Main Event
Day 1 Started
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Horseshoe Council Bluffs
Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Horseshoe Council Bluffs
Buy-in
$1,500
Prize Pool
$421,950
Entries
290
Level
29
Blinds
25,000 / 50,000
Ante
5,000
Poker in the Bluffs
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Good morning out there, and thanks for joining us. Today's live reporting comes to you from our nation's breadbasket, the border regions of Iowa and Nebraska in the middle of the midwest. The Horseshoe Council Bluffs is this week's WSOPC host city, and the first ten ring events have already been put in the books. Today is the big one, though.
The $1,500 Main Event is set to kick off at noon local time, just about 45 minutes from now. That's when we'll welcome the Day 1a crowd to the felt, and a second group will return at 7:00pm for the Day 1b flight. If a player is eliminated in the first flight, they can come back for another shot at the evening session.
This is the sixth consecutive year that the Circuit has come to Council Bluffs, and this is PokerNews third trip to the property. The last time we were here in 2009, the Main Event carried a $5,000 buy-in, and live multi-tabling amateur Jesse Hale final tabled two ring events in the same night. When the Main Event finalists bagged up after Day 2, Hale stuck around to do some work in the PLO side event, eventually finishing in third place. The next day, he bested that effort in a big way by taking down the Main Event in a commanding performance, earning himself six figures and a gold ring.
This time around, the buy-in is a more wallet-friendly $1,500, and we'd expect to see many more than the 67 players that Hale topped in 2009.
The players have just begun to find their way over here to the Whiskey Roadhouse where the bare wooden cocktail tables have been swapped out for rows and rows of pristine green felt.
Play is set to begin at noon.
Level: 1
Blinds: 25/50
Ante: 0
Cards Flying
Level 1
: 25/50, 0 ante
T.D. Charlie Ciresi has just run through the announcements and the rules for the players, and we're all set to go.
With about 100 players in their chairs, the Main Event is under way!
Familiar Faces
The seats are still filling in, and it looks like our crowd has grown close to 150 players. On our first pass through the room, we snagged an early list of notables.
Despite the holiday weekend — or perhaps because of it — a few familiar faces have found their way to Council Bluffs this weekend. Most notable among them is Dennis Phillips, the 2008 WSOP Main Event finalist. Phillips lives here in the midwest, and this stop was close enough to home to find a spot on his calendar. Also very notably here is Allen Kessler, the Chainsaw, who has just strolled in a few minutes late.
Chris Bell has made the trip over from North Carolina, while Bernard Lee came down from Boston to once again try his hand at this event that has treated him well historically. Lee finished in fourth place here in 2008, then bubbled the final table with a tenth-place showing two years later.
We also have a former member of the PokerNews family in the house — Garry Gates.
Last night, we saw Kevin Saul, Scott Clements, and Huy Nguyen playing cash in the Poker Room, and we'd expect to see that trio enter this Main Event, as well.
Also on the list are two of the finalists from the 2009 trip here, runner-up Dennis Meierotto and eighth-place finisher Jeff Bryan.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 |
Another Notable
We're not sure how we missed him the first time around.
One player in our field has done better than all the rest. Alexandru Masek is a four-time WSOPC gold ring winner, and he just narrowly missed out on a Main Event title earlier this year. He finished as the runner-up in Los Angeles, behind Freddy Deeb.
Masek is one of three men with four Circuit rings, tied with Chris Reslock and Men Nguyen. They three trail only Mark "Pegasus" Smith, whose five rings give him the all-time lead for now.
Masek may have something to say about that this week.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 |
Saul Straightens Out
We found Kevin Saul opening for 150 and the small blind called. The flop came 
, the small blind checked and Saul bet 200. The small blind called to see the 
turn. The small blind check-called 300 and the river brought the 
. The small blind checked a third time and Saul bet 1,200. After a short thought the small blind tossed in a call, followed shortly by his cards when Saul tabled 
for a straight.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
22,000 | 2,000 |
"I Don't Want to Play Big Pots Early"
Fresh off a final table appearance in Event #9 $1,000 NLHE yesterday, Bryan Moon announced before the hand, "I don't want to play any big pots early." That said, by the time the river card was dealt there was close to a 30,000 pot in the middle.
The board read 
and Moon bet out 1,250 on the river. His opponent was basically committed to call with all the chips in the middle. He tossed out a call and Moon tabled 
for two pair and his opponent mucked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 |
A Pair of Queens
The number on the board has ticked up to 181 players so far for Day 1a, and it appears that just two of them are ladies. We recognize one of them as Amanda Musumeci, the second-to-last lady standing in the 2011 WSOP Main Event. Musumeci finished in 62nd place in Vegas, and she's already made two WSOPC prelim final tables this year.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 |
Welcome, Wisconsin
We heard him before we saw him, as is usually the case. And it's not like he's a short man. Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon's booming laugh just rang out through the poker room, and we looked up just in time to catch him leaving the room. He'll be back, though. Kroon's buddy Gary "debo34" DeBernardi is in his seat, and the other half of Wisconsin's most dynamic duo should be back at some point this afternoon.
Masters bets to sweat, you know.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 |