Level: 3
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Level: 3
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
We've just spotted William Looper and Mark "Pegasus" Smith in the field today. Looper finished fourth in the World Series of Poker Circuit Kennel Club Main Event, and Smith is a five-time ring winner.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mark Smith |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
William Looper |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Ryan Riess is back to try again after busting Day 1a during the afternoon. We just saw he'd built up to nearly three times the starting stack already today as they move through Level 2.
"No way bags that up tonight," cracked an opponent from across the table. Reiss chuckled. "I just hope to make the dinner break," he responded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ryan Riess |
58,000
24,000
|
24,000 |
|
Despite losing a few chips early, Josh Cranfill just took down a nice-sized pot. Two players limped in from early position, a third player raised to 350 on the button, and both Matthew Chang and Cranfill called in the blinds. The two limpers called as well, and the flop fell . All five players checked.
The turn was a repeat seven - the - and Chang checked. Cranfill fired 1,100, prompting his four opponents to fold.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Matthew Chang |
19,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
Josh Cranfill
|
17,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
A few more players who busted on Day 1a have reentered here on Day 1b. Chris Underwood, DJ MacKinnon, Nelson Robinson, and Andrew Rothfolk have all fired a second bullet, and are looking to top their performances from yesterday.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
DJ Mackinnon |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Nelson Robinson |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Chris Underwood |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Andrew Rothfolk |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
"Tommy Christopher… I got 80,000."
So Christopher told us as we passed by the table. We stopped to get a better look at his chips.
"Making my move early here," he added.
We squinted to see a little less than 80,000 sitting before him. In fact, he was just a few chips below the starting stack, and he grinned in response to our closer investigation.
It was the first of many bluffs we expect to see today.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Thomas Christopher |
18,500
-1,500
|
-1,500 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
At 14 months old, Josh Cranfill was diagnosed with Werdnig-Hoffman Disease, a form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It's a degenerative muscle disease that weakens the muscles in the body until they eventually die. Poker is unquestionably Cranfill's favorite hobby, and he's here in Cherokee with his father Shorty to compete for a World Series of Poker Circuit ring.
Since Black Friday, grinding his become increasingly more difficult for the wheelchair-stricken North Carolinian. Online poker allowed Cranfill to fire up a game and play whenever he wanted too, but when he plays live poker, he has to rely on his father for travel, and not every home game in the state is wheelchair accessible.
In 2009, Cranfill traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the World Series of Poker. In 2012, he finished seventh in a WSOP-C side event at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.
When he's not grinding, the Elon University graduate is fulfilling his duties as the vice president of the North Carolina Electric Wheelchair Hockey Association, a non-profit organization that offers the sport of hockey to those who have physical disabilities and are confined to an electric wheelchair.
We'll keep an eye on Cranfill as he tries to amass a stack here on Day 1b.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Josh Cranfill
|
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Stephen Nussrallah of Alpharetta, Georgia and Laura Green of Marietta, Georgia were just involved in a preflop raising war that saw Green ultimately make a five-bet and Nussrallah call, thus building a pot of about 5,000. The flop then came eight-high — — and when Nussrallah led for 2,200, Green hesitated just a moment before saying she was all in.
Nusrallah exhaled, then said he was calling. "Do you have aces?" he asked, turning over his . She answered by tabling her hand — .
Relief spread over Nusrallah's face as the turn brought the . That expression quickly turned into a wince, however, as the sight of fifth street... the .
A set and survival for Green, as Nusrallah followed a good start by taking an early tumble. And unfortunately for him, he'd soon lose the rest of his stack thereafter to become a Level 1 elimination.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Laura Green
|
28,500
15,500
|
15,500 |
Stephen Nussrallah | Busted |
It's a relatively quiet scene here in the Harrah's Cherokee Event Center as Day 1b gets underway. That said, we're looking at a lot more poker players taking hands here on an early Saturday afternoon in the North Carolina mountains. Unlike yesterday when tables being used by the Main Event only took up about half the room, today Main Event players are seated from one end to the other as the turnout is most certainly greater for this second Day 1 flight.
Among those seated are some returnees we recognize from yesterday's Day 1a, players who busted the first flight but have exercised their option to re-enter today. Christopher Kirkland, Ryan Riess, Yuval Bronshtein, and Ken Aldridge are among the familiar faces we've initially noticed from those coming back for another shot today.
Incidentally, an announcement was just made to remind everyone that there are no more chances to re-enter after busting today, so everyone currently playing is on their final bullet.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Ken Aldridge |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
||
Yuval Bronshtein |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
||
Ryan Riess |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
|
||
Christopher Kirkland |
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |