October 25 2011, Chad Holloway

After four long days of poker, the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event has come to an end with Bob Chow claiming the gold ring and $393,584 first-place prize. The 1,615-player field was the largest in WSOP Circuit Main Event history, creating a $2,349,825 prize pool that was a fitting way to conclude a stop that began with Event #1 No-Limit Hold’em, the largest field in WSOP Circuit history with 3,001 players.

The final day of the Main Event saw 20 players return to action with consummate grinder Eric Crain leading the way. The action went quickly with seven players hitting the rail in the first two hours. One of those players, former online star Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, was testing his skills in the live realm.

Unfortunately, Kroon didn’t make it to the final table. In Kroon’s elimination hand, Edward Pham raised to 85,000 under the gun and was soon met with a three-bet to 265,000 by Kroon in middle position. Action folded back around to Pham who thought a long while before sliding in a call. When the flop came down , Pham checked to Kroon who bet 320,000. Pham responded by moving all-in and Kroon snap-called off his last 415,000.

Showdown
Kroon:
Pham:

It was a bit of a cooler flop as Kroon had hit top pair with the second nut-flush draw and Pham flopped middle set. “Spade,” Kroon called. The dealer burned and turned the . It wasn’t the spade Kroon was looking for. In fact, it filled Pham up and made a spade useless. Kroon, who improved to two pair, now needed either a jack or king on the river to survive. With his rail there for support, Kroon waited anxiously as the dealer burned and revealed the . It was a blank, and suddenly, Kroon’s deep run in the Main Event came to an end in 16th place. Not too shabby for the man who re-entered on Day 1b after busting out on the third hand of Day 1a when his pocket aces were cracked by pocket kings.

Here is a look at the other eliminations leading up to the final table:

Pre-Final Table Payouts

. He was followed out the door a short time later by another short stack, Dan Harrington, who finished eighth for $50,051. For those wondering, this was not the 1995 WSOP World Champion.

The next to go was Drazen Ilich in seventh place, whose pocket kings were cracked by the of Chow. The chips got all-in on a flop, and the turn brought the to fill Chow’s straight. A few hands later, Joe Hebda found himself all-in with against the of Steury. The board ran out an uneventful and Hebda headed to the payout desk in sixth place.

The next elimination was not only thrilling, but it happened in a hand that will likely go down in WSOP Circuit lore. It began when Crain opened for 265,000 and Dave Neff shoved all-in from the small blind. Crain popped his head up and asked the dealer for a count. Before the dealer could finish – which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.1 million – Crain announced “call.”

Showdown
Neff:
Crain:

The flop was not especially exciting, but the turn was a kick in the gut for Crain when it brought the . The young pro left the table and steam-walked around the stage. He had his hat pulled down low, knowing he needed one of the two remaining fours on the river. The dealer burned - . Crain exploded again, this time in excitement. He pulled a Tiger Woods-esque fist pump as he earned the improbable river knockout.

Unfortunately, Crain couldn’t maintain his momentum and was eliminated in fourth place after he played aggressively and ran into Steury’s . He was followed out the door by a short-stacked Erik Roussakis, who got unlucky when his got unlucky against Steury’s .

The heads-up battle between Chow and Steury began with the latter holding almost a 2-1 lead (21 million to 11 million). Interestingly, Steury had faced off against another Chow this past summer at the WSOP when he won his first gold bracelet. In the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event in Vegas, Steurry defeated Michael Chow to capture the gold and a $289,283 prize. Quite the coincidence, indeed.

Unfortunately for Steury, this time his battle with a Chow would go the other way. Bob Chow managed to overcome his chip deficit, eventually seizing the lead for himself. In the final hand, a short-stacked Steury was on the button and moved all-in preflop, which Chow called with his big stack.

Showdown
Steury:
Chow:

The board ran out , giving Chow two pair and putting a dagger through Steury.

Final Table Payouts

PositionPlayerPrize

1st	Bob Chow	$393,584
2nd	Aaron Steury	$243,818
3rd	Erik Roussakis	$183,991
4th	Eric Crain	$139,815
5th	Dave Neff	$106,447
6th	Joe Hebda	$81,774
7th	Drazen Ilich	$63,680
8th	Dan V. Harrington	$50,051
9th	Shawn Quinn	$39,947

National Championship Qualifiers

TBD	Horseshoe Hammond Casino Champion

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October 23 2011, Chad Holloway

The 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit continued on Saturday with Day 1b of the Hammond Main Event. On Friday, the Horseshoe Hammond housed a record 912 entrants for Day 1a, surpassing the 2010 Main Event’s field of 872 players. That meant the 703 Day-1b entrants were just icing on the cake, making the total field 1,615 and creating a $2,349,825 prize pool, $393,584 of which is reserved for first place. The man who finished the day with the best chance of capturing that prize was Mike Scarborough, who bagged up 324,500.

Scarborough is no stranger to poker and actually made a televised final table at the 2011 World Poker Tour Hollywood Poker Open in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Not only that, he went on to win the tournament for $273,644 after defeating a final table that included Ali Eslami, Tom Marchese, William Reynolds, and Erik Seidel. For the victory, Scarborough defeated Seidel in heads-up play.

Unfortunately, not everyone had as good a day as Scarborough. Day 1b was filled with numerous re-entries, but many found their luck hadn’t changed since Day 1a. Some players who played both flights and failed to survive include Allen Kessler, Kathy Liebert, Chris Tryba, Micah Raskin, Kyle Cartwright, Steve Verrett, Tim Vance, and last year’s winner, Kurt Jewell.

One man who did have a good day was former online pro Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon, who was eliminated on Day 1a on just the third hand, after his pocket aces were cracked by pocket kings. Re-entering the event proved a wise decision because Kroon ended up finishing with an average stack of 108,000.

Much of that stack came late in the evening when a player in middle position opened for 3,300 only to have Khang Nguyen move all-in for 33,000. Action folded around to Kroon in the big blind and he moved all-in after squeezing out his cards. The original raiser quickly got out of the way and the cards were turned up:

Showdown
Kroon:
Nguyen:

“All red,” Kroon commanded the dealer, who obliged with a flop; however, it did give Nguyen a gut-shot straight draw to a jack. The turn was a blank as far as Nguyen was concerned, and so was the river. Kroon eliminated his opponent and chipped up to around 184,000 in the process, obviously losing a bit before night’s end.

Other notables who survived the Day 1b minefield and will return on Sunday include “Captain” Tom Franklin (41,000), Eddie Blumenthal (79,500), Eric Bair (189,500), Jeff Fielder (216,500), Nadya Magnus (91,000), and Jacob Bazley (255,000).

Those players will join Paul Bianchi, who ended Day 1a as the chip leader with a staggering 358,000; as well as, notables from Day 1a like Eric Crain, Dwyte Pilgrim, Chad Brown, Josh Brikis, Mohsin Charania and Kenny Nguyen.

The 158 Day 1b survivors will join the 184 players Day 1a survivors on Sunday at 1400 CDT (1900 GMT) as the final 342 work their way past the money bubble and toward the final table.

You can follow all the action from Hammond as our Live Reporting Team brings you all the hands, action, and eliminations on the way to crowning the latest WSOP Circuit Main Event champion.

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Follow Chad Holloway on Twitter – @ChadAHolloway