2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's New Orleans
The eliminations are happening so fast that it's hard to keep up. Based upon empty seats, we can tell you the following players have hit the rail:
Scott Davies
Vincent Frederick
Shane Martin
Bronson Tucker
Clayton Bates
Amir Shahlai
A short-stacked player moved all in for just 1,500 with 
and was called by the 
of Maurice Hawkins. The 

flop have Hawkins a hammerlock on the hand, while the
turn and
river ensured the win. His opponent was sent to the rail while Hawkins collected the small pot. He is currently sitting on a stack of around 43,000.
After an open from the under the gun player to 2,600, Aaron Massey raised to 6,000 from the button. The player in the big blind called and the original raiser folded. The flop came
, the big blind asked for Massey's count and then checked. Massey checked behind and a
came on the turn. The big blind moved all in and Massey snap-called holding pocket aces. The big blind held
and hit his two-outer on the river when another jack fell.
Massey left the tournament area in a hurry.
Level: 12
Blinds: 700/1,400
Ante: 200
Action folded to the hijack and he opened for 2,300. The cutoff made the call and then the player on the button three-bet all in for 14,400. Last year's WSOP Circuit National Champion, Sam Barnhart, was in the small blind and opted to move all in over the top for around 30,000. The hijack and cutoff both folded and Barnhart discovered the bad news:
Barnhart | 

Button | 

It was a bit of a cooler and Barnhart was left with just 16,000 after the board ran out an uneventful 



.
Gene Dudek, who was this year's WSOP Circuit IP Biloxi Casino Champion, open-shoved for 14,000 from UTG+1 and was immediately called by "Captain" Tom Franklin. Action then folded around to the button and he moved all in over the top for around 65,000 more. Franklin had about 60K behind, but opted to fold his 
.
"You have the same hand?" Dudek asked the button. Sure enough, he tabled 
. Dudek turned up 
and buried his head in his hands, refusing to watch the flop. When he finally looked up, Dudek discovered the board read 



and he tripled to around 44,000.
We noticed that the seat of four-time ring winner Kurt Jewell was occupied by another player, which led us to believe he had been eliminated. Given that he started with a healthy 91,400, we went to the table to confirm and Will "Monkey" Souther informed us of Jewell's untimely demise.
According to Souther, Jewell opened the button with 
and the player in the small blind, who had been very active, three-bet with 
. Jewell put in a four-bet, the small blind shoved and Jewell snap-called off for around 58K. Despite flopping an open-ended straight draw, Jewell was unable to crack the pocket rockets and was eliminated from the Main Event.
Matthew Colvin opened for 3,000 and Michael Linster made it 12,000 to go. The blinds released and Colvin called. The flop came
, Colvin checked and Linster bet 6,200. Colvin check-raised to 14,000 - sending Linster deep into the tank. After a couple minutes Linster tossed his cards into the muck.
All-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Mark "Pegasus" Smith has had no luck here in the Big Easy. Yesterday he was eliminated early in the first level on Day 1a, inspiring him to exercise his re-entry option. While he managed to make it through to Day 2, he did so on a short stack.
Smith nursed that short stack for a few levels today, but recently committed his last 9,000 with 
after his opponent, who happened to hold 
, had opened for 4,000. Smith would find no help and his shot at a sixth gold ring has come to an end.