that the park will receive between $25,000 and $40,000.

"That won't be enough to complete the park, but something is better than nothing. I am absolutely glad we did it," Stuart said.

Knight said he, too, was disappointed that so many players stiffed the event because it was a fundraiser.

But for himself and his group, he said, money was not the object.

"I didn't go into this to make a lot of money. I wanted to show skeptics that people would come to Park City for recreational purposes. We have proved that," Knight said.

Each of the seven days of preliminary competitions since February attracted between 2,000 and 2,300 people. Sunday's finals began with 960 people who had qualified.

Play began at noon. By 6 p.m., only 41 players remained. By 7 p.m., it was down to 11.

The last woman player exited as No. 18. The last Texan left in sixth place. The last out-of-stater -- from Fort Collins, Colo., --departed at No. 4, leaving three Wichitans.

At 7:40 p.m., the final two -- Goodwin and Buell -- squared off for 25 more minutes of nerve-wracking, back-and-forth, up-and-down fortunes that brought about 50 spectators to their feet for every move.

Monitors tried to keep spectators behind ropes to give players breathing room. But in the final intense moments, they gave up and let everyone crowd around the table.

The poker league's McPhail characterized the players as "die-hard amateurs."

"This is a great social activity," McPhail said." Where else can a 21-year-old and an 87-year-old sit down together and have something in common?"