April 05 2011, Chad Holloway

The World Series of Poker Circuit recently began its stop at Harrah’s St. Louis with the first of ten ring events. Action has been under way for a few days now, and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be making their way to the venue this weekend to provide coverage of the Main Event. As such, we thought it might be fun to take a look at the St. Louis stop and the WSOP-Circuit as a whole in a bit more detail.

First Ring Event of the Stop

The first ring event of the WSOP-Circuit in St. Louis got off to a bang with 843 players registering and subsequently setting the record for the largest poker tournament ever held in Missouri (beating last year’s first ring event that drew 675 players). Fittingly, St. Louis native and 2008 WSOP Main Event third-place finish, Dennis Phillips, was on hand to kick things off with the ceremonial “Shuffle up and deal!”

It took two days for the field to narrow down to the final table, with two-time WSOP-Circuit ring winner Eric Crain leading the way. Unfortunately, a bad run of cards ensured that he wouldn’t be adding a third, and he was eliminated in seventh place. In the end, Mark Pearse of Taylorville, Illinois, took down the title and $47,096 first-place prize. Pearse, a 41-year-old corrections officer and father of four, said simply, “This is unbelievable.”

His victory came on the first hand of heads-up play when he and Charlie Dawson were practically even in chips. The two got it in with Pearse holding against the of Dawson. The board ran out and Pearse took the title and an early lead in the WSOP-Circuit St. Louis Casino Championship Leaderboard with 50 points.

WSOP-Circuit St. Louis Ring Event #1

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$300+$45	843	$241,510

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	Mark Pearse	Taylorville, IL	$47,096
2	Charlie Dawson	Owensboro, KY	$29,102
3	Hugh Drummond	Vancouver, BC, Canada	$21,436
4	Phil Stelzer	Columbia, MO	$15,998
5	George Cahill	Saint Peters, MO	$12,095
6	Frank Austin	DeForest, WI	$9,262
7	Eric Crain	Murphysboro, IL	$7,183
8	Bryan Testin	Hawthorn Woods, GB	$5,639
9	Wyatt Denis	Fenton, MO	$4,482

Notable Players in Ring Event #2

The second ring event of the stop drew 709 players and generated a prize pool of $202,906. Among the entrants were some surprise names such as Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist and avid poker player, Nelly, and 1972 WSOP Champion and poker legend, Amarillo Slim Preston. The 82-year-old, four-time WSOP bracelet winner said: “I got a call from one of my cowboys to come up and play last week. I wasn’t doing anything so I decided to come on up.”

Unfortunately, neither Nelly nor Preston could get much done and the ring eventually went to 23-year-old Dan Sztenderowicz of Philadelphia, Pa.

WSOP-Circuit St. Louis Ring Event #2

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool

$300+$45	709	$202,906

PlacePlayerHometownPrize

1	Dan Sztenderowicz	Philadelphia, PA	$41,589
2	Mark Koeln	St. Louis, MO	$25,739
3	Paul Jepsen	Rolla, MO	$18,878
4	Donald Swentik	Fort Worth, TX	$14,039
5	Ryan Hill	Acworth, GA	$10,582
6	Christopher Feiner	Denver, CO	$8,082
7	Darrell Swentik	Vernon, TX	$6,254
8	Brett Balber	St. Louis, MO	$4,902
9	Jared Speckmeyer	O Fallon, MO	$3,892

With two ring events down, eight remain on the schedule that culminates in the $1,500+$100 Main Event this weekend. The winner of that event, along with the player who earns the most points during the WSOP-Circuit stop in St. Louis, will become the two newest qualifiers for the National Championship $1 Million Freeroll that will take place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas from May 27 to 29, 2011, and will be televised nationally on the Versus network. Thus far, 48 spots have been locked up for the National Championship. Here is a look at those who have already qualified and how they got there.

WSOP-C Qualified for National Championship

PlayerQualifiedPointsRingsCashedEarnings

James Anderson	Midwest Regional Champion	500	1	1	$525,449
Chris Bell	Eastern Regional Champion	500	1	1	$358,295
Ali Eslami	West Regional Champion	500	1	1	$282,242
Chris Klodnicki	Eastern Regional Final Table	475	0	2	$253,757
Gabe Patgorski	Midwest Regional Final Table	375	0	1	$324,770
Tim West	West Regional Final Table	375	0	1	$174,443
Bernard Lee	Midwest Regional Final Table	320	0	2	$242,950
Ketan Pandya	Eastern Regional Final Table	300	0	1	$159,851
Duane Blanchard	West Regional Final Table	300	0	1	$124,204
Curt Kohlberg	Midwest Regional Final Table	275	0	1	$174,807
Micah Raskin	Eastern Regional Final Table	275	0	1	$117,457
Steve Brecher	West Regional Final Table	275	0	1	$90,223
Dwyte Pilgrim	West Regional Final Table	265	0	3	$81,466
Dave “Doc” Sands	Midwest Regional Final Table	250	0	1	$131,299
Todd Terry	Eastern Regional Final Table	250	0	1	$87,808
David Peters (CA)	West Regional Final Table	250	0	1	$66,834
Shannon Shorr	Midwest Regional Final Table	225	0	1	$100,151
Andy Frankenberger	Eastern Regional Final Table	225	0	1	$66,758
Dana Kellstrom	West Regional Final Table	225	0	1	$50,455
Charles “Woody” Moore	S. Indiana Main Event Champ	207.5	1	6	$144,530
Matthew Waxman	Harrah’s AC Main Event Champ	200	1	2	$144,029
Brandon Adams	Midwest Regional Final Table	200	0	1	$77,556
Jason Burt	Eastern Regional Final Table	200	0	1	$51,607
Kurt Jewell	Hammond Main Event Champ	192.5	1	5	$272,172
Miller Dao	West Regional Final Table	180	0	2	$33,532
Anthony Hartmann	Midwest Regional Final Table	175	0	1	$60,952
Nicholas Mitchell	Eastern Regional Final Table	175	0	1	$40,538
Dylan Wilkerson	West Regional Final Table	175	0	1	$30,397
Mstr Lynch	Rincon Casino Champion	160	2	3	$151,897
Mark Owens	Midwest Regional Final Table	150	0	1	$48,615
Seth Fischer	Eastern Regional Final Table	150	0	1	$32,362
Ian Wiley	Hammond Casino Champ	132.5	1	4	$64,360
Brian Ali	Caesars AC Main Event Champion	130	1	2	$158,911
Seneca Easley	Rincon Main Event Champion	125	1	4	$76,509
Stanley Quinn	Lake Tahoe Main Event Champ	110	1	2	$88,438
Samuel Barnhart	Tunica Main Event Champion	107.5	1	3	$151,722
Robert Georato	Council Bluffs Casino Champ	107.5	1	6	$33,696
Kyle Cartwright	Tunica Casino Champion	102.5	2	3	$57,540
Huy Nguyen	Choctaw Main Event Champ	100	1	1	$232,706
Travis Lutes	IP Biloxi Main Event Champ	100	1	1	$95,253
Blair Hinkle	Council Bluffs Main Event Champ	100	1	1	$88,555
Jesus Cabrera	Harrah’s AC Casino Champ	95	0	2	$77,440
Bobbie Talbot	IP Biloxi Casino Champ	87.5	0	3	$47,764
Mun Nguyen	Caesars AC Casino Champion	87.5	1	2	$33,831
Kevin Manley	S. Indiana Casino Champ	87.5	1	2	$25,498
Andrew Barber	Lake Tahoe Casino Champ	77.5	0	3	$19,527
Traci Brown	Choctaw Casino Champ	75	0	1	$143,426
Mike Morton	Palm Beach Casino Champion	75	0	1	$130,057

In addition to the qualifiers, 34 spots will be awarded to the corresponding point-earners on the National Leaderboard at the end of the season. Here is a look at that leaderboard:

WSOP-C National Leaderboard Top Ten*

PlayerPointsRingsCashedEarnings

Brett Schwertley	175	2	7	$114,652
Kevin Calenzo	170	0	8	$94,586
Jeremy Schwartz	162.5	1	4	$75,238
Shiva Dudani	152.5	1	5	$73,799
Mark Sykes	120	0	4	$68,967
Will Souther	120	1	4	$64,312
Drazen Ilich	115	1	3	$66,646
Tom Franklin	112.5	0	5	$29,818
Nick Jivkov	110	1	3	$88,305
Dennis Summers	110	1	3	$39,317

*Points entering the WSOP-Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis stop.

Don’t miss your chance to qualify for the National Championship and your shot at the $1 million freeroll. There are still plenty of opportunities to play, including any of the remaining stops on the WSOP-Circuit schedule.

Remaining 2010/2011 WSOP-C Schedule

EventLocationDates

Circuit Event	Harrah’s St. Louis	March 31-April 13, 2011
Circuit Event	Caesars Palace (Las Vegas)	April 14-30, 2011
Circuit Event	Harrah’s Chester	April 27-May 9, 2011
Regional Championship	Harrah’s New Orleans	May 9-May 22, 2011

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