WSOP Circuit Tunica Main Event Day 1 | WSOP Circuit Tunica Main Event

01-19-2008 10:18 UTC-5

WSOP Circuit Event Tunica - Championship Event

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Live reporting for this event is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. local time.

01-19-2008 11:40 UTC-5

An Event Two Weeks in the Making

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It was 16 days ago that preliminary events started here at the Grand Casino in Tunica Mississippi. Tournaments ranging in buy-ins of $300 to $1500 USD have been running since the 3rd of January but for those with a big payday on the mind, today's championship is where they want to be. With an expected field of roughly 200, and an increased buy-in of $7,500, the victor of this weekend's event may well end up with "life changing" money. Dennis "The Ironman" Perry pocketed $563,402 for his win last year and Jordan Morgan took home $216,852 and the title this last September.

With just under 80 minutes until the scheduled start time, the tournament room is already starting to buzz. Stay tuned to pokernews.com as we bring you the action, live starting at 12:00pm CST.

01-19-2008 12:18 UTC-5

The Venue

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Owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment, the Grand Casino offers a 140,000 square foot gaming floor and 3 hotels with a total of 1,356 rooms. Opened in 1996 and classified as a riverboat casino, the Grand (and its surrounding properties) lay claim to being the largest casino area between Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

01-19-2008 12:57 UTC-5

Five Minutes and Counting

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The tournament director has just advised players to begin taking their seats as the cards will be in the air in roughly five minutes.

01-19-2008 13:00 UTC-5

Shuffle Up and Deal

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After a brief summary of the rules, the cards are in the air!

Level: 1

Blinds: 25/50

Ante: 0

01-19-2008 13:10 UTC-5

Famous Faces

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With still many empty seats and some inevitable "fashionably late" arrivals, a few notables have already been spotted. Gavin Griffin, John Phan, and Brett Jungblut are among today's field, as are Tony Cousineau, Allen Kessler, Ted Lawson, and APPT-Sydney runner-up Jeremiah Vinsant.

01-19-2008 13:32 UTC-5

More Late Arrivals

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Chad Brown, Vanessa Rousso, Josh Arieh, Bill Edler, Chris Reslock, Tom Schneider and Gavin Smith have all scurried into the tournament room in the last few minutes.

01-19-2008 13:37 UTC-5

It's Heating Up

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It's a windy and overcast 30 degrees here in Tunica, but standing in the tournament poker room you'd never know it. Just 35 minutes into the first level of play, the atmosphere is heating up. Although relatively quiet, the focus and attention level of these players is visible with the naked eye.

01-19-2008 13:40 UTC-5

The Easy Way In

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With the championship event taking place just a few tables over, "Captain" Tom Franklin is trying to win his seat the old fashioned way...in a single table satellite. With just 3 players remaining, the smart money has to be on the tournament veteran.