Action was between the blinds, with Traci Brown being in the small blind. They had created a pot of about 6,000 as the flop came down 
. Both players checked as the dealer burned and turned the 
. Brown attempted to seize the pot with a 2,000 bet but the big blind came along for the ride.
When the 
peeled off on the river, Brown checked, the big blind bet 3,500, and Brown folded. She is down to around 29,000.
With about 7,000 in the pot and the board reading 
, Stephen Kats bet a mere 1,700, quickly getting called by his lone opponent in the hand. Kats tabled 
for a straight and is now up to about 206,000.
Level: 12
Blinds: 600/1,200
Ante: 200
We just finished Level 11 here in Tunica. At 40 minutes apiece, that is a total of 440 minutes of play. Right now, we're down to 218 players, meaning we've lost 262 players. Averaging that out, you can see we've lost an average of .595 people per minute in this tournament. Obviously now that the blinds and antes are getting high, there have been more all-in pots than ever!
Action has slowed here in Tunica and catching hands does not come easy. In the meantime, here is a look at the players who're currently qualified to participate in the $1,000,000 National Championship Freeroll in May:
| Player | Qualified | Points | Rings | Cashed | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Anderson | Midwest Regional Champion | 500 | 1 | 1 | $525,449 |
| Chris Bell | Eastern Regional Champion | 500 | 1 | 1 | $358,295 |
| Chris Klodnicki | Eastern Regional Final Table | 475 | 0 | 2 | $253,757 |
| Gabe Patgorski | Midwest Regional Final Table | 375 | 0 | 1 | $324,770 |
| Bernard Lee | Midwest Regional Final Table | 320 | 0 | 2 | $242,950 |
| Ketan Pandya | Eastern Regional Final Table | 300 | 0 | 1 | $159,851 |
| Curt Kohlberg | Midwest Regional Final Table | 275 | 0 | 1 | $174,807 |
| Micah Raskin | Eastern Regional Final Table | 275 | 0 | 1 | $117,457 |
| Dave “Doc” Sands | Midwest Regional Final Table | 250 | 0 | 1 | $131,299 |
| Todd Terry | Eastern Regional Final Table | 250 | 0 | 1 | $87,808 |
| Shannon Shorr | Midwest Regional Final Table | 225 | 0 | 1 | $100,151 |
| Andy Frankenberger | Eastern Regional Final Table | 225 | 0 | 1 | $66,758 |
| Charles “Woody” Moore | S. Indiana Main Event Champ | 207.5 | 1 | 6 | $144,530 |
| Matthew Waxman | Harrah’s AC Main Event Champ | 200 | 1 | 2 | $144,029 |
| Brandon Adams | Midwest Regional Final Table | 200 | 0 | 1 | $77,556 |
| Jason Burt | Eastern Regional Final Table | 200 | 0 | 1 | $51,607 |
| Anthony Hartmann | Midwest Regional Final Table | 175 | 0 | 1 | $60,952 |
| Nicholas Mitchell | Eastern Regional Final Table | 175 | 0 | 1 | $40,538 |
| Kurt Jewell | Hammond Main Event Champ | 157.5 | 1 | 4 | $254,844 |
| Mark Owens | Midwest Regional Final Table | 150 | 0 | 1 | $48,615 |
| Seth Fischer | Eastern Regional Final Table | 150 | 0 | 1 | $32,362 |
| Ian Wiley | Hammond Casino Champ | 132.5 | 1 | 4 | $64,360 |
| Stanley Quinn | Lake Tahoe Main Event Champ | 110 | 1 | 2 | $88,438 |
| Huy Nguyen | Choctaw Main Event Champ | 100 | 1 | 1 | $232,706 |
| Travis Lutes | IP Biloxi Main Event Champ | 100 | 1 | 1 | $95,253 |
| Blair Hinkle | Council Bluffs Main Event Champ | 100 | 1 | 1 | $88,555 |
| Jesus Cabrera | Harrah’s AC Casino Champ | 95 | 0 | 2 | $77,440 |
| Robert Georato | Council Bluffs Casino Champ | 95 | 1 | 4 | $30,118 |
| Bobbie Talbot | IP Biloxi Casino Champ | 87.5 | 0 | 3 | $47,764 |
| Kevin Manley | S. Indiana Casino Champ | 87.5 | 1 | 2 | $25,498 |
| Andrew Barber | Lake Tahoe Casino Champ | 77.5 | 0 | 3 | $19,527 |
| Traci Brown | Choctaw Casino Champ | 75 | 0 | 1 | $143,426 |
We arrived at he table just as his opponent folded, but we were able to gather that Tommy Vedes bluffed with 
on a 
board and as a result, is up to about 93,000.
The remaining players are on a 10-minute break.
Level: 13
Blinds: 700/1,400
Ante: 200
As we've previously mentioned, there were nine WSOPC ring events leading up to today's Main Event. One of those tournaments was Event #17: $555 No Limit Hold'em Six Handed back on February 4, 2011. The event drew 213 entries and created a prize pool of $103,305. In the end, it was 26-year old IT consultant James "Tripp" Kirk who walked away with the $25,220 first-place prize.
While he goes by "Tripp", his real name is James T. Kirk, the same name as the famous Star Trek character, Captain James T. Kirk. "Very few people know me by my real name, but my friends give me a hard time about it," Kirk said.
Kirk is still alive in today's Main Event, albeit with a small stack of 24,000. We'll just have to wait and see if he can live long and prosper.
We're not sure how it happened, but everybody's favorite Gus Hansen lookalike has been eliminated from the tournament. Yes, we're talking about Joel Merwick.
