There's only a few minutes left in Level 8 and the just one more level before the Day 1a players bag and tag for evening. With the prospect of Day 2 looming many players have tightened up considerably.
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit - Harveys Lake Tahoe
Level: 9
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Well, well, well. It only took us eight-plus levels to find Matt Keikoan in the field, possibly because he's hiding over there next to Annie LePage.
Keikoan is one of the few poker millionaires in the room, not to mention a past champion of this event. He won WSOP bracelets in 2008 and 2010, filling in the middle year with a victory in the $5,000 WSOPC Main Event here in Lake Tahoe in 2009. All told, he's got more than $1.8 million in poker winnings.
And he's doing quite well here today; Keikoan has about 80,000 at the moment.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
80,000 | |
|
|
||
An incredible hand just occurred that gave us a new chipleader. Ron McMillen, Joe Mongkol-ua-aree and Adam Aronson all went to the flop of
and action checked all the way around. The turn brought the
, Aronson checked, Mongkol-ua-aree moved all in, McMillen called and then Aronson called as well. With three all ins the hands were turned face up.
Mongkol-ua-aree:

Aronson:

McMillen:

McMillen had both players covered and raked the giant pot after the
came on the river. Both Mongkol-ua-aree and Aronson were pretty shocked and both shook McMillen's hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
128,000 |
In middle position, Matt Keikoan opened to 1,800, and he found action in two places. The big blind would check and fold on the flop, and Keikoan continued out with 3,600 in the
. The gentleman in postion called the bet, and it was heads up to the
turn. Keikoan loaded again and fired another 7,600 into the pot. His opponent had about 28,000 total, and he eventually shoved them all in. Keikoan asked for the count, but he called as the dealer was still cutting down the stacks.
Showdown
Keikoan:

Opponent:

Mr. Opponent was drawing dead to two outs, and the river
was a blank. Dragging that knockout pot, Keikoan climbs his way past the century mark to about 110,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
110,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
That was the call from the dealer, and Table 36 is the table we've been watching all day. We hustled over there to see the seats of both Stan Quinn and Grant Hillman empty, and Sam Barnhart was stacking chips. We're not sure if the pair of 2010 finalists went out on the same hand or not, but they've both been eliminated, and Barnhart is up around 60,000 or so.
We've just hit the end of Level 9, and that's pretty much it for Day 1a. We're going to go grab a few chip counts, and we'll be back to wrap this thing up shortly.
Day 1a of the WSOPC Harveys Lake Tahoe Main Event saw 224 players taking to the felt. After nine levels of play the remaining 128 players bagged and tagged their chips to return for Day 2. In the end it was Ron McMillen leading the field with 143,400.
Close behind McMillen is Matt Keikoan with 120,000 and notables Sam Barnhart (80,400), JC Tran (26,400) and Gary DeBernardi (43,000) also remain in the field.
Notables that did not survive the day include: Mark "Pegasus" Smith, "The Captain" Tom Franklin, Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon, Joe Mongkol-ua-aree and Robert Castoire.
The surviving players will return alongside the Day 1b players for Day 2 at noon on Sunday. The Day 1b field will get underway at 7 p.m. PST. Be sure to follow all the WSOPC action live on Pokernews.com
The players have just begun taking their seats, and the Day 1b flight will be off and running in just a few minutes.
Level: 1
Blinds: 25/50
Ante: 0