May 08 2012, Josh Cahlik

On Monday, Christopher Bonn emerged victorious from a 321-player field at the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Philadelphia Main Event. Bonn defeated Ken Silverstein heads-up to pocket the $109,760 first-place prize, WSOPC gold ring, and a seat to the National Championship.

Day 3 began with 11 players vying for the title of champion. Play was off to a quick start when John Nelson moved all-in preflop and was called by Cory Mascagni. Mascagni’s flopped quads and had Nelson drawing dead on the flop. After that bust out, the players combined to an unofficial final table of 10, where Rex Clinckscales became the final table bubble boy.

Early on, Tuan Phan was the man pushing the action. Phan was involved in a majority of the pots and it seemed like he may run the show for the rest of the day. However, Phan found misfortune when he decided to three-bet Ken Silverstein from the button. Silverstein four-bet to 260,000 and Phan opted to call. The two saw a flop of and Silverstein pushed out a sizable bet of 300,000. Phan moved all in over the top and was snap-called by Silverstein who tabled for top set.

Phan, however, left himself with outs, and was searching for a spade to improve his . Fourth and fifth street brought the and respectively, providing no help to Phan and giving Silverstein quad aces and a stack of roughly 2,300,000.

Shortly thereafter, the final table saw its first casualty when Georgia Robinson moved all in with . She was called by Pete Kaemmerlen,who held . Robinson was sent packing when the fell on the flop and she couldn’t catch up on the turn or river.

Despite doubling up after his big hand with Silverstein, Tuan Phan was the next to hit the rail. Phan moved in with and was called by Christopher Bonn, who was holding . Keeping with the dramatic flare that Phan had throughout the entire tournament, the flop came giving Phan full-house outs against Bonn’s flopped flush. Phan did not get there, however, and was forced to settle with eighth place.

Mike Linster was the next to go when he got his money in preflop against Eugene Fouksman and lost a race. Following Linster’s elimination, play seemed to grind to a halt until Eugene Fouksman ran into Christopher Bonn’s set of sevens. Fouksman was sent home in sixth place for $20,845.

After the dinner break, play picked up at a lightning pace, as John Mitchell moved in with but failed to improve against Christopher Bonn’s . Two hands later, Cory Mascagni, who was fairly quiet for a majority of the final table, busted when his was all in against Bonn’s . The turn and river brought running hearts and Mascagni hit the rail.

Kaemmerlen was the next to go when he three-bet all in against Christopher Bonn. Kaemmerlen showed a flush draw to Bonn’s flopped pair of aces, and Kaemmerlen failed to improve.

Heads-up play included a series of aggressive preflop moves by Christopher Bonn that led to Ken Silverstein bleeding chips. The final hand occurred when Bonn opened for 200,000 and Silverstein replied by announcing that he was all in. Bonn called and the hands were turned over:

Showdown

Bonn jumped ahead when the flop came and retained the lead through a turn and river.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Philadelphia Final Table Payouts

The WSOP Circuit is heading to Harrah’s New Orleans May 10 through 21 for its final stop on the 2011-2012 tour. PokerNews will be there for all the action from the Main Event. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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May 07 2012, Brett Collson

On Monday morning, Lock Poker announced that it will be purchasing the assets of the Cake Poker Network, a move that will ultimately see Lock leave the Merge Gaming Network.

According to a press release sent to PokerNews, Lock Poker will re-brand the Cake Network and launch a new network called Revolution Gaming on June 1, 2012. The new network will be aimed at “driving technology, marketing, player rewards and implementing a richer tournament schedule.”

The LockPRO ELITE team, made up of poker pros like Annette Obrestad, Melanie Weisner and Chris Moorman, will work together to ensure that the specified changes are enforced to create a better environment for players.

Existing players at Lock Poker will have a smooth transition to the new network when it opens on June 1. The new software will become available on May 31, and players will find their real-money balances and VIP points right where they left them in the Lock Cashier.

“We are very excited at the prospect of driving the product, marketing and overall vision of the network. It is a dream come true,” said Lock Poker CEO Jennifer Larson. “Merge was a great stepping stone for us but we have outgrown them. We really need to forge our own path to continued success. The only way to do this is to stay true to our of core philosophy: partnering with our players.”

The loss of Lock will be a massive blow to the Merge Gaming Network which has increased its online traffic by more than 5 percent over this time last year, according to PokerScout.com. Lock Poker claims that it is the largest skin on the Merge Network, accounting for 40 percent of Merge’s traffic.

The two sides clashed last month when Merge canceled the LockOps tournament series available only to Lock Poker players. Merge had originally given Lock Poker the green light to run the 33-event schedule with $2 million in guarantees, but the network pulled the plug on April 23 without any clarification.

PokerNews will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook now!

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