There are 320 players registered thus far with the window still open for another two full levels after the upcoming break. The talent that has convened here to play for the ring represents a strong cross section of East Coast poker, in particular, with names like Mike Beasley, Will Failla, Jason Young, Matt Brady, Mike Leah, and Dwyte Pilgrim in the field.
"What is this, a $10,000 event?" we overheard Beasley just a moment ago as he gazed around the room. "This field is nuts."
In a five-way limped pot, Shawn Busse and four others saw a flop come down .
Action checked to Busse in the hijack and he bet 500, getting one caller from middle position. The turn card fell and both checked, leading to the river card. The middle-position player bet 1,500 and Busse called, only to see his opponent turn over .
Tom Marchese has also just joined the action here at Harrah's. Marchese is a runaway to win the Player of the Year race, racking up more than $2,000,000 in earnings in 2010 alone. He's hails from nearby Boontown, New Jersey, and he'll be looking to keep this championship ring right here in his home state this week. Marchese has yet to cash in a Circuit event in his young career.
Two years ago, the World Series of Poker Circuit discovered Dwyte Pilgrim here at Harrah's in Atlantic City. Pilgrim's poker career began a bit earlier in 2008, and he picked up two small cashes of less than $1,000 to start him off. Then came December. On the 11th of the month, he mini-cashed in the $1,000 side event here at the WSOPC for his first four-figure score. Five figures came the very next day as Pilgrim made a seventh-place run in the $2,000 event. That led directly into the $5,000 Main Event, and Dwyte managed to put his face on the map with another seventh-place finish, his second five-figure score in three days.
Just like that, Pilgrim had a little bankroll to work with, and he's done rather well for himself since then. In March of 2009, Pilgrim won his first title and his first Circuit ring, taking down a huge $500 event at Caesars here in Atlantic City. He won his second ring (and his first six-figure cash) later the same month as the Circuit migrated to Southern California where Pilgrim took down the $5,000 main event for $125,000. He's gone on to add one more ring to his collection since then, and in September of this year, he really broke through in an enormous way. Dwyte won the Atlantic City WPT event held at the Borgata for nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
All told, Dwyte has more than $1.5 million in earnings in the last two years, and it began right here at the WSOPC Harrah's Atlantic City. This city loves Dwyte Pilgrim.
Mike Leah and one opponent saw a flop come down . Both checked and when the turn hit, Leah's opponent fired 700. Leah called and the hit the river. Both checked and Leah mucked his hand when his opponent tabled for a flush.
Not much damage done to Leah's stack, currently at about 19,500.
As usual, Ronnie Bardah is the life of the party at his table. There's a lot of good-natured banter going on over there, Bardah doing the ring leading. His stack has slipped to about 14,000, and that's already got him craving action. He just tried to talk his table into a forced mini-straddle under the gun every hand. Everyone at the table agreed except for one gentleman, so the action was off.
Bardah saw us lurking. "What up, PokerNews? I just tried to get the table to straddle every hand. There was only one holdout. The guy in Seat 3 who's stuck as balls like me."
We arrived at Todd Terry's table and found a pot brewing with a board reading . There was about 2,200 in the pot and action had been checked to Terry. He bet, but his opponent put in a check-raise to 4,000.
Terry thought it over for about a minute before putting in the rest of his stack, roughly 14,000 more. His opponent called and Terry quickly tabled for a set. His opponent held and was looking for a heart on the river to eliminate Terry.
The river brought the and Terry safely doubled through to about 36,000.
We had a chance to visit with friend of PokerNews Al Riccobono as he was involved in a pocket-padding pot at the tail end of the last level. Riccobono took a free flop with from the blinds, and he and his opponent check-checked through the flop. Riccobono check-called when his money hit the turn, and he took the betting lead with 1,000 more chips on the river. His opponent raised to 3,000, music to Riccobono's ears. He popped it back to 6,475, and his opponent reluctantly called.
"Nuts," Riccobono said, tabling his hand for all to see. Dragging that pot moves Al up to about 26,500 here in the early going.
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turn card fell and both checked, leading to the 
river card. The middle-position player bet 1,500 and Busse called, only to see his opponent turn over 
.
. Both checked and when the 
turn hit, Leah's opponent fired 700. Leah called and the 
hit the river. Both checked and Leah mucked his hand when his opponent tabled 
for a flush.
for a set. His opponent held 
and was looking for a heart on the river to eliminate Terry.
and Terry safely doubled through to about 36,000.
from the blinds, and he and his opponent check-checked through the 
