August 18 2012, Chad Holloway
The 2012-2013 World Series of Poker Circuit presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof kicked off on Aug. 9 with the first of 20 stops – the WSOP Circuit IP Biloxi at the IP Resort Casino and Spa in Mississippi. The stop will run through Aug. 20, in which time 12 rings events will be held including the $1,675 Main Event.
The stop kicked off in a big way when a WSOP Circuit regular finally laid claim to his first gold ring. We’re talking about 23-year-old Blake Barousse from Lafayette, Louisiana, who is also a student at McNeese College. Barousse conquered a field of 202 players, earned $15,757, and took an early lead in the Casino Champion race.
“It’s good to get it at the beginning of the Circuit for the [WSOP National Championship] points,” Barousse said. “That’s what I was trying to do last year even though I didn’t pursue it much. Now that I’m starting off with 50 points, I will definitely grind more.”
He went of to add: “It feels pretty good. It has been a while since I’ve won a tournament. I haven’t won one in about a year and I’ve played a lot of them – especially WSOP Circuit events. Last year I think I played 35 or 40 events and cashed in maybe two or three of them.”
In Event #2: $580 No-Limit Hold’em, Elisa Burkett made history by besting a field of 103 players in just over 10 hours, the fastest ring event in WSOP Circuit history. “The ring lasts forever and money doesn’t,” Burkett said. “I have something to look at and know I made an accomplishment. This feels awesome. I’m very, very excited.”
A couple of days later, Event #4: $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry began and attracted a field of 461 entrants, the second largest Circuit event ever held at IP Biloxi, trailing the 477 players in the same event last year. It took some time, but eventually Caufman Talley of Lafayette, Louisiana, emerged victorious and laid claim to the $29,743 first-place prize.
In Event #6, a familiar face made the final table – 2010 November Nine participant and Gulf Coast poker regular John Dolan. If you recall, Dolan finished sixth at the 2010 WSOP Main Event for nearly $1.8 million.
“I have more freedom in life and in poker,” said Dolan about life after the Main Event. “I can play when I want to for the most part and if I feel like taking a month off it isn’t that big of a deal anymore. It’s really nice in that sense.”
Dolan made the most of his latest WSOP final table appearance and bested the field to capture the $12,265 first-place prize. “It always feels good to final table something and especially win something, even if it is small,” Dolan said after his win. “I’ve always been pretty competitive and I like $12,000 just as much as anyone else.”
Here’s a look at the WSOP Circuit IP Biloxi events completed thus far:
With several events yet to be determined, the race for the WSOP Circuit IP Biloxi Casino Champion is wide open. Whoever captures that title, along with the eventual winner of the Main Event, will automatically qualify for the Third Annual National Championship. In addition to the qualifiers, the top 60 point earners on the National Leaderboard will earn a seat into the National Championship:
*Photos courtesy of Eric Harkins and ImageMasters.
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August 15 2012, Donnie Peters
Day 4 of the World Poker Tour Parx Open Poker Classic saw 16 players return with Tony Gregg holding a big lead over the rest of the field. At the end of play, only six players remained, all at the official WPT televised final table, and all guaranteed at least $61,619. Stephen Reynolds was clinging to the chip lead with a stack of 4.035 million.
Reynolds is coming off a decent World Series of Poker where he made two deep runs. Both times, he placed 11th. His first deep run of the summer was in Event #9: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry for over $46,000 and the second was in Event #46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em for over $38,000.
The action didn’t disappoint early on, and the chips were flying minutes after the first cards were dealt. Kevin Calenzo and Vinny Pahuja found themselves with all the chips in the middle, a confrontation that resulted in Calenzo’s elimination in 16th place. According to the WPT Live Reporting Blog, Calenzo moved all in preflop with the 
and was up against the 
for Pahuja. The flop put Pahuja in the lead when a jack spiked, and he held from there as the board ran out 
.
Next out the door was Brent Roberts, who fell at the hands of Gregg when his pocket eights ran into the start-of-the-day chip leader’s pocket aces. Timothy Chang then fell in 14th and Pahuja in 13th. It seemed Pahuja had used up all of his luck when he busted Calenzo by coming from behind as he was busted holding the best hand. All-in preflop, Pahuja held the 
to Joseph Wertz’s 
. Although Pahuja stayed in front on the 
flop, the turn was the 
and catapulted Wertz to the lead. The river landed with the 
and Pahuja was off to the payout desk. After the hand Pahuja said on Twitter, “Guess I deserved that after getting it in bad twice.”
Following the bust outs of Alan Kraut in 12th place and Athanasios Polychronopoulos in 11th place, the remaining 10 players were seated at one table. Robert Pyne then fell in 10th place and Tommy Miller headed to the rail in ninth place. With eight players left, Wertz was next to go to put the tournament on the official final table bubble.
Wertz went out during Level 24 with the blinds at 12,000/24,000/4,000. He raised from under the gun to 50,000 and Gregg reraised to 124,000 from the small blind. Action went back to Wertz and he shoved for 460,000. Gregg called holding 
. Wertz, with 
, was at risk and looking to double. On the 
flop, Wertz missed and was down to just two more cards. The turn was the 
, though, and put the final dagger through Wertz’s heart and leaving him officially drawing dead. The river completed the board with the 
.
Level 24 ended around 1850 EDT (2350 BST) and the final seven players went on a 75-minute dinner break. At that break, Reynolds was on top with 3.205 million in chips. Bringing up the rear and in need of food to fuel his post-dinner comeback attempt was Andre Nyffeler with 534,000.
Roughly 90 minutes after the players’ return from dinner, the final hand of the day came up. Nyffeler was the shortest stack returning from dinner and at the most risk, but he was able to stick around and watch Joey Couden be eliminated.
With the blinds at 15,000/30,000/5,000, Couden min-raised from middle position to 60,000 and action folded to Gregg in the small blind. He reraised all-in. Play got back to Couden and he called to put himself at risk for 550,000. He held the 
and was in front of the 
for Gregg. After a flop, turn and river of 
ran out, Couden finished second best to Gregg’s full house.
With Couden’s elimination, six players remained, all officially at the WPT televised final table. Reynolds proved to be the man to catch with over 4 million while Gregg finished on 3.6 million. You will find the seat draw for Wednesday’s final table below.
| 1 | Stephen Reynolds | 4,035,000 |
| 2 | Andre Nyffeler | 895,000 |
| 3 | Chris Lee | 3,040,000 |
| 4 | Tony Gregg | 3,600,000 |
| 5 | Larry Sharp | 870,000 |
| 6 | Chris Vandeursen | 2,430,000 |
The final table is scheduled to kick off at 1600 EDT (2100 BST) on Wednesday and things won’t end until a winner is crowned. There’s $416,127 up top and everyone left is licking their chops. Following the completion of play, PokerNews will bring you a complete recap.
*Hands and Data courtesy of the WPT Live Reporting Blog.
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