Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship
Day 1 Started
2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's New Orleans
Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Harrah's New Orleans
Buy-in
$10,000
Prize Pool
$1,270,000
Entries
126
Level
25
Blinds
20,000 / 40,000
Ante
5,000
It's Bracelet Time
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Good afternoon and welcome to the Crescent City of New Orleans for the Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship, where the first 2013 World Series of Poker Gold bracelet will be won on American soil.
Today, we will see the WSOP-C's top point earners, Casino Champions, and Main Event winners try to capitalize on $10,000 of extra equity, as they play for free in this $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament. Joining the Circuit grinders will be some of the biggest names in poker, as the top 100 WSOP POY earners from the past two years are welcome to join the fun if they fork over the $10,000 entry fee.
There have already been several POY candidates spotted in NOLA, including Vanessa Selbst, Matt Glantz, Allen Bari, Rep Porter, David Baker, and Joe Tehan. At the start of the WSOP-C Harrah's New Orleans Main Event, the popular total floating around was 20 or so, but optimism has picked up in the last few days, and that number is now looking more like 30.
Of course a very large percentage - if not all - of the automatic qualifiers are expected to turn up today. They will be looking to turn their hard-earned grinding on the circuit into a WSOP gold bracelet, just like Ryan Eriquezzo did last year.
The cards will be in the air in roughly an hour, so be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all of your up-to-the-minute updates straight from the tournament floor.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal!
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
World Series of Poker Tournament Director Jack Effel has just welcomed the players to the National Championship and gave the traditional, "Shuffle up and deal."
The plan for the day is to play nine levels, which should get everyone out by midnight. Registration will remain open until the start of Day 2, which is Noon CST on Thursday, and Effel alluded to the fact that more players are expected to fly in today to take advantage of the late registration.
Bright and Early
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Several players have opted to turn up on time today, including bracelet winners Andy Frankenberger, Vanessa Selbst, Dan Heimiller, Rep Porter, Allen Bari, Brent Hanks, Eric Froehlich, and Dominik Nitsche.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
Nice Call by Sanders
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Pots tends to be on the smaller side in the first level of the day, but we just stumbled upon a decent one with 4,500 already in the pot and a board reading 
.
At-large qualifier Alex Bylicki, who earned 132.5 points this season after cashing eight times for $44,845 and winning a ring, had just bet 2,625 from the small blind and put the pressure on Michael Sanders, who was also an at-large qualifier with 182.5 points off nine cashes, a ring and $119,881 in earnings.
Sanders thought long and hard before tossing in a call, and he was glad he did as his 
bested the 
of Bylicki.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
35,000 | 5,000 |
|
|
24,000 | -6,000 |
Some More Familiar Faces
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Some Tweets from the National Championship
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
WSOP technically kicks off today with the $10k national championship in New Orleans. This is it, don't get scared now.May 22 2013Follow
And the summer begins... National Championship begins. GLGL all! #Back2Back4CircuitGrindersMay 22 2013Follow
1st day of my summer officially starts today with @wsop natl champ. It's gonna be a long fun summer full of new jewelryMay 22 2013Follow
Sam Panzica Turns 21 Just in the Nick of Time
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
To play at the World Series of Poker Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club stop you just need to be 18 years old with a valid ID. Here at Harrah’s New Orleans things are a bit different in that patrons must be 21 years old in order to play. With that said, imagine the anxiety felt by Sam Panzica, who was just 20 years old when he won the WSOP Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club Casino Championship back in February and earned a seat into the National Championship. Fortunately for Panzica, who was born on May 7, 1992, he celebrated his 21st birthday just 15 days ago.
“I am pretty excited for this event,” Panzica told PokerNews just prior to the National Championship. “It should be a lot of fun because a lot of my friends have already qualified for the event. It always a great tourney with a big first place and its a freeroll so that’s pretty nice too.”
Raised in Saline, Michigan, which is just outside of Ann Arbor, Panzica attended Central Michigan for his freshman year before moving back home and attending community college. While he played poker during that time, he’d learned the game before he was even out of middle school.
“I have been playing poker for a while. I started off in around seventh grade me and a bunch of my friends would have sit and gos at each other’s houses,” Panzica explained. “I probably started taking it a little more seriously at the end of high school and freshman year at college. Then Black Friday happened and I had to play a lot more live and move out of the country to play online.”
Panzica’s live options were limited due to his age, but he managed to find places to play.
“I have played a few times at Turning Stone where I have done really well,” he said. “I have also played a lot in Florida. I have also gone out of the country a few times including PCA and EPT San Remo, and I have playing a bit more online as of lately too.”
In order to play online Panzica had to leave his home in Michigan and move abroad, first going to Vancouver before heading south to Mexico. “The decision to move out of the country has been great so far,” Panzica said with a smile, “I really like going to different cities and meeting new people.”
Back in January, Panzica traveled to the WSOP Circuit Choctaw Durant stop and ended up winning his first ring after defeating 279 players in Event #12 $580 No-Limit Hold’em. A month later, he went to the Palm Beach Kennel Club stop and ended up winning the Casino Championship after a fourth-place finish in the 4365 H.O.R.S.E. event, runner-up in a $365 No-Limit Hold’em tournament and 21st in the $1,675 Main Event.
“I would have to say winning the ring meant more because first off it always feels a lot better to win,” Panzica said when asked which accomplishment meant more to him. “In the Palm Beach series I had a lot of deep runs but I could never get the win, which was kind of annoying. The ring is also cool because my parents thought that it was a really cool thing to win. I also won more money for the ring!”
While Panzica’s attention will be focused on today’s National Championship, he’s already said he’ll be headed straight to Vegas after it’s over where he’ll share a house with a bunch of friends. “I will pretty much be playing all the no-limit events,” he said. “I’m pretty excited to be able to play a live tourney everyday during the WSOP.”
"Well, That Sucked"
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
In a four-bet pot where the four-bettor back-raised after calling the original raise, three players, including Ryan Stevenson and Luke Graham, saw a flop of 
. Stevenson checked, Graham fired out 3,400, a player on the button called, and Stevenson check-raised to 9,125. Only Graham called.
The turn was the 
, the pair knuckled, and the 
completed the board. Stevenson led out for what looked like 6,100, and Graham moved all in for effectively 12,100. Stevenson nearly doubled over in pain when Graham pushed his stacks forward, and began questioning the most recent Main Event champion. Graham remained silent, not giving anything away at all.
Finally, Stevenson folded 
face up, and Graham tossed his cards into the muck.
"Well," Stevenson said a few minutes later. "That sucked."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
60,000 | 30,000 |
|
6,000 | -24,000 |