Jeff Fielder, who won his first and only ring in April of 2012 at Council Bluffs, has already lost half of his stack today.
He and two opponents were heads up on a board of , and Fielder led out for 1,800. Both players called.
"Be good to me!" one of the players pleaded with the dealer.
The completed the board, and Fielder slowed down, checking to his two opponents. They both checked as well. One player tabled for a pair of kings with a queen kicker, the player who was pleading with the dealer flashed before mucking, and Fielder threw his cards away without exposing them.
Andy Philachack has been a busy guy. The family man from Dallas, Texas was recently in the Bahamas for a poker tournament, and now he's made the trek to Choctaw for some WSOP Circuit action.
In a recent hand, Philachack raised to 300 from early position and cleared the field all the way around to the player in the big blind, who made the call. The latter proceeded to check call bets of 600 and 1,200 on the flop and turn respectively, and then led out for 1,075 on the river when the peeled off. Philachack thought long and hard before calling, but he could only muck when the big blind rolled over .
It's hard to find a more stacked lineup than the one over at Table 37. There are only three players there that we recognize, but each is a superstar on the World Series of Poker bracelet.
First, in Seat 3, is Doug "Rico" Carli, who recently took 161st in Choctaw Durant Ring Event #2 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry and 33rd in Event #10 $365 NLHE Turbo. That extended his record of WSOP Circuit cashes to 70, well ahead of Mark “Pegasus” Smith’s 32. You may recall Carli as the 2011/2012 WSOP Circuit National Championship bubble boy.
Speaking of that National Championship, Matthew Lawrence, who won a ring in the 2009/2010 WSOP Circuit Harrah's St. Louis Event #8: $560 No Limit Hold'em, took ninth in that year's National Championship for $30,000. Interestingly, Lawrence is seated two to Rico's left.
In between the two is another fierce competitor, Abraham Araya. That name should be very familiar to you as he is the defending champion of the WSOP Circuit, Last year Araya navigated a field of 978 players to win the $270,380 first-place prize and a seat in the National Championship. What's more, Araya won his second gold ring less than two months later in Caesars Atlantic City Event #7: $555 No-Limit Hold'em for $33,290.
Thanks to his win lat night in Event #10 $365 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo for $24,569, and a sixth-place finish in Event #6 $365 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed, Austin Apicella of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas currently leads the Choctaw Casino Championship race with 77.5 points.
If the 29-year-old school principal can hold on, he will earn a seat in the WSOP Circuit National Championship Presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof this May in New Orleans.
Matt Lawrence, who we just told you about at tough Table 37, opened for 350 from the hijack and received calls from the players on the button and in the big blind. A check from the latter opened the door for Lawrence to continue for 500, but he was met with a raise to 1,500 by the button.
The big blind folded, Lawrence called, and then both players checked the turn. When the peeled off on the river, Lawrence retook control with a bet of 3,225, and it was enough to get the job done as the button folded his hand.
Last night we stumbled upon an intriguing Facebook post by Will "Monkey" Souther. Here's what he wrote:
"I have returned from my room with repeat-ring winner David Nicholson aka Lurky...and Chris Conrad...and an incredible Fake Waffle House experience. I have spent 12 minutes preparing my goatee for tomorrow's Main Event...and I'm not going to lie...this might be the Greatest Goatee of all time that I'm about to unleash on Choctaw tomorrow!!!!"
We can confirm that Will "Monkey" Souther is in the field today and sporting a fine goatee. "You can see photos of the amazing, precision-crafted goatee, if I play well enough to get either deep, or a monster stack," Souther added. "In which case I'm sure [they'll] see fit to post my pic on PokerNews."
Allen Kessler is sitting on 45,000 chips - more than twice the starting stack - and pulled us aside to tell us how he doubled.
According to Chainsaw, he opened for a raise preflop with two sixes and received four callers. The flop was , Kessler put out a continuation bet, and two players called.
The turn was a , Kessler fired 1,250, and a player "who was bragging about playing $20/$50" raised to 4,800. Kessler called, and the two were heads up going to the river.
The river card was a blank, and the player moved all in for 16,000. Kessler called, saying that it was "too weird for him to have a straight," and the player showed down .
Kessler's set of sixes were good, and he's off to a fast start.
As we make the rounds on the tournament floor, new faces are constantly being spotted. Here are some of the faces that stood out to us on our last pass.
Berry Johnston playing the 2012/2013 WSOP Circuit Choctaw Main Event.
We don’t get many poker legends on the World Series of Poker Circuit, and even less former Main Event champions. That isn’t the case here in Choctaw as Berry Johnston meets both those benchmarks. That’s right, the five-time WSOP bracelet winner is in action today and looking for his second WSOP Circuit cash and first gold ring.
Seeing Johnston isn’t too much of a surprise considering he resides in Bethany, Oklahoma, but even so, it’s pretty cool to see a living legend in action. For those who don’t know, Johnston won the WSOP Main Event back in 1986 for $570,000. He defeated a field of 141 players including a final table that featured Bill Smith, Jesse Alto and Gary Berland.
Johnston’s other bracelets have come in 1983 Event #8 $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Heads-Up for $40,000; 1990 Event #12 $2,500 Limit Hold’em for $254,000; 1995 Event #3 $1,500 Limit Omaha for $91,200; and 2001 Event #13 $1,500 Limit Razz for $83,810. All told, Johnston has 62 WSOP cashes—7th on the all-time list—and $2,094,697 in earnings.
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
, and Fielder led out for 1,800. Both players called.
completed the board, and Fielder slowed down, checking to his two opponents. They both checked as well. One player tabled 
for a pair of kings with a queen kicker, the player who was pleading with the dealer flashed 
before mucking, and Fielder threw his cards away without exposing them.
flop and 
turn respectively, and then led out for 1,075 on the river when the 
peeled off. Philachack thought long and hard before calling, but he could only muck when the big blind rolled over 
.
turn. When the 
peeled off on the river, Lawrence retook control with a bet of 3,225, and it was enough to get the job done as the button folded his hand.
, Kessler put out a continuation bet, and two players called.
, Kessler fired 1,250, and a player "who was bragging about playing $20/$50" raised to 4,800. Kessler called, and the two were heads up going to the river.
