The last ten minutes have been action packed over at the "Table of Doo." A small pot, a massive pot and three eliminations later and Daniel Lowery is the new chip leader.
It began when a short-stacked Stephen Bokor moved all in preflop holding the on the button and received a call from Lowery, who held the in the big blind. The board ran out and that was all she wrote for Bokor.
In the very next hand action folded to Ray Henson and he put in a standard raise. Lowery, still stacking chips, three-bet, Henson four-bet and Lowery five-bet all in. Henson snap-called off to create a monster 220,000 pot.
Henson:
Lowery:
It looked like Lowery had stepped in it for a moment, but that quickly changed when the flop delivered him the nuts and left Henson drawing dead. The latter was clearly disappointed and was headed out the door even before the was put out on the turn followed by the on the river.
Ray Henson, who is still in the field, is no stranger to poker success. The 35-year-old professional poker player from Houston has 16 cashes at the World Series of Poker for $687,566, including a 12th-place finish in the 2007 WSOP Main Event for $476,926, and this season on the WSOP Circuit he’s captured three gold rings.
The first came back in January in Event #7 $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em at the Bicycle Casino stop, good for $42,390, and the second two months later at the WSOP Circuit Lodge Casino in Blackhawk, Colorado, which came in Event #8 $365 No-Limit Hold’em for $16,128. On Saturday, May 11, Henson captured number three in the Harrah’s New Orleans Event #3 $365 Pot-Limit Omaha, which drew 163 players and created a $48,900 prize pool. All told, Henson has five WSOP Circuit cashes for $82,273.
Ray Henson, who signed up for the tournament with just seconds left before registration closed, defeated William West, a local player from New Orleans, in heads-up play to take down the $13,203 first-place prize and earn enough points to qualify for this year’s National Championship. What’s more, Henson overcame a 15-1 chip deficit to do it!
In addition, a plethora of circuit regulars extended their career cashes including third-place finisher Shawn Daniels (12th WSOP Circuit cash); tenth-place finisher Kenny Milam (15th career cash); two-time gold ring winner David Clark (27th career cash); and gold ring winner Kat Bowen (23rd career cash).
WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Ring Event #3 Pot-Limit Omaha
In a poker tournament, these three abilities are paramount. In order to succeed, you must outwit your opponents, forcing them to fold when they have the best hand or call when they have the worst of it. You must outplay your opponents, avoiding the mistakes that amateurs make and know when to strike if opportunity rises. And finally, you must outlast your opponents - this one's obvious.
Among the grinders in the field today, there is one player in particular who knows a lot about outwitting, outlasting, and outplaying his competition, and that's "Boston" Rob Mariano.
Mariano, is a Survivor legend, competing on four seasons of the reality television show, including Redemption Island, where he was crowned the Sole Survivor by a jury of his peers. He has received coaching lessons from professional poker player, friend, and aspiring Survivor cast member Daniel Negreanu, and is also good friends with Josh Arieh, who is in the field today.
The 37-year old Boston native has over $60,000 in career tournament earnings, including an 82nd-place finish in a $1,500 bracelet event in 2007 and a 12th-place finish in a $500 circuit event here in New Orleans in the same year.
Mariano recently released a book titled The Boston Rob Rulebook, where he gives his rules to life and not just the game of Survivor.
Mariano is off to a bit of a slow start today, and fortunately doubled before the last break. He was all in for his last 5,000 or so holding against an opponent's . The board ran out , giving Boston Rob a straight, and he doubled to around 11,000 chips.