We're not sure of the details, but we can confirm that La Sengphet, last year's National Championship fourth-place finisher, has been eliminated from the WSOP-Circuit Hammond Main Event. Sengphet had some luck last night as she qualified for today's event in a satellite, but she never seemed to get much going in the early levels.
A woman who was in the under-the-gun position limped before Faraz Jaka raised to 475 from middle position. The player on the button called, as did Jake Toole in the small blind, and then the UTG woman woke up with a three-bet to 2,500. Jaka thought long and hard before announcing a raise and putting in 6,000, which cleared out the button and Tool, but the woman instantly moved all in for 26,500.
Jaka, who had 11,800 behind, folded just as quickly.
Faraz Jaka limped from under the gun and Jake Toole raised to 750 from late position. Jaka called and went heads up to the flop of . Both players checked and the came on the turn. Jaka check-called 1,075 and the river came . Jaka checked, Toole bet 2,400 and Jaka check-raised to 6,000.
Toole sat for a short while shuffling his chips before kicking his cards back to the dealer.
We didn't actually see the hand, but we do know that Circuit regular Chris Tryba ran pocket queens into the pocket aces of the most active player at the table. The hand resulted in Tryba's elimination, making him both a Day 1a and 1b casualty.
With 5,600 in the pot and a board reading , an early-position player checked to Madison, Wisconsin native Steve Verrett, who happily bet 3,200. His opponent thought for a solid minute before flicking his cards to the muck, allowing Verrett, affectionately known as "Low Chicago", so take down the pot without further resistance. Verrett is up to 23,500.
Yesterday, WSOP bracelet winner Robert Cheung made a deep Day 1a run, but was eliminated late in the evening. He returned today and exercised his re-entry option, but his luck didn't seem to change much. Cheung had been clinging to a short stack for the past couple levels, but he was unable to make it through Level 5.
On a flop of , and with 3,600 in the pot, Micah Raskin lead out for 3,000 only to be raised to 7,000 by his opponent in middle position. Raskin made the call, and both players proceeded to check down the turn and river. The MP player courteously revealed his , while Raskin tabled his inferior .