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Allie Prescott joined the tournament just a few moments ago. He donated his 20,000 starting stack in a span of two hands. He got up to leave, looked at his friends and said, "Let's go to the bar."
Huy Nguyen has been fighting an uphill battle all day. First, he was eliminated from the Day 1a flight and opted to re-enter here on 1b. Then, he was knocked down early and has been struggling to claw his way back into contention ever since.
In a recent hand, Nguyen opened for 1,250 from early position and received calls from a middle-position player and the hijack. All three players proceeded to check down each street as the board ran out 
, prompting the MP player to reveal 
for the winner. Despite losing that pot, Nguyen has chipped up to 15,000, which is almost double from when we checked on him last.
The board reads that 153 players remain of the 228 that signed up for this evening flight.
To continue on our story of the Harrah's New Orleans stop thus far, we present to you a look at Event #7 $355 NLHE featuring an excerpt from Nolan Dalla's patented WSOP recap:
The winner was Jimmy Calcagno, a 23-year-old part-time poker player from San Antonio, TX. On the same night when his beloved NBA Spurs took an early lead in the West Conference Semi-Finals, Calcagno won his first WSOP gold ring. It was also the first time Calcagno had cashed in a WSOP-related event. First place paid $25,287.
Calcagno was proudly decked out in a Tim Duncan jersey. While his team, the Spurs were dominating the hardwood, Calcagno pretty much dominated the green felt. He arrived at the final table with an average stack size, and then played his best poker for the final five hours en route to an exciting victory.
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $300+$55 | 395 | $118,500 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Calcagno | San Antonio, TX | $25,287 |
| 2 | Joshua Schon | Colleyville, TX | $15,626 |
| 3 | George Bursavich | Baton Rouge, LA | $11,418 |
| 4 | James Manning | Waco, TX | $8,478 |
| 5 | Raymond Luong | Tucker, GA | $6,393 |
| 6 | La Sengphet | Carrollton, TX | $4,893 |
| 7 | Josh Pender | Rockhill, SC | $3,800 |
| 8 | Raphael Latson | Pearland, TX | $2,993 |
| 9 | Soojung Kim | Ocean Springs, MS | $2,390 |
Thus far, Day 1b has attracted 227 entrants. Combined with the earlier flight's 434, that means 661 players have entered the tournament today. Registration is still open until the start of play tomorrow, so we expect that number will go up slightly.
Level: 8
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 75
We saw Will "Monkey" Souther stacking chips and he was kind enough to inform us what happened. According to him, action folded around to him on the button and he put in an "uncharacteristic" raise with 
. Monkey then told us how the player in the big blind was prone to shove, as in almost every hand.
Not surprisingly, the big blind shoved yet again. Monkey proceeded to give a speech before "taking one for the team" and making the call. The big blind showed the superior 
, but Monkey managed to flop a pair and flush draw. By the river, he had made the flush to send "old shovy" to the rail.
Four players created a pot of around 3,000 and took a flop of 
, which saw the small blind lead out for 2,125. The big blind flatted and then A.J. Jejelowo raised to 6,500 from the under-the-gun position. After a player in middle position folded, the small blind moved all in for around 32,000.
The big blind, who had around 19,000 behind, seemed interested but ultimately forced himself to fold, and Jejelowo was put to the test. He had 16,000 behind, meaning a call would put him at risk. Jejelowo counted down his stack, eyed his opponent and then released his hand.
Prior to the break, Michael "Great MJ" Cooper was eliminated at the hands of Brett Schwertley. It happened when the former ran into the latter's 
. The board provided to salvation and Cooper exited the tournament area.
Level: 7
Blinds: 200/400
Ante: 50
