January 09 2012, Chad Holloway

The World Series of Poker Circuit kicked off the new year with a special engagement, the first WSOPC stop in Bell Gardens, California. From Jan. 1 through 12, 2012, the Bicycle Casino will play host to 12 ring events, including the $1,600 Main Event that begins Tuesday, January 10.

Only half of the events have finished, but some big stories have already emerged. Michael Rosenbach won his third WSOPC ring when he won Event #4 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em for $22,035. What’s especially incredible is that Rosenbach won all three rings within the last two months, the first two coming at the Harvey’s Lake Tahoe stop. The 29-year old pro’s performance in November earned him the “Best All Around Player” distinction, which guaranteed him a spot in the National Championship.

Speaking of players who have multiple rings, La Sengphet, who you may recall as last year’s National Championship fourth-place finisher, took down Event #5 $345 No-Limit Hold’em, making her the first woman to win three WSOPC titles. Sengphet outlasted a field of 377 players to claim the $25,242 first-place prize, and in doing so, joined an exclusive list of players that have three or more rings including Kyle Cartwright, Dwyte Pilgrim, and Mark “Pegasus” Smith.

This week, the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing coverage of the Main Event. Here’s a look at the WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino events completed thus far:

WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Ring Event #1 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$300+$45	748	$217,668

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	Huy Quach	West Covina, CA	$44,663
2	Joshua Evans	Plano, TX	$27,610
3	Ryan Buckholtz	Encino, CA	$20,250
4	Travis Carson	Los Angeles, CA	$15,060
5	Joseph Saccone	Venice, CA	$11,350
6	Kevin Olsta	Bartlett, IL	$8,670
7	Arthur Cole	Mission Viejo, CA	$6,710
8	Robert Ross	Stockton, CA	$5,260
9	Joseph Dickstein	Los Angeles, CA	$4,175

WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Ring Event #2 No-Limit Hold’em

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$500+$55	191	$92,635

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	Stephen Graner	Henderson, NV	$25,020
2	Andrew Sapiro	Alamo, CA	$15,460
3	Casey Stewart	Canyon Country, CA	$11,125
4	John Kral	San Diego, CA	$8,155
5	Vigen Manukyan	Tujunga, CA	$6,080
6	Jeff Madsen	Las Vegas, NV	$4,615
7	Sam Rachedi	Venice, CA	$3,565
8	Aaron Motoyama	Monterey Park, CA	$2,795
9	David Hassett	Canyon Country, CA	$2,230

WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Event #3 No-Limit Hold’em

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$300+$45	313	$91,083

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	Adam Bishop	Sparks, NV	$20,958
2	Mark Allen	Torrance, CA	$12,960
3	Alex Leyberman	Mar Vista, CA	$19,450
4	Tom Braband	Las Vegas, NV	$7,010
5	Christopher Swan	Campbell, CA	$5,280
6	Corey Cutrell	Seattle, WA	$4,035
7	Estrella Baltazar	Torrance, CA	$3,135
8	Gregory McCullough	Elgin, IL	$2,465
9	Noah Fonosch	Inland Empire, CA	$1,970

WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Ring Event #4 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$500+$55	171	$82,935

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	Michael Rosenbach	Santa Rosa, CA	$22,035
2	Daniel Illingworth	Carlsbad, CA	$13,920
3	Dean Buchanan	Kirkland, WA	$10,020
4	Ryan Jones	Torrance, CA	$7,345
5	Steven Richhart	Yorba Linda, CA	$5,475
6	David Clark	Dallas, TX	$4,155
7	Nathan Geise	Fort Wayne, IN	$3,210
8	Damien Leforbes	Bellflower, CA	$2,515
9	Brian Patrick	Garden Grove, CA	$2,005

WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Event #5 No-Limit Hold’em

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$300+$45	377	$109,707

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	La Sengphet	Carrollton, TX	$25,242
2	John Carreno	Los Angeles, CA	$15,600
3	Lisa Santy	El Segundo, CA	$11,380
4	Randy Holland	Winnetka, CA	$8,440
5	Josh Seibert	Murrieta, CA	$6,360
6	Kiet Tuan	Rosemead, CA	$4,860
7	Alex Massman	Calabasas, CA	$3,775
8	Casey Berlin	Lynwood, CA	$2,970
9	Eli Loewenthal	Carmel, IN	$2,370

WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Event #6 No-Limit Hold’em

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$500+$55	289	$140,165

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	John Coon	San Diego, CA	$34,340
2	Dustin Dobrilovic	Los Angeles, CA	$21,222
3	Andrew Barber	Sacramento, CA	$15,300
4	Michael Hurey	Stevenson Ranch, CA	$11,280
5	Monte Littlefield	Tucson, AZ	$8,450
6	Makya McBee	Santa Monica, CA	$6,400
7	Harry Hong	Los Angeles, CA	$4,990
8	Drew Fanning	Madison, WI	$3,925

With several events yet to be determined, the race for the WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino Champion is wide open. Whoever captures that title, along with the eventual winner of the Main Event, will automatically qualify for the Second Annual $1 Million National Championship. That event is limited to 100 players, and so far only 12 have qualified:

National Championship Qualifiers

Hao Le

Harrah’s AC Casino Champ

In addition to the qualifiers, players who earn enough points on the National Leaderboard will be able to buy-in to the National Championship:

WSOPC National Leaderboard Top Ten*

PlayerPointsRingsCashedEarnings

David Clark	135	1	5	$46,532
Matthew Chang	112.5	1	6	$23,149
Beverly Cheney	107.5	0	6	$27,753
Felicia Johnico	107.5	1	4	$21,998
Russell Ivy	102.5	0	4	$65,035
Gregory Joslyn	95	1	5	$37,533
Thomas Cronin	95	0	4	$21,396
Matthew Colvin	87.5	1	7	$27,741
Nicholas Long	87.5	1	5	$22,996
John Evans	87.5	0	5	$12,551

*Leading up to the WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino stop.

Don’t miss your chance to qualify for the National Championship. There are still plenty of opportunities to play, including any of the remaining stops on the WSOP Circuit schedule.

Remaining 2011-2012 WSOPC Schedule

Circuit Event	Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)	Jan. 19 – 30, 2012
Circuit Event	Harrah’s Tunica	Feb. 2 – 13, 2012
Circuit Event	Palm Beach Kennel Club	Feb. 16 – 27, 2012
Circuit Event	Caesars Atlantic City	March 1 – 12, 2012
Circuit Event	Harrah’s Rincon	March 15 – 26, 2012
Circuit Event	Horseshoe Council Bluffs	March 29 – April 9, 2012
Circuit Event	Harrah’s St. Louis	April 12 – 23, 2012
Circuit Event	Harrah’s Chester	April 26 – May 7, 2012
Circuit Event	Harrah’s New Orleans	May 10 – 21, 2012

*Photo courtesy of Eric Harkins and ImageMasters.

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 the Bicycle Casino.

Follow Chad Holloway on Twitter – @ChadAHolloway

Comments

December 18 2011, Donnie Peters

The 2011 World Poker Tour Venice had its final table on Sunday and the final six players were vying for the title plus “175,000 in first-place prize money. Leading the way into the last day was Michele Caroli, but he wouldn’t be the one walking away with the title. The man who claimed victory at the end of it all was Edoardo Alescio after he defeated Steve O’Dwyer heads-up.

Alexander Dovzhenko was the second-shortest stack coming into the final table, but ended up as the first one out. According to the WPT Live Update Team, during Level 23 with the blinds at 10,000/20,000/3,000, Dovzhenko raised from early position before action folded to O’Dwyer in the big blind. O’Dwyer reraised all-in and Dovzhenko made the call.

When the hands were revealed, it was Dovzhenko’s versus O’Dwyer’s . From there, the board ran out and Dovzhenko was eliminated in sixth place.

Next to go in fifth place was Andrea Benelli. He was very short-stacked, with just 76,000 in chips, when he moved all-in preflop. O’Dwyer made the call and then Caroli called as well. Both O’Dwyer and Caroli checked down the board before all three players opened their hands.

O’Dwyer tabled for trip queens, Caroli showed for king high and the at-risk Benelli showed for king high as well. O’Dwyer’s hand was the winner, eliminating Benelli and leaving four players at the table.

O’Dwyer also eliminated the fourth-place finisher, Andrea Dato, during Level 24 with the blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000. Dato raised all-in preflop with 249,000 on the button and O’Dwyer called from the small blind. Dato held for a worse-but-live hand against O’Dwyer’s . The board ran out and O’Dwyer’s ace high held up to give him the win.

With three players left, Alescio was doing a lot of shoving, oftentimes over a raise from one of his opponents. Eventually, Caroli decided to make a stand and called holding . Unfortunately for him, Alescio held . The flop didn’t give much help to Caroli, and neither did the on the turn. The river also missed Caroli, and he was sent out the door in third place.

With the tournament down to just two players, O’Dwyer was pitted against Alescio for the title. This was the 12th final table of the year for O’Dwyer and a big one at that. In the previous 11 contests, he had made it to heads-up play a whopping five times, winning three of them. He went into the battle with Alescio holding a big lead in chips and even drew first blood, but things didn’t go his way from there.

After grinding back a bit, Alescio was all-in against O’Dwyer on the board with . O’Dwyer held and just needed to fade the river card in order to win the title. The dealer smacked the on the river, giving Alescio the winning flush he needed to spike a big double and take a two-to-one chip lead.

On the final hand, the blinds were 40,000/80,000/10,000 in Level 29. Alescio and O’Dwyer put all the money in preflop to flip it out. Alescio held and O’Dwyer . Although O’Dwyer hit an ace, Alescio also hit a five to seal the deal and walk away as the winner.

Final Table Payouts

PlacePlayerPrize

1	Edoardo Alescio	“175,000*
2	Steve O’Dwyer	“95,530
3	Michele Caroli	“66,090
4	Andrea Dato	“43,170
5	Andrea Benelli	“34,254
6	Alexander Dovzhenko	“27,035

*Winner also awarded a $25,500 WPT Championship Seat

*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

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Follow Donnie Peters on Twitter – @Donnie_Peters