Main Event
Day 1 Completed
Main Event
Day 1 Completed
The 2012/2013 World Series of Poker Circuit continued on Saturday with Day 1 action from the Horseshoe Council Bluffs, which is in Iowa just across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska. Day 1a and 1b both played out and completed twelve 40-minute levels of play, with the former flight drawing 234 runners and the latter 128 for a total of 362 players—a nearly 25% attendance increase from the year prior. A combined 133 players (89 from Day 1a and 44 from Day 1b) managed to survive to Day 2, with Scott Sharpe and his stack of 289,500 leading the way.
“I ran good,” Sharpe told PokerNews after he bagged and tagged. “Coolered a few people to be honest.” Sharpe, who has finished runner-up in two previous WSOP Circuit events, was modest when asked how it felt to bag up the chip lead. “Long way to go still, but I’m very excited for tomorrow."
On Day 1a, Kelly Cortum got some of his chips in Level 7 (200/400/50) against local pro and circuit regular Drazen Ilich. It happened on a flop when Cortum bet 3,000 from the small blind and Ilich raised to 6,500 from the cutoff. Cortum reraised to 12,000, Ilich called and the two saw the turn. Cortum moved all in for Ilich's last 24,000 and Ilich simply said, "You got it," before folding. Cortum claimed that he had flopped a set.
While it took 12 levels for Cortum to amass his Day-1a-leading stack, it only to Scott Sharpe seven levels to surpass it on Day 1b. In Level 7 (200/400/50) Sharp became involved in a massive four-way all-in pot that saw him and another player each holding . Another player held , while the player with the best hand had . The flop put Sharp and his counterpart out in front, and they'd end up chopping the pot after the appeared on the turn followed by the river. That pot boosted Sharp's stack to 150,000.
In Level 9 (300/600/75), a big hand took place that saw Sharpe get richer. It happened when Eddie Blumenthal opened and an unknown player in Seat 1 three-bet to 7,500. Sharpe then opted to move all in from the button and put the pressure on his opponents. Blumenthal thought long and hard before calling off for around 45,000 with , Seat 1 did the same with the , but both players were behind the of Sharp. The ten-high flop, which contained two spades, made things interesting, as did the turn, but the blanked on the river and Sharp scored the double elimination to chip up to 185,000.
Others who fell on Day 1a included Larry Ormson, Arkady Tsinis, Rex Clinkscales, Jason Mayfield, Kat Bowen, Bernard Lee, Mitch Schock, Tripp Kirk, and Mark “P0ker H0” Kroon. All of those players opted to re-enter on Day 1b, but only the first four from that list made it through to Day 2.
While many fell, a laundry list of notables are still in contention. They include the defending champ Scott Stanko (19,500); the all-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Alex Masek (27,400); the all-time WSOP Circuit leader for most cashes Doug “Rico” Carli (43,000); the Brothers Hinkle, Blair and Grant (46,200 and 78,500); five-time ring winner Ari Engel (63,000); and WSOP bracelet winner Robert Cheung (92,500).
Day 2 is set to kick off at noon CST. Registration is open up to the start of play, which means official numbers won’t be available until Sunday afternoon. Of course PokerNews will be on hand to bring you all the live updates from that event, so be sure to follow along.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Scott Sharpe |
289,500
79,500
|
79,500 |
Mark Fink |
165,900
25,900
|
25,900 |
Jeff Brin |
155,200
132,200
|
132,200 |
Vern Laing |
129,700
129,700
|
129,700 |
Anthony Martinez | 105,200 | |
Brian Massey
|
104,100 | |
Nathan Bjerno |
79,100
22,100
|
22,100 |
Joe Elpayaa |
57,900
57,900
|
57,900 |
Javon Sudar
|
56,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
Arkady Tsinis
|
54,900
900
|
900 |
Larry Scholl
|
52,400
-37,600
|
-37,600 |
Jason Mayfield |
47,000
35,500
|
35,500 |
Blair Hinkle |
46,200
17,200
|
17,200 |
|
||
Rex Clinkscales |
42,800
17,200
|
17,200 |
Larry Ormson |
23,600
5,600
|
5,600 |
Henry Tran |
20,500
-4,500
|
-4,500 |
Joel Merwick |
16,000
-14,000
|
-14,000 |
Just like the Day 1a flight, the remaining players will play four more hands before calling it a night. The clock currently says 49 of 128 players remain, though we'll have official numbers in a bit. In the meantime, we're headed out to the floor to capture any last-minute action and gather some chip counts.
Larry Ormson has been working with a short stack for the past few hours, but you can't keep a good man down. In a recent hand, Ormson got his last 9,000 all in preflop holding the and was up against the of Henry Tran.
"Jack," Ormson exclaimed on the flop. "How do you like me now?"
Ormson's reaction inspired a few chuckles from around the room, and the turn was put out on the turn followed by the river. "Nice hand, sir," Tran offered.
"Yeah it was," Ormson deadpanned, once again eliciting laughter.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Henry Tran |
25,000
-9,000
|
-9,000 |
Larry Ormson |
18,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
Javon Sudar is no stranger to the WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs. Earlier at this stop, he took down Event #2 $365 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo for $12,434 and his second gold ring. His first? The WSOP Circuit Council Bluffs Main Event back in the 2009/2010 season. That tournament, which was a $5,150 buy-in, attracted 46 runners and saw Sudar take home $95,455.
Sudar is going strong here on Day 1b of the Main Event and is sitting with 65,000. Could he take down the title once again? That's a question that won't be answered tonight.
Meanwhile, Bernard Lee has been eliminated from the tournament.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Javon Sudar
|
65,000
65,000
|
65,000 |
Bernard Lee | Busted |
Action folded to Blair Hinkle in the cutoff and he opened for 2,400. The button folded and then Doug Lang three-bet to 6,200 from the small blind. The big folded, Hinkle four-bet 12,400,and Lang wasted little time in five-betting all in. Hinkle, who was the shorter stack, snap-folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Doug Lang | 56,000 | |
Blair Hinkle |
29,000
-8,000
|
-8,000 |
|
Level: 12
Day 1b (600/1,200/200)
Two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Tripp Kirk has been sent to the rail for the second time today. We didn't catch the hand, but Bernard Lee was kind enough to fill us in. According to him, Larry Scholl opened for 2,100 only to have Kirk move all in. The player in Seat 8 then moved all in over the top and Scholl folded. Kirk tabled [Kx} but failed to improve against Seat 8's .
Meanwhile, Mitch Schock and Drazen Ilich have been eliminated from the tournament while Mark Fink has chipped up to 160,000. The events were all unrelated.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mark Fink |
160,000
63,000
|
63,000 |
Drazen Ilich | Busted | |
Mitch Schock | Busted | |
|
||
Tripp Kirk | Busted |
We didn't catch the preflop action, but we do know both Rex Clinkscales and Larry Ormson ended up all in and were at risk against a player in early position. Ormson only had 4,300, and Clinkscales had 12,800 more than that.
Clinkscales:
Ormson:
Opponent:
Both Clinkscales and Ormson were behind and sharing an ace, but that didn't stop them from finding one on the flop. Neither the turn nor river changed a thing and Ormson tripled while Clinkscales took down a sizable side pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Rex Clinkscales |
25,600
5,600
|
5,600 |
Larry Ormson |
18,000
13,700
|
13,700 |