November 20 2011, Paul Oresteen

Day 1 of the World Series of Poker Circuit Harveys Lake Tahoe Main Event is in the books after two starting flights. The first flight saw 224 players take to the felt and the second flight had 97 entrants for a total of 321 runners. Of those, only 184 players will return for Day 2. Ron McMillen (143,400) leads the field overall and the second flight’s chip leader was Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon with 92,400.

Moving on to Day 2 are Matt Keikoan (120,000), Sam Barnhart (80,400), Gary DeBernardi (43,000) and JC Tran (26,400).Notables who played but aren’t advancing on to Day 2 are Mark “Pegasus” Smith, Tahoe Andrew, Drew Caseri and Joe Mongkol-ua-aree.

McMillen earned a giant portion of his tournament-leading stack in a hand where he called two players who moved all-in. He had them both covered and the board ran out . One player held for flopped trips, the other held pocket threes for a flopped full house and McMillen held pocket sixes the bigger full house.

Keikoan flew under the radar for most the day, not finding our attention until Level 8, mostly due to being seated close to the gorgeous Annie LePage. Keikoan broke the century mark when found trip eights against an opponent’s pair of aces.

Tran’s early levels in the tournament couldn’t have been better for the two-time WSOP bracelet winner. He ran over his first table, chipping up to over 50,000 before the first break. His day didn’t continue that way, however and at the end of the night, he bagged just over the starting stack.

Kroon busted early in the first flight but then returned for a much more successful second flight. He put on a one-man show in the second flight, entertaining all the tables around him within earshot. At one point he attempted to convince his table that this was his first tournament and only minutes later he began a sentence with, “When I won my second bracelet…” (Editor’s Note: Kroon doesn’t have any WSOP bracelets.)

Day 2 gets under way promptly at 1200 PST (2000 GMT) on Sunday and the players will play 14 levels, or until a final table of nine, whichever comes first. Follow all the WSOPC action live on Pokernews.com.

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