The board shows 288 players registered so far, and that number is ticking upward by the minute. We've got a full house here in the Theater, and there is an overflow section outside the poker room. We packed a lunch and hiked over there to check on the crowd. There are eight tables set up over there, and we only spotted Matt Waxman and Jean "Prince" Gaspard in that section.
Gaspard is no stranger to success in this building. In 2009, he took down the Main Event here, back when the buyin was a bulkier $5,000. Gaspard bested Billy Kopp and Ken "Bama" Christopher in a three-way battle to take the top prize of more than $200,000 and the gold ring.
As we speak, another pair of ring winners has joined the field. Seneca Easley won the WSOP-C Main Event in Rincon a couple months ago, and "Captain" Tom Franklin just snagged his first ring a couple days ago right here in New Orleans.
Good morning and welcome to the final Main Event of the 2010-11 World Series of Poker Circuit season.
We are in New Orleans, Louisiana, a favorite amomg circuit regulars and well, just about everyone who gets the chance to come here. It will be a critical week for many as the next seven days will determine how the WSOP-C national leaderboard will shape up leading up to the WSOP-C National Championship to be held at Caesars in Las Vegas in less than two weeks time. You can check out the current standings here.
At the moment, just more than 250 are signed up to play and we expect that number to cross the 300 mark before registration closes. Many familiar faces will be here to play today. Among them are WSOP-C Chester Main Event winner Kenny Nguyen, Adam "Roothlus" Levy, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, Chris Tryba, Chad Brown, Ari Engel, and Tim Finne.
Play is expected to kick off about ten minutes from now, so be sure to keep it here at PokerNews throughout the day as we bring you all of the exciting action.
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