The race for the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Casino Champion is undetermined, but will likely come down between Jacob Naquin and Dominic Gabaldon, both of whom have had success in the preliminary events. Whoever captures that title, along with the eventual winner of the Main Event, will automatically qualify for the Second Annual $1 Million National Championship. Here's a look at the players who have qualified:
On the first hand back from break Andrew Nguyen opened for 50,000 on the button and Michael Hallen called from the big blind. The flop came , Hallen checked and Nguyen bet 68,000. Hallen called to see the come on the turn and checked again. Nguyen bet 145,000 and Hallen called after some thought. The river brought the and bother players checked.
Nguyen tabled and Hallen mucked, sending Nguyen the pot and pushing him over 1,000,000.
Shane Smith opened for 50,000 in the cutoff and Daniel Lowery popped it to 140,000 from the button. The blinds released and Smith called after some consideration. The flop came , Smith checked and Lowery cut out 160,000 to push into the middle.
Smith went deep into the tank, so deep that the rest of the field went on break while this hand continued to play out. Lowery kept an ice cold stare on Smith the whole time he was in the tank. After a good while Smith said, "If you've got ace-king you would have busted me," as he folded pocket queens face up.
Action folded around to Justin Truesdell in the small blind and he simply moved all in and put the pressure on short-stacked Blake “blakeb0921” Barousse. The latter made the call and tabled , which was ahead of Truesdell's .
Any excitement Barousse may have felt was short lived when the dealer put out the on the flop, giving Truesdell a pair of queens and the lead. Neither the turn nor river helped Barousse and he finished in 13th place for $12,535.
Just before the level up, Cory Brinkman became the latest elimination after his ran into Daniel Lowery's in an all-in preflop confrontation. The board ran out a clean and Brinkman became the fourth elimination in less than ten minutes; meanwhile, Lowery chipped up to 1.7 million.