Action folded to a player in the cutoff, who opened for 200. Bernard Lee called from the small blind wth , and both players proceeded to check the flop. When the hit the turn, Lee led out for 325, his opponent called, and the peeled off on the river.
Lee led out for 625, and much to his surprise, his opponent raised to 11,125, though it was by accident as the man had intended to toss out two purple T500 chips instead of the grey T5,000. Lee called with the third nuts and his flush bested the cutoff's . With that, Lee is up to 31,500.
We found the player on the button opening for 225 and Jacob Bazeley called from the big blind. The flop fell a scary and Bazeley check-called 300. The turn came , Bazeley bet 375 and the button called. The river produced the and Bazeley tossed out 5,000.
The button called with little thought and Bazeley turned up . His opponent tabled and the table and dealer alike stared at the board trying to figure out if the button had anything besides queen high. He didn't, the dealer mucked his cards and shipped the pot to Bazeley.
Leading up to today's Main Event, nine of the stop's 12 ring events have been completed. We thought it might be fun to take a look back at the final tables of these events, and show you just who has been fortunate enough to capture gold here in St. Louis.
Given we'll be playing nine levels in each starting flight and nine tournaments are in the books, we thought one look back per level would be fitting. So, without further adieu, here is the first . . .
There may be a poker tournament going on, but the big conversation so far today seems to be centered on a hockey game, notably tonight’s Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinal series between the second-seeded St. Louis Blues and the San Jose Sharks.
This is St. Louis, so obviously the Blues, who won the Central Division title this season for the first time since 1999-2000, is the team everyone is rooting for. They dropped Game 1 in double overtime, but came back to win the last three matches.
If they win tonight, the Blues will advance to the second round for the first time since the spring of 2002. “There will be no Game 5,” hometown hero Dennis Phillips said to us while sporting a St. Louis Blues jersey. Not only is he confident, Phillips informed us that he’ll be attending the game at the Scottstrade Center later this evening, which means he’ll only be playing this first flight.
The third-to-last stop of the 2011/2012 World Series of Poker Circuit has been taking place at Harrah’s St. Louis over the past week. Nine of the 12 rings events have already concluded, and there were some great storylines that developed along the way including the largest poker tournament in Missouri history, Event #4: $355 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry.
That event attracted 1,066 players and created a prize pool of $310,206. That number was up considerably from 843 entries the year prior, and saw Roy Riley defeat Javier Zarco in heads-up action. In the final hand, Zarco, a 27-year-old student from Madrid, Spain, studying in the U.S., moved all in with on an flop. Riley made the call with a pair of sevens and held as the appeared on the turn followed by the on the river.
Zarco finished as runner-up for $35,327, while Riley became the champ and took down the $57,139 top prize. “I have the perfect life right now,” the 26-year-old physical education teacher and star of NBC’s Ironman World Championship reality show said after his win. “This was a great victory.”
St. Louis is known as the “Gateway to the West”, symbolized by the world-famous Arch, but today it’ll serve as the gateway to WSOP glory as the $1,600 Main Event will host two starting flights. Last year, WSOP Circuit phenom Kyle Cartwright defeated a field of 449-players to capture his third gold ring and the $142,290 first-place prize.
Cartwright is back to defend his title, as are a plethora of other pros including Bernard Lee, AP Phahurat, La Sengphet, David Clark, Dennis Phillips, Sam Barnhart, Charles Moore and Mark “Pegasus” Smith. The Poker News Live Reporting Team is also here and will be bringing you all the live updates from yet another great event. Be back in about an forty for all the hands, eliminations, and action from the WSOP-Circuit St. Louis.
, and both players proceeded to check the 
flop. When the 
hit the turn, Lee led out for 325, his opponent called, and the 
peeled off on the river.
![[user196975]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and Bazeley check-called 300. The turn came 
, Bazeley bet 375 and the button called. The river produced the 
and Bazeley tossed out 5,000.
. His opponent tabled 
on an 
flop. Riley made the call with a pair of sevens and held as the 
on the river.