February 12 2012, Chad Holloway

The World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Tunica Main Event kicked off on Saturday with two starting flights attracting 625 players, though players are still allowed to register right up to the start of Day 2. The turnout exceeded last year’s total of 480 by a large margin, though re-entry was not available in 2010/2011. After each nine-level flight had concluded, Dantonio Brown emerged as the overwhelming chip leader, bagging an astounding 277,100 in chips.

The first starting flight drew 421 players including last year’s champ and National Championship winner, Sam Barnhart, as well as Kyle Cartwright, who made a big splash at this stop last year by winning two rings and capturing the “Casino Championship” title. Cartwright managed to survive the opening flight, albeit with a mediocre 24,000. Barnhart was eliminated and exercised his option to re-enter of Day 1b.

Other players who were eliminated in the first flight and re-entered included Eric Crain, John Dolan, Aaron Massey, Earl Barron, and Traci Brown, just to name a few. The decision proved fruitful for most of the above mentioned players, including Barnhart, as everyone but Crain made it to Day 2 on their second try.

They joined a laundry-list of notables who needed just one bullet to advance including Roland Israel (85,000), Houston White (79,800), Beverly Cheney (46,800), Kurt Jewell (39,500), “Captain” Tom Franklin (37,000), Doug “Rico” Carli (35,500), Al Theriac (31,300), and Huy Nguyen (30,900).

The chip leader got off to an idyllic start and his chip stack grew exponentially. In just a few levels, he was all the way up to 100,000, and then was involved in a hand on a flop of . Brown and his opponent, on the button, got all their chips in the middle, creating a monster pot of around 90,000.

Showdown

Brown had the granddaddy of all hands, aces, but the button had flush outs. Unfortunately for the latter, Brown was running hot and he dodged both the turn and river, which came and respectively. The button made a hasty exit while Brown chipped up to 170,000. From there he chipped up and rode the chip lead all the way to the end of Day 1.

Approximately 316 players advanced to Day 2, but not everyone was so lucky. Mark “Pegasus” Smith, Shaun Johnston, Bob Talbot, and La Sengphet all fired one bullet and failed to advance. Sengphet met her end when she was all-in preflop holding and up against Chris Bigler who was holding . The flop didn’t hit Sengphet, but it did give her a gut-shot straight draw. Unfortunately for her, neither the turn nor river were what she needed, and she was eliminated from the tournament; meanwhile, Bigler went on to bag up 70,900.

Brown may be the overwhelming chip leader, but there are plenty of others sitting with decent stacks including Ray Weaver (138,500), Bo Chevallier (96,500), and David Walker (95,600).

Day 2 will kick off at 1200 CST (1800 GMT) on Sunday, so be sure to follow all the action live on Pokernews.com!

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today! In the meantime, see who qualifies for the National Championship this week by following our Live Reporting Team’s coverage from Harrah’s Tunica.

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December 04 2011, Chad Holloway

The 2011 World Poker Tour Prague continued on Saturday with Day 2 action from the largest European WPT event in history. The original field of 571 players, which created a “1,753,200 prize pool and surpassed the WPT Vienna from Season IX as the largest event ever, had been reduced to 124 players on Day 2. Casey Kastle began the day with the lead with 356,800 in chips. After an intense day of action, that field had been reduced to 62 players, with Martins Adeniya best positioned to capture the “450,000 first-place prize with 849,000 in chips.

Adeniya got off to a quick start on Day 2 as he eliminated a resilient foe in just the second level of the day. In that hand, Adeniya raised and was met with a three-bet by Michael Tureniec. Adeniya then four-bet, Tureniec moved all-in for 80,000, and Adeniya called with . Tureniec was way behind with and failed to improve. Just like that, Adeniya was up to 310,000 and never looked back.

Obviously action was fierce at the Kings Casino in the Corinthian Hotel in Prague as the remaining field looked to make the top 63 and guarantee a payday. It didn’t take long for the eliminations to mount, with a laundry list of notables joining Tureniec on the rail including Martin Staszko, John Eames, James Akenhead, Bryn Kenney, Lukas Berglund, Toby Lewis, Eoghan O’Dea, and Steve O’Dwyer.

O’Dwyer pushed with big slick and resulted in a former WPT Champ, Mike Watson, taking over the chip lead. According to the WPT Live Reporting Team, Watson raised to 11,000 under the gun and O’Dwyer called from the hijack. Michael “Timex” McDonald was next to act in the cutoff and three-bet to 31,000, which prompted Watson to four-bet to 51,000. O’Dwyer responded by moving all-in for 250,500, McDonald folded, and Watson made the call for his tournament life.

Showdown
Watson:
O’Dwyer:

O’Dwyer held a quality hand, but he was in desperate need of an ace. Unfortunately, the board ran out and Watson took over the chip lead with 578,000. O’Dwyer was left with just 75,000 and was eliminated a few hands later after his was cracked by Watson’s , when the board ran out .

It was a quick fall for O’Dwyer, made all the more painful by the proximity of the money bubble, which burst a short time later. Action folded to Thomas Frandsen in the small blind and he shoved all-in for 113,000. Yury Gulyy was in the big blind and called off his shorter stack of 90,000.

Showdown
Frandsen:
Gulyy:

Gulyy was in a dominating position and primed to double, but that all changed when the flop came down . Neither the turn nor river helped Gulyy and he became the official bubble boy, assuring the remaining 63 players a payday of at least “6,400.

Those who’ve made the money and advance to Day 3 include Grayson Ramage (83,000), Casey Kastle (120,000), Eugene Katchalov (120,000), Moritz Kranich (139,200), Jamie Rosen (383,000), and Karen Sarkisyan (743,000).

Day 3 will commence on Sunday at 1400 CET (0500 PST) as the remaining 62 players look to make the WPT final table. Be sure to return to PokerNews for the daily recap of the action

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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