2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's Rincon

Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's Rincon

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
22
Prize
$107,862
Event Info
Prize Pool
$459,000
Entries
306
Level Info
Level
29
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
5,000

Main Event

Day 1a Completed

Full End-of-Day Counts

Player Chips Progress
David Randall
David Randall
330,000
Ryan Leng us
Ryan Leng
284,500 284,500
WSOP 3X Winner
Ray Henson us
Ray Henson
185,000 20,000
Casey Stewart us
Casey Stewart
180,500 -53,500
Erik Roussakis
Erik Roussakis
165,000 165,000
Bobby Suer
Bobby Suer
135,000 135,000
Edmund Liu
Edmund Liu
131,000 131,000
Paul Hendee us
Paul Hendee
120,000 -20,000
Ted Jivkov us
Ted Jivkov
116,000 116,000
Valentin Vornicu us
Valentin Vornicu
112,500 12,500
Kenna James us
Kenna James
109,500 17,500
Ben Mintz us
Ben Mintz
107,000 37,000
Anthony Quercio us
Anthony Quercio
99,000 3,000
Matthew Kursar us
Matthew Kursar
95,000 95,000
Rene Luna
Rene Luna
94,500 94,500
Dana Kellstrom us
Dana Kellstrom
86,000 86,000
Jesse Capps us
Jesse Capps
51,000 51,000

David Randall Leads After Day 1a

Level 17 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

After a full day of poker, Day 1a is in the books here at Harrah’s Rincon! Today, 142 players forked over $1,600 with the hopes of winning a Main Event title, and that coveted ring. After 17 levels of play, only 18 players still have that dream. David Randall leads the way with 330,000 chips, and he is the only player over 300,000. The next closest stack is Ryan Leng, who bagged up 284,500.

We lost a handful of big names throughout today’s play. Some early casualties included Dwyte Pilgrim, Chad Brown, Kathy Liebert, 5-Time Ring Winner Alexandru Masek, and Joseph Kuether, who will come back again tomorrow to defend his title. Some of the notables who left us later in the night included David “ODB Baker, Matt Affleck, Chris Bigler, and Jeff Madsen

It wasn’t all bad news for our notables though. We still have a few well known pros in the fight, including Valentin Vornicu (112,500), Kenna James (109,500), Ray Henson (185,000), and Eric Baldwin (220,000).

Anyone who was knocked out today can come back and re-enter tomorrow, so we are expecting a good field of players for tomorrow’s Day 1b. Just like today, we will play a full 17 levels, and those survivors will reunite with out lucky 18 to form the final field on Sunday. Until tomorrow, we are signing off from Harrah’s Rincon!

Tags: David Randall

Five More Hands

Level 17 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

We have hit ten minutes on the clock, and that means it's time to deal five more hands. We have 20 players left, and regardless of how many players we lose, we will finish the five hands.

Last Round Chip Counts

We will be sure to get the names and counts for all of the players who make it to Day 2, but until then, we have one more round of counts for you guys.

Player Chips Progress
David Randall
David Randall
330,000 -10,000
Eric Baldwin us
Eric Baldwin
260,000 24,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Casey Stewart us
Casey Stewart
234,000 9,000
Ray Henson us
Ray Henson
165,000
Paul Hendee us
Paul Hendee
140,000 78,000
Valentin Vornicu us
Valentin Vornicu
100,000 32,000
Anthony Quercio us
Anthony Quercio
96,000 -29,000
Kenna James us
Kenna James
92,000 -6,000
Ben Mintz us
Ben Mintz
70,000 6,000
Mike Souza
Mike Souza
Busted

Action Slowing Down

Level 17 : 1,500/3,000, 500 ante

The action has come to a screeching halt in this level, with the last elimination occurring an hour ago. The short stacks are hoping to make it on to Day 2, while the big stacks have yet to get into any huge all in confrontations. With just 30 minutes left in today's action, it does not look like we will be making it to the final 18 tonight.

Mintz Moving Down

Ben Mintz has been grinding a short to medium stack all day, and he finally got his breakthrough before the last break, when his {a-}{k-} held against his opponent's {a-}{10-}. However, we just caught him losing a pot that has knocked him back down to under 70,000.

Action started with the cutoff raising it to 6,000, and Mintz was the only caller on the button. The flop came down {a-Spades}{7-Hearts}{5-Clubs}, and Mintz fired out 5,500 after his opponent checked. He was called, and the turn brought the {8-Hearts}. Again, Mintz's bet of 10,500 was check called, and the river brought the {3-Clubs}.

Both players checked, and Mintz's opponent tabled {a-Hearts}{9-Hearts} for top pair. It was good enough to win, as Mintz toss his cards into the muck. After that hand, Mintz is down to 64,000.

Player Chips Progress
Ben Mintz us
Ben Mintz
64,000 -51,000

Tags: Ben Mintz

Level: 17

Blinds: 1,500/3,000

Ante: 500

22 Players Left

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

The race is on for when we will finish tonight. We have 70 minutes left in today's event, but that time can be cut down if we lose four more players. It was looking like we would be here for the long haul, but three eliminations in a matter of minutes makes finishing early a distinct possibility.

Stewart Sinks, Then Soars

Casey Stewart has been a fixture on our top 10 leaderboard today, and we just caught him in back-to-back action packed hands.

On the first hand, we saw that Stewart was going heads up with Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin. There was a pile of chips in the middle that looked to about 70,000, and Baldwin had slid out a bet of 32,600 after Stewart checked. Stewart gave the hand up, and Baldwin took the big pot.

On the very next hand, a player in mid position raised to 6,000. The next player to act moved all in for 20,000, and it folded to Stewart on the button. He made the call, as did the original raiser, and they saw the flop come down {k-Spades}{9-Clubs}{q-Spades}. Both players checked, and the turn brought the {10-Diamonds}. Stewart called when his opponent fired out 20,000, and the river was the {6-Hearts}.

It was checked to Stewart, who assembled a bet of 40,000, and slid it into the middle. His opponent snap called and asked "Do you have Ace Jack?" Stewart did indeed table {a-Clubs}{j-Hearts} for the nut straight, and his opponent flashed a jack before mucking his hand.

After that pot, Stewart is back up to 225,000, while Baldwin increased his stack to 236,000 on the hand before.

Player Chips Progress
Eric Baldwin us
Eric Baldwin
236,000 86,000
WSOP 2X Winner
Casey Stewart us
Casey Stewart
225,000 85,000

Tags: Eric BaldwinCasey Stewart