Donnie Peters
Ari Engel checked to Daniel Walker after the turn. The board read and Walker fired a bet of 5,000. Engel made the call.
The river brought the and Engel reached for some chips. He bet out 12,000 and his opponent made the call. Engel tabled for a full house and all Walker could do was shake his head.
In a limped pot, half the table saw the flop come out . Bernard Lee was in the small blind and he led out with a bet. He got a call from one player while the rest of the table ducked out.
The turn came the . Lee checked this time, and his opponent seized the opportunity to bet 1,050. Lee went into the tank for a minute before slowly flicking out the calling chips.
River: . This time, both men checked. Lee waited while his opponent tabled for two pair, then slid his cards quietly into the muck. He has been chipped down to 18,000 here in the early going.
Donnie Peters
Mark Eddelman
Just minutes after asking one of our reporters to keep track of his chip count, Mark Eddelman found himself faced with a large all-in bet as the board read .
Eddelman stood from his chair and made the call, enthusiastically turning over pocket aces. His opponent turned over . Eddelman's two pair was slightly better, winning him the hand and nearly doubling his starting chip stack to 38,000. His opponent was left with only 100 chips.
Donnie Peters
Alan "Ari" Engel, Bernard Lee, and Eric Stiglets are amongst the field of entrants for the Council Bluffs Main Event. Jeremy Byrum came in fifth place for over $50,000 at the WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica and is seated at Lee's table.
Another player to look out for is Drazen Ilich. Ilich has netted three cashes in preliminary events here in Iowa, including a win in Event #6 for over $32,000 and a runner-up finish in Event #1 for $15,000.
The Whiskey Roadhouse has been emptied of its cold wooden tables and chairs, and in their place now stand about thirty padded poker tables with hundreds of padded poker chairs tucked neatly underneath. The staff is hard at work making final preparations to the tournament area as the start of our main event is less than an hour away.
So far, there are 22 names on the buy-in list, and we expect to have an additional 50 or so that have won their seats in the satellites here over the past two weeks. Once they join in the fun, we anticipate a field of right around 75 runners.
Day 1 kicks off at noon o'clock local time. Everyone gets 20,000 in chips and we're playing 75-minute levels for this event. The structure sets up great for the players, and the slow progression should give a significant edge to the few pros in the room. Seven levels will be dealt today, meaning we should finish up sometime in the 10:00 hour.
Don't go too far; we'll be back shortly with the shuffle up and deal!
Hello and welcome to PokerNews' coverage of the 2008-09 WSOP Circuit Championship, live and in technicolor from Council Bluffs, Iowa. We're along the shores of the Missouri River, with the skyline of Omaha just visible on the horizon a few miles to the west. The preliminary events are already underway here at the nearly-new Horseshoe Casino, and nearly two weeks of tournament action have all been leading up to the start of the $5,150-buy-in Main Event tomorrow. With most of the poker world in sunny Southern California this week, our expectations are for an amateur-heavy field, which should suit the players just fine. Still, chances are a few brave pros will have chosen to battle the midwest winter for a shot at Circuit glory this week.
Play kicks off at high noon Monday, and we hope you'll join our live update team right here for all the action!