2010 WSOP Circuit - Caesars Palace

Main Event
Day: 1
123
Event Info

2010 WSOP Circuit - Caesars Palace

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k♦4♣
Prize
$190,137
Event Info
Buy-in
$5,150
Entries
150
Level Info
Level
21
Blinds
30,000 / 60,000
Ante
5,000
Sort

The Circuit Comes Full Circle

[user75032]
[user75032]
In 2004 Harrahs Entertainment bought the rights to the pre-eminent brand in tournament poker, the World Series of Poker. One year later they leveraged that brand by creating the World Series of Poker Circuit, a rotating tournament series that takes place at different Harrahs properties around the United States.

Today the 2010 World Series of Poker Circuit comes home to where it all started, fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. In about two hours time, play will begin for the $5,000 2010 WSOP Circuit - Caesars Palace Main Event.

Last year's 187-player field in this event produced a stacked final table that included Men "the Master" Nguyen, WSOP-C superstar Dwyte Pilgrim, Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi and eventual champion Justin Bonomo. We're expecting a repeat this year, with many of the local Vegas pros coming out for a big buy-in tournament that can be viewed as a tune-up for the WSOP that starts in four weeks.

PokerNews will have all the live updates, directly from the tournament floor, starting at noon local time. See you then!

Level: 1

Blinds: 25/50

Ante: 0

Slowly Filtering In

[user75032]
[user75032]
With two full 75-minute levels of late registration, the field is expected to fill in quite a bit as we go. Right now the players are spread across 15 tables in the back tournament room of the Caesars poker room. This is the same room that hosts the annual NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship. Giant, three-foot photos of many of the all-time great poker players hang from the walls.

Many players are likely using this tournament as an engine-check before the WSOP gets started at the Rio in four weeks. The always-gregarious Layne Flack, seated at a table with Jonathan Little, mentioned that he hasn't been playing much the last four months. We definitely expect to see him in the Amazon Room this summer.

Who's All Here?

donpeters
donpeters
Although the numbers are rather small right now, there's a good amount of names in the field to look out for. Right now, Ted Lawson, David Daneshgar, Darryll Fish, Chris Bell and Scott Seiver are all in the tournament room at Caesars.

Also here and making a rare appearance on the felt is former WSOP Main Event champion Jerry Yang. Yang hasn't been spotted too much around the tournament circuit, but is in today's field. He isn't too noticeable at first glance, with a black hood pulled tightly down over his head and sunglasses on.

Blair Hinkle, Brock Parker, Dutch Boyd, James Mackey and JC Alvarado are also shuffling chips and peeling back cards.

Structure Notes

[user75032]
[user75032]
The structure for this tournament is incredibly player-friendly. Levels are 75 minutes long until the money bubble bursts. Once that happens, every subsequent level will last 90 minutes through the end of the tournament.

In addition to long, slow levels, players are starting with 500 big blinds in their stacks. A player could conceivably buy in at the end of late registration and he or she would start Level 3 with 125 big blinds. The blinds increase gradually enough from that point to still provide plenty of play.

We'll play seven levels today and seven levels tomorrow. Day 3 will play as long as is required to reduce the field to a final table of nine. Those nine will play down to a champion on Friday.

Back to Defend His Title

donpeters
donpeters
The defending champion Justin Bonomo just walked into the room and took his seat. Last year, Bonomo conquered a field of 187 entrants to win the WSOP-C event here and will be looking to go back to back. Bonomo won $237,692 last year.

Tags: Justin Bonomo

One is the Loneliest Number

[user75032]
[user75032]
For those interested in such things:

* So far there is one woman in the field. There is a second woman who is helping a handicapped player handle his cards and chips.

* There is one former world champion in the field. (Jerry Yang!)

* Jonathan Little is the only former WPT Player of the Year in the field.

* David Williams just walked into the room. If he sits down to play, he will be the only WPT Championship winner registered so far. Williams won the WPT Championship at Bellagio on Sunday night.

Yang's Raise Called by Two Pair

donpeters
donpeters
With a few thousand chips in the middle, the board read {Q-Spades}{J-Diamonds}{8-Clubs}{6-Clubs}{3-Diamonds} between one player and former WSOP champion Jerry Yang. The first player fired 2,500 into Yang. After a minute in the tank, Yang fired back a raise to 6,500. His opponent quickly called and showed the {Q-Hearts}{J-Hearts} for two pair to beat Yang, who mentioned he only had a queen.

Yang is down over half his stack to 12,100 chips.

Tags: Jerry Yang

Shamseddin Takes Early Lead

donpeters
donpeters
Four players put 1,500 chips in the pot preflop and saw the {A-Diamonds}{8-Diamonds}{7-Clubs} come down. Brock Parker was first and he checked. The next player checked and then Soheil Shamseddin fired 4,000. The player behind him called and the other two folded, leaving the action heads-up to the turn.

The turn brought the {K-Diamonds} and Shamseddin fired 10,000. His opponent called.

The river was the {10-Diamonds} and Shamseddin moved all in. His opponent began mumbling to himself, complaining about the fourth diamond that hit the felt on the river. Eventually, he folded the {A-Hearts}{K-Clubs} face up and Shamseddin scooped the pot. He didn't show and moved up to 45,000 chips. Despite the blinds only being at 25-50 for the first level, the chips are really flying.

Tags: Brock ParkerSoheil Shamseddin

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