Huy Nguyen, a 25-year-old accountant from Norman, Oklahoma, claimed his second WSOP Circuit ring at Harrah’s St. Louis by outlasting 204 players to claim the Event #6 NLHE Six-Handed title and the accompanying $25,241 first-place prize. If you recall, Nguyen won his first ring in January when he beat 807 players at the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Choctaw, good for $232,706.
While this field was much smaller, it was no less impressive. Nguyen entered heads-up play against Jim Mink with a 2-1 chip advantage and eventually grew it to a 7-1 lead. In the last hand, Nguyen moved all-in with and Mink called with the . The board ran out and the rest is history.
WSOP Circuit St. Louis Ring Event #6 NLHE Six-Handed
It appears both La Sengphet and Joel Merwick, two contenders on the WSOP-Circuit National Leaderboard, have been eliminated from the tournament. On the other hand, we just spotted Shiva Dudani, who currently sits in fourth place on the said leaderboard, tucked away in a corner. He is sitting with a stack of about 40,000.
Tournament officials have asked the big stacks at each table to begin buying up the T25 chips in preparation for the upcoming break when they'll be raced off. In addition, this next break will be the one-hour dinner break.
A player in middle position raised to 1,600 and received calls from the cutoff and Greg Raymer on the button. When the flop fell , the middle-position player bet 2,500, the cutoff folded, and Raymer made the call.
Both players checked the turn and the middle-position player checked the river. Raymer fired out 6,000 and his opponent tank-called only to muck when the 2004 World Series of Poker Champion turned over for a flush. Ramer is up to 48,500.
The WSOP-C Harrah’s St. Louis stop had an early points leader in Hugh Jordan Drummond, who managed to notch a third-place finish in Event #1 and followed that up with a victory in Event #5. Between the two final tables, Drummond eliminated twelve opponents and amassed enough WSOP Circuit points to put him atop the casino-points leaderboard. An online poker pro from Vancouver, Canada, who is used to playing $100-$1,000 sit-and-go’s, Drummond outlasted 393 players to claim the $24,611 first-place prize. “I’m pretty elated,” he said after the win. “I never expected to win when I came out here.”
WSOP Circuit St. Louis Ring Event #5 No Limit Hold’em
Greg Raymer has been fairly quiet today, but that recently changed when he received a much-needed double. We're not sure how it unfolded, but Raymer held against the of his opponent on a board of . The former World Champ is up to 30,000.
With about 7,000 in the pot and a flop of , Sam Barnhart, winner of the Harrah's Tunica Main Event, moved all in for his last 10,050. A player in middle position made the call, but the player on the button proceeded to raise it to 25,000. The middle position player was not happy and laid down his hand. The isolation raise meant that Barnhart had to face only one opponent but could still triple.
Barnhart:
Button:
The turn delivered Barnhart his saving grace and put him in the lead; however, he still needed to avoid the board pairing before he was home safe. When the spiked on the river, Barnhart briefly closed his eyes in disappointment before shaking hands with his opponent.
On a side note, "Captian" Tom Franklin followed Barnhart out the door.
and Mink called with the 
. The board ran out 
and the rest is history.
, Grant Hinkles was all in for 21,500 and was covered by the player in the big blind.
on the river didn't change a thing and Hinkle doubled to 55,000.
, the middle-position player bet 2,500, the cutoff folded, and Raymer made the call.
turn and the middle-position player checked the 
river. Raymer fired out 6,000 and his opponent tank-called only to muck when the 2004 World Series of Poker Champion turned over 
for a flush. Ramer is up to 48,500.
against the 
. The former World Champ is up to 30,000.
spiked on the river, Barnhart briefly closed his eyes in disappointment before shaking hands with his opponent.