With 4,350 in the pot and a flop of , an early-position player and La Sengphet both checked to the cutoff, who bet 3,600. EP quickly got out of the way, and Sengphet made the call after a few moments of contemplation.
From there, both players checked the turn and Sengphet came out swinging on the river with a bet of 7,750. The cutoff thought for about ten seconds before giving up on the hand.
Earlier this year, Kurt Jewell took down the WSOP Circuit Harrah's Tunica Main Event, giving him his second Main Event title (his other coming at last season's Hammond stop). Today, Jewell is in action and off to a good start as he has more than double the starting stack.
He informed us that he busted opponent after he held on a board and got there against his opponent's .
After the hijack had limped, Huy Nguyen raised to 425 from the button. Ben Smith, who sports a big black cowboy hat and conjures up images of a rough and ready cattle-hand, proceeded to make the call from the small blind while the big came along for the ride. The original limper called the additional 250 and it was four-way action to the flop, which came down .
All four players checked, bringing about the turn. At this point, Smith led out for 700, the big blind raised to 1,600, and the other two players got out of the way. Smith responded by moving all in for 4,775 and the big blind snap-called.
Showdown
Smith
Big Blind
Smith was left shaking his head after seeing the bad news. The river sealed the deal by giving the big blind quads, and Smith was sent to the rail.
Meanwhile, Nguyen is off to a good start, already up to 28,000.
When we hear a whole table yell, "Ohh, ouch!" we usually go running to see what happened. Well, we just heard that exact thing from Table 47 and hurried over.
The board showed and we gathered from the other players at the table that all the money went in on the turn. Jim Baker held pocket queens and was standing to leave before the dealer peeled off the river queen. His opponent had pocket aces and sent over a large portion of his stack to Baker.
Once again, we're going to refer to the WSOP report for a brief recap of Event #3's action:
The local part-time poker player and professional driver, [Kevin Balsman], achieved every poker player’s dream by winning the very first World Series of Poker event he entered. Balsman overcame 149 fellow players and ultimately walked away with $11,844 in prize money.
Balsman’s victory came on a record-setting Saturday inside the Harrah’s St. Louis Casino. Not only was another tournament final table played at the same time, the largest poker tournament in Missouri history began with more than 1,000 entrants in Event #4.
Balsman wasn’t at all distracted by the zoo inside the poker tournament area. He calmly collected his money and lit a well-deserved cigar as he exited the arena.
WSOP Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis Event #3 Pot-Limit Omaha
We didn't catch all the action, but we stumbled upon Seneca Easley's table with a big hand developing. There was only 1,600 in the pot with a flop reading , but former WSOP Circuit Harrah's Rincon Main Event Champ had 3,500 laid out in front of him while the cutoff and a middle-position player were both all in for 24,000 and 13,600 respectively.
Easley looked uneasy with the situation and got out of the way, a decision he was content with when the cutoff revealed and the MP player showed . The ended up spiking on the turn to complete the cutoff's nut flush.
A single limper entered the pot and Daniel Lowery raised to 425 in late position. Richard Harrington called from the big blind and the limper folded. The flop fell , Harrington checked and Lowery bet 600. Harrington called to see the turn come . Both players checked and the river came .
Harrington led with 1,550 and Lowery called. Harrington tabled pocket jacks for nuts. Lowery shrugged and mucked his hand.
, an early-position player and La Sengphet both checked to the cutoff, who bet 3,600. EP quickly got out of the way, and Sengphet made the call after a few moments of contemplation.
turn and Sengphet came out swinging on the 
river with a bet of 7,750. The cutoff thought for about ten seconds before giving up on the hand.
on a 
board and got there against his opponent's 
.
turn. At this point, Smith led out for 700, the big blind raised to 1,600, and the other two players got out of the way. Smith responded by moving all in for 4,775 and the big blind snap-called.
river sealed the deal by giving the big blind quads, and Smith was sent to the rail.
and we gathered from the other players at the table that all the money went in on the turn. Jim Baker held pocket queens and was standing to leave before the dealer peeled off the river queen. His opponent had pocket aces and sent over a large portion of his stack to Baker.
, but former WSOP Circuit Harrah's Rincon Main Event Champ had 3,500 laid out in front of him while the cutoff and a middle-position player were both all in for 24,000 and 13,600 respectively.
. The 
, Harrington checked and Lowery bet 600. Harrington called to see the turn come 
.