2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's New Orleans

Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info

2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's New Orleans

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
8k
Prize
$228,600
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,675
Prize Pool
$1,143,000
Entries
762
Level Info
Level
36
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000

Main Event

Day 1b Completed

Deevara Bags 466,000 to Take Chip Lead as 74 Advance from Day 1b

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Rahul Deevara
Rahul Deevara

The 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans Main Event continued on Sunday with Day 1b action. The tournament floor was packed as 446 players turned out for their shot at the last $1,675 Main Event of the season. After 16 levels of play, Rahul Deevara emerged as the Day 1b chip leader with 466,000, which is quite a bit more than the 313,000 of Day 1a chip leader Ben Mintz.

Combined with the 316 runners from Day 1a, the Day 1b field brought the total number of entries up to 762, which created a prize pool of $1,143,000 that will be distributed to the top 81 players with $228,600 and a seat into the National Championship reserved for first.

Deevara didn’t start making waves until Level 10 (400/800/100) when he hit the century mark in chips. Deevara got those chips after his {A-Clubs}{K-Diamonds} overcame the {q-Diamonds}{Q-Clubs} of an unknown and clearly upset opponent. It appeared to be a preflop confrontation, but whatever the case, the board read {3-Clubs}{10-Spades}{k-Hearts}{j-Diamonds}{5-Hearts} and Deevara took down a large pot.

From there, Deevara moved past the 200,000-chip threshold after winning a large pot off of WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Main Event champ Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul. It happened in Level 13 (700/1,400/200) when Deevara fired out 32,500 on a board of {2-Diamonds}{10-Clubs}{a-Clubs}{7-Diamonds}{8-Hearts} and Saul made a puking noise while calling. Deevara showed {10-Spades}{10-Hearts} for a set of tens and Saul sent his cards into the muck.

Speaking of Saul, he played in interesting hand earlier in the day in which he couldn’t tell the difference between a purple T500 chip and a gray T5,000 chip. It happened when there was approximately 5,000 in the pot and a board reading {q-Diamonds}{j-Diamonds}{a-Spades}. A player in middle position bet 1,700, Saul called from the cutoff and the {9-Diamonds} turned. This time the middle-position player checked and then moved all in for 8,900 after Saul bet 2,700. It wasn't much more to Saul, who had a mountain of chips, but he took his time. The other players at the table eyed him carefully until he eventually folded.

"I think I know what happened there," Circuit regular Kenny Milam said. "Did you think those were grays?"

Just like that the light bulb went off for Saul. "I thought he shoved for 35,000 or something," he said. Saul, who claimed to have folded ace-jack, seemed a little disappointed at first but soon let it go. "It's alright. The lighting in here is bad. You guys did the right thing by not saying anything during the hand."

To his credit, the lighting up on the stage wasn’t the greatest so it's an understandable mistake. Despite that minor setback, Saul advanced to Day 2 with a stack of 65,000.

Unfortunately not everyone was as fortunate as Deevara and Saul. Among those to hit the rail were Alek Masek, Andy Philachack, Valentin Vornicu, La Sengphet, Mark Bonsack, David Clark, Joe Tehan, Nancy Birnbaum, Rex Clinkscales, David “ODB” Baker, Preston Derden, Allen Kessler, Ray Henson and "Boston" Rob Mariano.

As many people know, the hit TV show Survivor has been entertaining viewers for 13 years and 26 seasons. One of the stars of that show was Mariano, who played four seasons in which he found love on the show (he married his wife Amber and has since had three daughters with her) and even won $1 million (he won Survivor: Redemption Island). Unfortunately "Boston" Rob couldn’t add a poker title to his résumé.

Mariano was eliminated in Level 14 (800/1,600/200) when a limped preflop pot saw action explode on an {a-}{10-}{9-} flop. Mariano got the last of his chips in the middle against Ashly Butler, who won a ring back in the IP Biloxi Event #5: $365 No-Limit Hold'em for $13,850, with the former holding {A-}{5-} and the latter {Q-Diamonds}{J-Spades}. Mariano got it in good, but a {K-} on the turn gave Butler the straight and a guaranteed win.

Mariano made a quiet exit from the tournament floor, but given the recent crossover between Survivor and poker (i.e. Amanda Kimmel's transition into the poker world and Daniel Negreanu's desire to "Outwit, Outplay and Outlast") it's probably not the last time we'll see “Boston” Rob on the tournament trail.

While many fell, a few notables managed to punch their ticket to Day 2 including Daniel Weinman (373,000), Claudia Crawford (313,000), Jonathan Taylor (210,000), Eric Mata (200,000), Rob Salaburu (171,500), Robert Cheung (148,000), Joseph McKeehen (130,000) and Joe Kuether (465,00)

While just 51 players advanced from Day 1a, 74 players advanced from Day 1b. All 125 of those players will return at 1200 CST on Sunday, so join us then from Harrah's New Orleans.

Tags: Rahul Deevara

Various End Of Day 1b Chip Counts

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Player Chips Progress
Rahul Deevara us
Rahul Deevara
466,000 46,000
Daniel Weinman us
Daniel Weinman
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 2X Winner
WPT 2X Winner
373,000 123,000
Claudia Crawford
Claudia Crawford
313,000 -22,000
Daniel Bishop us
Daniel Bishop
305,000
Eli Loewenthal us
Eli Loewenthal
273,000 -27,000
Ryan Riess us
Ryan Riess
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner
WPT 1X Winner
214,500 104,500
Jonathan Taylor us
Jonathan Taylor
210,000 129,000
Eric Mata
Eric Mata
200,000 200,000
Rob Salaburu us
Rob Salaburu
171,500 -8,500
Ryan Lenaghan us
Ryan Lenaghan
155,500 25,500
Robert Cheung ca
Robert Cheung
WSOP 1X Winner
148,000 58,000
Cord Garcia us
Cord Garcia
144,000 -11,000
Rogelio Salinas
Rogelio Salinas
140,500 140,500
Lee Abramson us
Lee Abramson
138,500
Joseph McKeehen us
Joseph McKeehen
WSOP 2X Winner
130,000
Pedro Rios us
Pedro Rios
121,000 -24,000
Ralph Massey us
Ralph Massey
111,000 16,000
Quan Nguyen us
Quan Nguyen
86,000 -16,000
Zal Irani us
Zal Irani
76,500 -11,500
Ashly Butler us
Ashly Butler
76,000 -19,000
Kevin Saul us
Kevin Saul
WPT 1X Winner
65,000 -15,000
Paul Sokoloff gb
Paul Sokoloff
50,500 10,500
Joe Kuether us
Joe Kuether
46,500 -500

Hammond Main Event Champ Downed

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

Josh Williams, who won the WSOP Circuit Hammond Main Event back in October, moved all in under the gun for his last 40,000 and AJ Atiqi looked him up from the button. The blinds both folded and the cards were turned up.

Atiqi: {A-Clubs}{Q-Clubs}
Williams: {A-Hearts}{Q-Diamonds}

Both players held the same, but as we know from Abraham Araya's elimination back in Level 6, that doesn't always mean it's going to be a chop.

The only way one player could win outright was to make a flush, and Atiqi looked like he just might do it on the {10-Diamonds}{k-Clubs}{3-Clubs} flop. All he needed was one more club, and while he wouldn't find it on the {4-Spades} turn, he would when the {J-Clubs} spiked on the river.

Player Chips Progress
AJ Atiqi
AJ Atiqi
100,000
Josh Williams us
Josh Williams
Busted

Tags: Josh WilliamsAJ Atiqi

Salaburu and Crawford Clash

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Rob Salaburu
Rob Salaburu

Claudia Crawford fired out 19,000 on a board of {7-Hearts}{3-Spades}{q-Hearts}{9-Hearts}{4-Hearts}, and Rob Salaburu raised to 61,000. Crawford tanked for a very long time, then finally folded.

"I was gettin' all your chips on the turn," she told him.

"What happened?" Salaburu shot at her.

"You got lucky," she fired back.

Salaburu chipped up to 180,000, while Crawford is still very healthy with 335,000.

"I got five hands to fold," Crawford announced.

Indeed, the remaining players will play five more hands then bag and tag for the evening.

Player Chips Progress
Claudia Crawford
Claudia Crawford
335,000 20,000
Rob Salaburu us
Rob Salaburu
180,000 100,000

Tags: Claudia CrawfordRob Salaburu

Saved by the Suicide King

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

Sandra Wong, the River Rock (Vancouver) Casino Champion, was all in and at risk preflop for around 60,000 holding {k-Spades}{k-Clubs} against an opponent with two aces.

The suicide king ({k-Hearts}) appeared in the window of the the flop, and it was followed by the {3-Clubs} and the {9-Spades}. The turn and river bricked {q-Diamonds}, {8-Clubs} respectively, and Wong doubled.

Player Chips Progress
Sandra Wong
Sandra Wong
120,000

Tags: Sandra Wong

"I Didn't Hate the Turn, but I Didn't Like the River"

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

A player in middle position opened for 4,800 and Kevin Saul called from the small blind. The {q-Diamonds}{k-Hearts}{j-Hearts} flop saw Saul lead out for 5,500, his opponent call and the dealer burn and turn the {7-Hearts}. Both players checked, as they did on the {J-Clubs} river, and Saul sighed before tabling the {A-Spades}{10-Spades} for a flopped straight.

It was good as his opponent mucked. "I didn't hate the turn but I didn't like the river," Saul lamented.

Player Chips Progress
Kevin Saul us
Kevin Saul
WPT 1X Winner
80,000 25,000

Tags: Kevin Saul

Lenaghan Busts One

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante

Ryan Lenaghan opened for a raise in middle position, a player in the blinds moved all in for 37,000, and Lenaghan tank-called.

Lenaghan: {a-Clubs}{10-Diamonds}
Opponent: {a-Spades}{8-Spades}

The board rolled out {q-Clubs}{5-Hearts}{3-Clubs}{9-Hearts}{5-Spades}, and the player was eliminated.

Player Chips Progress
Ryan Lenaghan us
Ryan Lenaghan
130,000 30,000

Tags: Ryan Lenaghan

Spite-Calling

Level 16 : 1,200/2,400, 400 ante
Claudia Crawford (Day 1a)
Claudia Crawford (Day 1a)

Just before the break, Claudia Crawford won a massive pot, and was kind enough to let us in on the details.

According to her, a player limped in from under the gun, Crawford called out of the small blind, and the player in the big blind checked. The dealer fanned {4-}{5-}{6-}, Crawford checked, the player in the big blind bet 7,000, and the limper raised to 15,000. Crawford check-raised to 30,000, the player in the big blind folded, and the under-the-gun limper moved all in for 58,600.

Crawford tanked long enough for the clock to be called on her. Shen then spite-called the player.

"I said 'F*** you, I call,'" she told us.

The player turned over two queens, Crawford showed two eights, and after the turn bricked off, a {7-} spiked on the river to give here a straight.

Crawford now sits with 315,000 chips.

Player Chips Progress
Claudia Crawford
Claudia Crawford
315,000 145,000

Tags: Claudia Crawford