January 29 2012, Kevin Taylor

Day 1b of the World Series of Poker Circuit Caesars Palace $1,600 Main Event saw 354 players take to the felt, creating a total field of 662 players between the two Day 1 flights. After 15 levels of play, 76 players bagged their chips to return for Day 2 on Sunday, when they will combine with the 58 survivors from Day 1a to play through the money bubble and, hopefully, to a final table.

Jeff Fielder is the overall leader heading into Day 2 after building a stack of 437,500 chips on Saturday. Fielder ascended to the top of the leaderboard when he won a massive pot late in the day against Mark “P0ker H0″ Kroon, who at the time was second in chips. With the blinds at 1,200/2,400 and a 400 ante, Kroon opened the pot with a raise to 6,100 and was called by Fielder and both of the players in the blinds. The flop was and Kroon continued his aggression with a bet of 11,700. Fielder, the only player in the room able to knock Kroon out, made the call, and the two were heads up to the turn. Kroon fired 22,700 and Fielder called.

The river was the . Kroon stacked out some chips, then put them back in his stack and finally sat back in his chair and thought for a bit. He eventually checked, and Fielder placed 30,000 in chips just over the betting line. Kroon then check-raised to 75,700, and Fielder began muttering to himself that he should have just checked behind. After some more thought, Fielder decided he had to make the call.

“Nice call,” Kroon praised. Fielder tabled for trip fours to scoop the nearly 250,000 chip pot. Kroon was left with around 185,000, and Fielder was the overwhelming chip leader with 440,000.

The Main Event was a re-entry tournament, meaning that anyone who busted out in Day 1a could re-enter Saturday if they chose pony up another $1,600 for the buy-in. Several players elected to fire another bullet, including Giorgio Medici, Eric Baldwin, Steve Gross, David Singontiko and David Williams. Unfortunately for all of them they will not be coming back for Day 2.

Some of the notables that registered only on Day 1b and failed to advance to Day 2 were Jamie Gold, Steve Billirakis, Frank Kassela, Eli Elezra, Gavin Smith and Bryan Devonshire.

There were a few big names that did move on to Day 2. Jeff Madsen made it through with plenty of chips (181,500), as did Kathy Liebert, Scott Clements, Dutch Boyd and Vanessa Peng. They will be joined Sunday by Day 1a survivors William Reynolds, Sean Getzwiller, Gavin Griffin, Dan O’Brien and James Carroll, amongst others. Fielder will be the biggest stack in the room, while the chip leader from Friday, Joe Kuether, will be next in line.

The remaining 134 players will return Sunday at 4 p.m. local time, and they will play down to either a final table or through 12 hours of play – whichever comes first. Be sure to check back in to the PokerNews Live Reporting page as we will have all the flops, turns, and rivers from here at Caesars Palace.

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January 28 2012, Kevin Taylor

The World Series of Poker Circuit kicked off its third Main Event of 2012 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday. The first of two Day 1s had exceptional turnout as 308 players bought into the $1,600 event. Only 58 players survived after 15 levels of play, with Joe Kuether ending the day as the chip leader with 380,500. Jonas Mackoff was close behind with 355,000.

Kuether amassed his lead in a massive pot against Giorgio Medici. Each held about 190,000 in chips when Kuether got his all in preflop against the of Medici. The board gave Kuether a sweat, but his pair held on to move him to the top of the leaderboard. Medici was crippled and busted a short while later.

There is something to be said for the less fortunate because many of the players that hit the rail Friday are considered among the best in the world. Eric Baldwin, Steve Gross, David Williams, Justin Smith, Sam Barnhart, Tom Marchese, Scott Clements, Joe Tehan, David “Bakes” Baker and Ted Lawson all went down before the day ended. However, it is worth noting that we may see one or all of the aforementioned players on Saturday for Day 1b as the Main Event is a one-time re-entry tournament.

Two well-known pros were fortunate to survive on Day 1a. Gavin Griffin lost about half his stack early on but rebounded nicely to finish with 133,500. James Carroll, meanwhile, had his misfortune come later in the day. He started out extremely well and was the chip leader for the early part of the afternoon, but he nearly got stacked when he flopped top two pair against middle set. With some luck and patience, he was able to bag up 56,500.

Other notables that we will see on Sunday include Chip Jett, William Reynolds, Dan O’Brien, Sean Getzwiller and Allen Carter. Each of them held a steady pace throughout the day and will have healthy stacks when the fields combine on Sunday.

We’ll do it all again from the beginning on Saturday. Day 1b will start with a brand new field and play another 15 levels to complete our Day 2 flight. If the action is as faced paced Saturday as it was on Friday, you won’t want to miss anything. The cards are back in the air at 12 p.m. PST so check back in to the PokerNews Live Reporting page for all the updates you can handle.

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