Chris McCormack has been battling like a short-stack warrior today, and he finally found his spot to move all in, getting the rest of his chips into the middle before the flop with . Unfortunately for him, he got action from Ken Christopher who turned over the dominating .
The board ran dry for McCormack, coming . Failing to improve past Christopher, Chris McCormack becomes our 11th-place finisher.
The remaining 10 players have been recombined into one last table. We'll play for one more elimination, setting up tomorrow's official final table of nine.
The unofficial final table of 10 is about to commence. Here's the seating assignments and chip counts.
Seat 1: Kenny Milam - 385,000
Seat 2: Richard Kirsch - 90,000
Seat 3: Kurt Scheer - 130,000
Seat 4: Justin "LockdownTex" Allen - 252,000
Seat 5: Anita Vasquez - 160,000
Seat 6: Jean Gaspard - 680,000
Seat 7: Ken Christopher - 240,000
Seat 8: Daniel Walsh - 570,000
Seat 9 : Billy Kopp - 640,000
Seat 10: Steven McKoy - 190,000
Justin "LockdownTex" Allen won the December version of the Bayou Poker Challenge and will be looking to go back-to-back here in New Orleans. Anita Vasquez is the lone woman at the final table.
We'll be playing until one more player busts and then bag it up for the final nine to return tomorrow.
Under the gun, Kurt Scheer limped into the pot, and Jean Gaspard bumped it up to 30,000 from middle position. Scheer called in turn, and it was heads up to the flop.
It came down . Scheer passed, opting to check-call a continuation bet of 55,000 from Gaspard.
Fourth street brought the . Scheer checked again, and Gaspard moved all in. Scheer quickly called. The entire table stood up as spectators gathered around to scope out what could be the final hand of the evening. But the suspense was short-lived as both players tabled , already a lock for a split pot with neither player holding a heart. The river was meaningless, and the half the pot was pushed back to each player.
Richard Kirsch open-shoved all in for his remaining 93,000 from early position. A few seats over, big stack Jean Gaspard made the call, while the rest of the table ducked out.
Showdown
Kirsch:
Gaspard:
Once more, the entire table rose to their feet and the audience around the table pushed in closer, hoping that this would be the last hand of the night.
The first four cards off the deck were no help to Kirsch, coming . With one card to come, Gaspard looked over toward the rail and yelled, "Watch this, three on the river. Three on the river."
As if from above, the spiked the river, locking up the pot for Gaspard's pair and sending Richard Kirsch toward the exit in 10th place.
With the elimination of Richard Kirsch, we're officially down to the final nine players. Jean Gaspard will be the chip leader coming into tomorrow and will surely be a force to take down.
Justin "LockdownTex" Allen won the Bayou Poker Challenge back in December of 2008, the Winter version of this tournament, and will be looking to capture this event as well. There were only a few women to enter the tournament, but Anita Vasquez has successfully maneuvered her way to to the final table with her mother watching from the rail the entire time.
Play will resume tomorrow a little later than the past few days with a 2:00 PM local starting time. The stage will be set up in the tournament room with plenty of room to watch the action up close.
First place of over $200,000, the gold championship ring, and a $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat are all up for grabs! Be sure to come back here for all the live action from Harrah's New Orleans!