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Todd Wood opened to 68,000 from middle position, and Scott Zakheim three-bet shoved for 577,000 total. Wood gave it a look before mucking, and Zakheim moved to 722,000 with that little pot from the chip leader.
The race for Casino Champion is led right now by Brian Walsingham, who has 100 points. He's only cashed twice at this New Orleans WSOP Circuit stop, but both of those cashes have proved to be winners. First, Walsingham won Event #4: $355 No-Limit Hold'em that had 423 players. Second, Walsingham won Event #8: $1,085 No-Limit Hold'em with 356 entrants. Those two wins earned Walsingham $26,801 and $78,604, respectively.
Here's how the top five spots in the race for Casino Champion currently look.
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Walsingham | 100 |
| 2 | Lawrence Wayne | 75 |
| 3 | Walter Wright | 65 |
| 4 | Daniel Galindo | 60 |
| 5 | Tom Franklin | 55 |
Besides this Main Event, there are two more events on the schedule. Event #10 is a $355 No-Limt Hold'em event and Event #11 is the $10,000 Regional Championship. Both of those are ring events and could still affect the points race for Casino Champion. Even if Walsingham fails to win Casino Champion at this stop and earn an automatic bid, the 120 points he holds overall could be good enough alone to get him into the $1,000,000 National Championship at the end of the month.
Josh Evans still remains in the Main Event here and has already earned 15 points on this stop. With eight players currently remaining, he's guaranteed to add another 35 points to that, but we'll have to wait and see how far he can go.
Under the gun, Matt Waxman open-shoved for his last 157,000 lonely chips. Bobby Toye made the call next door, and the rest of the table folded out of the way to let Waxman battle heads-up for his tournament life. He needed some help:
Waxman: 
Toye: 
The 
flop was not at all a good one for the at-risk player, but the 
turn did give him one out to the chop. He needed to find the case six in the deck to stay alive, but the 
filled out the board to send him on his way.
It was another good run for Waxman here this week, but he'll have to settle for just one ring this Circuit season. This final table appearance is good for another $14,324 in the bank, and we're down to our final seven players.
We've hit the end of the level, and we need to color up those pesky orange T1,000 chips. The players have stepped off the stage for a 15-minute break, and we'll be back with a fresh batch of chip counts in just a moment.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,250,000 | -70,000 |
|
|
1,591,000 | 51,000 |
|
1,023,000 | -7,000 |
|
|
970,000 | -110,000 |
|
|
715,000 | -14,000 |
|
650,000 | -30,000 |
|
440,000 | -60,000 |
Level: 28
Blinds: 20,000/40,000
Ante: 5,000
From the hijack seat, Josh Evans raised to 95,000, and Todd Wood three-bet to 240,000 from the big blind. With the action back on Evans, he four-bet shoved all in for just less than a million total, and Wood could not call.
After that exchange, Wood is back to 2 million flat, while Evans advances to 1.24 million.
We've got a big pot!
First into the pot from the hijack, Todd Wood made it 85,000 to go, and Bobby Toye flatted from the big blind to go heads-up to the flop. It came 
, and Toye check-called a bet of 115,000. On the 
turn, he took the betting lead with 200,000 of his own chips. Wood called that bet, and he called another 350,000 after the 
river.
Toye tabled 
for top-top, and it was good. Wood mucked, dropping down to 1.22 million in the process. It's a big boost to Toye's stack, vaulting him into the chip lead with 2.25 million.
Jake Bazeley raised to 85,000 under the gun, and Jonathan Poche three-bet shoved for a healthy 595,000 total. "Bazeman" spent some time in the tank before making the call, and it proved to be the correct one as he was flipping with a chance at the knockout.
Showdown
Bazeley: 
Poche: 
The board ran out blanks, coming 
, and Poche isn't going anywhere right now. He's doubled back to 1.145 million, knocking Bazeley down to the short stack of 545,000.
Jonathan Poche raised to 85,000 in early position, and Todd Wood three-bet to 145,000 from the cutoff. Poche four-bet to 290,000, and Wood shoved all in over the top. That finally coaxed a fold from Poche, dropping back to about 900,000 while Wood climbs to 1.6 million.
