Loni Harwood, winner of Event #4. Picture Courtesy of WSOP.com.
Once again, we'll defer to one of Nolan Dalla's excellent recaps to give you the 411 on preliminary Event #4 $345 NLHE:
Loni Harwood is emerging as one of the breakout stars of the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit season. The 22-year-old New Yorker just won her second gold ring, with the most recent prize coming at Harrah’s New Orleans.
Remarkably, Harwood has only attended two WSOP Circuit stops this season – and has triumphed at both. That makes her two for two. Harwood’s first victory took place at the Palm Beach Kennel Club (West Palm Beach, FL) in February. That $30,000 tournament win was historic, namely for the fact that for the first time in history, three women took each of the top three spots in a major poker tournament. At the time, one wondered whether Harwood would return to the tour sometime later and potentially match her previous victory.
Three months went by – with no sign of Harwood. Then, here at Harrah’s New Orleans she appeared from nowhere, entered the opening event, and managed to cash in 37th place – out of 945 entrants. Two days later, Harwood blitzed through a tough field stacked with WSOP Circuit regulars, many of whom are in New Orleans making one last drive to get points to qualify for seats in the National Championship. Displaying an attitude that made it seem victory was pre-destined Harwood took care of business, ultimately earning $23,090 for her success.
Last year, Harwood graduated from State University of New York-Albany with a degree in finance. She is uncertain about her future plans, but certainly plans to play more poker. She also plans to attend this year’s WSOP in Las Vegas. Harwood confided that she expects to get a “real” job at some point. But at least for now, she appears to be enjoying life and doing well quite in poker, particularly given her limited investment of time and money.
WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Event #4 No-Limit Hold’em
Seneca Easley, who if you recall used his option to re-enter this event after busting earlier in Day 1a, has just been eliminated for a second time. He swung by our desk and informed us his failed to hold against his opponent's . With his re-entry options exhausted, Easley's Main Event is officially over.
Meanwhile, Huy Nguyen has disappeared from his seat. With no chips there, we deduce he has been eliminated from the tournament.
At the end of April, Tripp Kirk punched his ticket to the National Championship after taking down the Harrah's St. Louis Main Event for $190,961 and his second gold ring. Kirk is in action today and holding his own. Most recently, Kirk eliminated a short-stacked opponent after the latter's failed to overcome Kirk's on a flop. Kirk isn't flush with chips, but he is holding steady with around 24,000.
Want to know more about this WSOP Circuit star? Check out PokerNews' interview with Kirk. The full interview can be viewed here, but we'll hook you with a little excerpt:
I am very fortunate to have an amazing wife who understands how much I love poker. Obviously, she enjoys the big scores like this, but she also had to suffer through the throwing of laptops on Sundays for a few years. Being that I do work full time, any free time I usually have, I try to squeeze in as much poker as possible, and without her support and understanding.
My entire family has been ridiculously supportive of my poker playing. My mom was skeptical at first, but she now understands what a passion I have for it now. Her and my dad have always been so supportive of everything I’ve done and poker is no different. I can’t express how amazing it felt to get text messages from my in-laws, cousins, sister and all my other friends within 10 minutes of winning the tournament. So happy I gave my mom a 10-minute lesson on how to get to PokerNews Live Reporting section on Monday morning before we started Day 3.
Matt Chang just leaped to the top of the counts after winning a three-way pot. He held pocket aces and was up against pocket eights and pocket sevens. The board ran dry and Chang's aces held, putting him within flirting distance of 90,000.
Our dogs have been barking having to trek back and forth between the tournament room and the auxiliary tables located outside the poker room. At long last we've got all our players in the tournament room.
We've encountered a small bug in our system today. Normally, we like to do chip count posts where players' names and counts will be displayed in the blog. It's not working properly today so all our counts are being entered in the chip counts page.
We're not sure of all the action, but we do know that former November Niner John Dolan just chipped up to 80K after an unknown player in middle position got his stack of 20,000 in the pot with on a board reading . Dolan snap-called and tabled for the nuts, and an inconsequential on the river saw Dolan take down the massive pot, making him one of the chip leaders here on Day 1a.
. With his re-entry options exhausted, Easley's Main Event is officially over.
failed to overcome Kirk's 
on a 
flop. Kirk isn't flush with chips, but he is holding steady with around 24,000.
on a board reading 
for the nuts, and an inconsequential 
on the river saw Dolan take down the massive pot, making him one of the chip leaders here on Day 1a.
