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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February 18 2012, Brett Collson

The inaugural DeepStacks Poker Tour Western New York Poker Championship has reached a final table after two days of play at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls, New York. The tournament began with 217 players, including several high-profile members of Team DeepStacks, but only six will return for the televised final table on Sunday.

Day 2 began with 42 players, and a whirlwind of early eliminations left only 25 players on the money bubble in the third level of the day. That’s when the biggest hand of the day took place. With several small stacks simply trying to squeeze into the money, the two biggest stacks in the room collided for the biggest pot of the tournament to that point.

Chip leader Kyaw Naing raised to 15,000 from the cutoff and Lou Procopio three-bet to 62,000 from the small blind. Action folded back to Naing, who made the call, and the dealer rolled out a flop. Naing checked and Procopio took his time before betting 150,000. Naing check-raised all-in and Procopio stood up and announced a call.

Naing
Procopio:

Naing needed a heart to burst the bubble and take an overwhelming lead over the rest of the field. However, the turn brought the and the river was the , giving Procopio around 850,000 – more than double the stack of any other player. Naing was left with just 82,500, and he was sent home as the bubble on the very next hand.

Michael Mizrachi was the biggest story entering the day. The man with more the $12 million in live tournament earnings had the chip lead when play began, but “The Grinder” had a turbulent ride at the feature table all afternoon. Mizrachi snuck his way into the money, but he was eliminated in 14th place when his was bested by Mike Crystal’s .

Procopio used the chips he won on the money bubble to run over his opponents the rest of the day. He also got the help of a timely turn card in a big hand against Jonathan Dimmig. Dimmig got his 300,000-plus chip stack all-in preflop with against Procopio’s , but the board gave an animated Procopio a set of kings. Procopio is second in chips entering the final table, trailing only William Vogel.

Vogel climbed past Procopio for the lead on the final hand of the night. Vogel and Husni Aga both checked the flop, but when Vogel made it 25,000 on the turn, Aga called. The river seemed innocent enough, but Aga decided to shove his last 185,000 in the middle. After about two minutes in the tank, Vogel called with , picking off Aga’s bluff to secure the final table.

Every member of the final table is from Upstate New York, making the tournament a true Western New York Poker Championship. Joining Vogel and Procopio at the final table will be Tom Krol, Nicholas Goetz, Michael Wachowski, and last year’s runner-up at the DeepStacks Seneca Poker Open, Steve Przybyl.

Here’s a look at the table draw and chip counts of the final six:

The final table kicks off Sunday at 1400 EST (1900 GMT) in the Bear’s Den. Get all the updates right here on PokerNews.

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