button in SafariLevel: 1b
Blinds: 25/50
Ante: 0
2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Caesars Atlantic City
Main Event
Day: 1
Players Left 1 / 540
Filter
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
The players have taken their seats, the tournament director has made the announcements, and the cards are in the air. We will post a list of the notables shortly.
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
And that does it for Day 1a here at Caesars Atlantic City! After nine action packed levels, Benedetto Bianco, leads the pack. He amassed a gigantic stack of 174,600. He is clear of the field by 60,000, as Leo Walker is the next closest player 113,500.
We have a few familiar faces who be moving on to Day 2. This list includes Gary Bolden (107,100) Alex Queen (22,000), Micah Raskin (106,000), bracelet winner Mitch Schock (59,600), five time ring winner Mark "Pegasus" Smith (33,000) and Christopher Leong, who has already won two rings here at Atlantic City. He will have a tall mountain to climb to get his third, as he has just 12,000.
Not everyone was so lucky to survive the day though. We lost current points leader Rex Clinkscales early, as well as Ting Ho, Chris Reslock, Kyle Bowker, Roland Israelashvilli, and Matt Glantz, who busted in the last level of the flight. All of these players have the option to either come back tonight at 7 to play Day 1b, or come back tomorrow morning and register at the start of Day 2. They can only do one of those.
We are now taking a break for dinner, before cards are once again in the air at 7 PM local time, which is in just over a hour. We will see you then!
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
In one of the last hands of Day 1a, Francois Nabwangu had all but resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be surviving the flight after committing the last of his short stack with 
and finding he was up against an opponent's 
.
But the flop came 
to give Nabwangu one pair, then the 
turn gave him another. The river then brought the 
, and it looks like he'll be bagging up some chips here shortly and return to try to double again early tomorrow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
19,000
19,000
|
19,000 |
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
The tourney clock has been stopped with 10 minutes left in Level 9, and a draw of a card has determined there will be three more hands dealt before play is halted for this first Day 1 flight.
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
Play is rapidly winding down here in the first of today's two Day 1 flights. The short stacks are falling quickly, and Matt Glantz is among those who have been felted here near the end of Day 1a. He'll likely be back for Day 1b later, to be sure.
Meanwhile, we're starting to see a few players who have surged over the 100,000-chip mark, most notably Benedetto Bianco who appears at the moment to be leading all with nearly 150,000.
We'll be identifying the big stacks shortly once the bagging begins.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
146,000
146,000
|
146,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
"Wait, wait... you can get my bustout hand."
So said Travell Thomas just now as the dealer delivered cards around the table. Soon Loukas Michael was raising to 1,300 from early position, a player a couple of seats over was calling, and Thomas was reraising all in for his last 5,100 from the button.
That's when the big blind reraised again to 10,000, prompting an all-in shove from Michael. That knocked out the player to his left, but after a long spell in the tank the big blind called all in as well for his last 14,000 or so.
All three players had pocket pairs — 
for the big blind, 
for Michael, and 
for Thomas. The board then rolled out 
, and sure enough we'd seen Thomas's bustout hand.
Michael notches a couple of knockouts on that one, in fact, while chipping up close to 70,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
68,000
26,000
|
26,000 |
|
Busted |
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
There was 4,500 in the middle of a three handed pot that included Leo Walker, Alex Cordero, and one other player. The flop came down 
, and action checked to Walker, who fired out 3,000. The other player folded, but Cordero came along for the ride.
The turn was the , and this time, Cordero bet, announcing 2,200. Walker cut the chips out, delayed for a few seconds, then tossed them in. The river was the 
, and both players quickly checked.
Cordero turn over 
for queens and fives, and Walker flashed his hand, 
, before mucking it. Walker takes a tiny tumble to 83,000 after the hand, while Cordero is back up to 19,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
83,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
19,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
Level: 9a
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 75
Level 8
: 250/500, 50 ante
With just over one level left, we are starting to see some big stacks emerge. As of right now, the biggest stack appears to be that of Leo Walker. He has an assortment of towers and colors in his stacks, but by our best estimation, he has about 88,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
88,000
88,000
|
88,000 |
