Main Event
Day 1 Completed
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's Tunica
Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's Tunica
Prize Pool
$941,385
Entries
647
Level
29
Blinds
25,000 / 50,000
Ante
5,000
Brown Takes Overwhelming Chip Lead Into Day 2
Level 9
: 400/800, 100 ante
The World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah's Tunica Main Event kicked off on Saturday with two starting flights attracting 625 players, though players are allowed to register right up to the start of Day 2. The turnout exceeded last year’s total of 480 by a large margin, though re-entry was not an option in 2010/2011. After each nine-level flight had concluded, Dantonio Brown emerged as the clear chip leader, bagging an astounding 277,100 in chips.
The first starting flight, aptly called Day 1a, drew 421 players including last year's champ and National Championship winner, Sam Barnhart, and Kyle Cartwright, who made a big splash at this stop last year by winning two rings and capturing the “Casino Championship." Cartwright managed to survive the opening flight, albeit with a mediocre 24,000, while Barnhart was eliminated and exercised his option to re-enter of Day 1b.
Other players who were eliminated in the first flight and re-entered included Eric Crain, John Dolan, Aaron Massey, Earl Barron, and Traci Brown, just to name a few. The decision proved fruitful for all of the abovementioned players, including Barnhart, as all but Crain made it to Day 2.
They joined a laundry-list of notables who needed only one bullet to advance including Roland Israel (85,000), Houston White (79,800), Beverly Cheney (46,800), Kurt Jewell (39,500), “Captain” Tom Franklin (37,000), Doug “Rico” Carli (35,500), Al Theriac (31,300) and Huy Nguyen (30,900).
The chip leader got off to a idyllic start and grew his chip stack exponentially. In just a few levels he was all the way up to 100,000, and then came a recent hand on a flop of 
when Brown and the button got all in, creating a monster pot of around 90,000.
Showdown
| Brown |   |
| Button |   |
Brown had the granddaddy of all hands, pocket rockets, but the button had flush outs. Unfortunately for the latter, Brown was running hot and he dodged both the turn and river, which came the 
and 
respectively. The button made a hasty exit while Brown chipped up to 170K! From there he chipped up and rode the chip lead all the way to the end of Day 1.
While approximately 400 players advanced to Day 2, not everyone was so lucky. Mark “Pegasus” Smith, Shaun Johnston, Bob Talbot, and La Sengphet all fired one bullet and failed to advance.
Brown may be the overwhelming chip leader, but there are plenty of others sitting on decent stacks including Ray Weaver (138,500), Bo Chevallier (96,500), David Walker (95,600), and Chris Bigler (70,900).
Day 2 will kick off at 12:00 p.m. CST on Sunday, so be sure to follow all the action live on Pokernews.com!
Notable End of Day 1b Chip Counts
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
277,100 | 42,100 |
|
|
79,800 | |
|
|
70,900 | -3,100 |
|
|
48,300 | 25,300 |
|
|
46,800 | -16,200 |
|
|
41,600 | 600 |
|
|
23,900 | |
|
|
23,100 | -3,900 |
Easley Busted as Night Winds Down
We're not sure how it happened, but it appears Seneca Easley has been eliminated from the tournament.
In other news, only a few minutes remain on the tournament clock, which means the remaining players, about 120 of them, will be bagging and tagging soon. We're going out to grab some chip counts, which will be followed by our Day 1 recap. Stay tuned!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Bigler Busts Another . . . Dispatches Tran
With about 18,000 in the pot and a ten-high board on the turn, Chris Bigler checked, Duy Tran bet 3,000, Bigler check-raised to 8,000, and Tran made the call. The river was a rag, and Bigler checked for a second time. Tran took the bait and moved all in with 
, and Bigler called holding 
.
Tran was eliminated on the hand while Bigler, who had been eliminated in the starting flight, chipped up to 74,000 and increased his prospects headed toward Day 2.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
74,000 | 9,000 |
|
Busted |
Rackley Racking Up
Drennon Rackley opened for 3,000, the small blind called and the big blind moved all in. Rackley called and the hands were tabled.
Rackley:
Opponent: 
The board ran 
and Rackley eliminated his opponent.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
90,000 |
Michael Urbaniak Takes Down Six-Handed Event
Level 9
: 400/800, 100 ante
Here's a look back at another of the Harrah's Tunica preliminary events:
WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Tunica Ring Event #6 No-Limit Hold’em Six Handed
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $300+$45 | 344 | $98,754 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Urbaniak | O Fallon, MO | $22,714 |
| 2 | Benjamin Kramer | Terre Haute, IN | $28,101 |
| 3 | Matthew Weber | Sacramento, CA | $11,256 |
| 4 | William Phillips | Metairie, LA | $7,598 |
| 5 | Frank Smith | Hazel Green, AL | $6,302 |
| 6 | Charlie Dawson | Owensboro, KY | $4,823 |
| 7 | Jason Ivie | St. Louis, MO | $3,397 |
| 8 | Tim Coleman | Nashville, TN | $2,674 |
| 9 | Christopher Hewitt | Belleville, IL | $2,135 |
More for Massey
Action folded to a short-stacked player in the cutoff and he open shoved for 6,300, which Aaron Massey called from the small blind.
Showdown
| Massey |   |
| Cutoff |  |
Massey was well ahead and stayed there as the board ran out 
. With that, Massey is up to 41,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
41,000 | 5,000 |
Level: 9
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Crain Fires Two Bullets and Misses
Eric Crain was one of many players who took advantage of the re-entry option and played both starting flights. Unfortunately for him, it didn't pay off. As he explained on Twitter:
"Out. Made bad hero call vs good value bet with 66 vs 77 on tt345. Was down to 5 bbs shoved 3k guy tanked for 3 mins before calling qq"
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |