Vornicu Pulls Out to Big Chip Lead as 62 Players Advance to Day 2
The World Series of Poker Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship kicked off on Wednesday as 126 players took to the felt at Harrah’s New Orleans for their shot at the first WSOP bracelet to ever be awarded on American soil outside of Las Vegas. After nine one-hour levels of play, just 62 survived with Harrah’s Rincon Casino Champion Valentin Vornicu and his stack of 203,200 leading the way.
Vornicu steadily built his stack throughout the day and added to it late at night when he eliminated WSOP bracelet winner Nick Jivkov. It happened in Level 9 (500/1,000/100) when Vornicu led out for 3,500 on a flop of 
and Jivkov raised to 8,600. Vornicu then moved all in and Jivkov tank-called off for 35,000 or so holding the 
. Much to his dismay Vornicu rolled over the 
. The 
turned, giving Jivkov a flush draw, but the 
completed the board, giving Jivkov quads. With that, Vornicu extended his chip lead and never looked back.
Remember, there were only three ways to get a seat into the prestigious tournament—1. Either win a WSOP Circuit Main Event or Casino Championship; 2. Earn enough points to finish in the top 60 on the National Leaderboard; or 3. Be amongst the top 100 on the WSOP Player of the Year List and buy in for $10,000. Day 1 was comprised of all the Main Event and Casino Champion winners, 62 at-large qualifiers and 26 players who forked over $10,000 to buy in. Registration is open up to the start of Day 2, so the last number will certainly change.
The day started off slow and it took three levels before the first elimination to occurred. It happened when Brandon Fish, the Harrah’s Atlantic City Casino Champion, three-bet jammed with the 
only to be called by Ping Liu, who had opened with the 
. Liu’s hand held and Fish became the first casualty, though he was soon followed out the door by River Rock Main Event champ John Crncic and at-large qualifiers Charles “Woody” Moore and Michael Jukich.
One of the most feared players in the world, Vanessa Selbst’s National Championship experience came to an end at the tail end of Level 4 (100/200/25). With 3,000 in the pot and a flop of 
, at-large qualifier Josh Reichard checked and Selbst bet 1,500. Reichard woke up with a check-raise to 3,500 and then moved all in after Selbst had three-bet to 6,000. Selbst called off for approximately 15,000 holding 
, but it was no good as Reichard had flopped a set with the 
.
Selbst was up out of her seat even before the dealer turned the 
. When the 
completed the board on the river, giving Reichard quad fours for the second time in the National Championship, Selbst gathered her things, wished her opponents luck and then exited the Harrah's New Orleans theater.
Many more would join Selbst on the rail as the day progress including five-time ring winner and IP Biloxi champ Kyle Cartwright; at-large qualifier Aaron Massey; Horseshoe Hammond Casino Champion Mike Leah; two-time bracelet winner Eric Froehlich; six-time ring winner Alex Masek; and all-time WSOP Circuit ring leader Chris Reslock.
While many fell plenty of notables managed to punch their ticket to Day 2 including at-large qualifier Jarod Ludemann (128,100), “Professional Best Friend” Jeff Gross (117,100), National Points leader Ari Engel (113,800), October Niner Jeremy Ausmus (109,200), Harrah’s Philadelphia Main Event Champion Rex Clinkscales (80,200), WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche (72,000), 2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up Jessie Sylvia (57,600), three-time ring winner Nancy Birnbaum (37,200) and last year’s National Championship sixth-place finisher David “ODB” Baker (19,900), just to name a few.
Day 2 will kick off at Noon CST as the remaining field looks to play down to the final table of eight. Once registration is closed at the start of play, the prize pool and payout information will be released. Be sure to check back then for that information as well as all the action from the Southern Comfort 100 Proof National Championship!