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Level: 11
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Horseshoe Council Bluffs
Main Event
Day: 1
Event Info
2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Event - Horseshoe Council Bluffs
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Prize Pool
$550,800
Total Entries
367
Level
32
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Players Left 1 / 367
Filter
Level 10
: 400/800, 100 ante
We picked up action from this hand on the river where Eddie Blumenthal made an all-in bet for 12,300 on a board that read 
, and after a couple minutes of deliberation, his opponent called. Blumenthal turned over ace high and his opponent 
.
The day is not done for Blumenthal however, as he reentered into Day 1b which is now into Level 4.
Level 10
: 400/800, 100 ante
Level 10
: 400/800, 100 ante
The WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Council Bluffs doesn’t attract big fields, but having the event toward the end of the schedule seems to play to assist with that as dozens of amateurs and pros chase points toward the season-ending National Championship.
PokerNews recently sat down with Andy Brock, the poker room manager at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs, to find out what it’s like when the WSOP Circuit comes to town.
PokerNews: Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Brock: I just started here at this property in July. Before then, I spent the majority of my time at Wynn Las Vegas. I was there from 2005-2011, then I went to bestbet Jacksonville. I was only there for 3-4 months when I got the call to come up here. It’s home. I’m originally from Omaha.
I moved to Vegas probably 10 years ago. I liked that, but got the call to Florida. Living on the beach and working that new room there was great, but when I got the call for poker room manager back home, it was pretty hard to turn down. Obviously I didn’t.
What sort of things do you do to prepare for the WSOP Circuit?
We started promoting right when I got here. I worked with tournament director Kevin Ferguson on getting the schedule, met with marketing who were great on getting the schedule on the website, Facebook and around town. We started to promote it in our local community, and of course the World Series marketing was great. We’re one of the last stops for point chasers, so I think that works in our favor. It’s been a long process.
The tournaments are actually held in the Whiskey Roadhouse, which is a cleared-out bar. It’s unique, but seems to work well.
Yeah. It’s spacious. Usually we have concerts here on the weekends, but it’s nice that we can steal it for two weeks. Last year, we heard some complaints that it was a little too cramped, so we actually removed five tables. We kind of gambled with some of our sizes and satellites, but we thought removing some tables would be better for the players.
How do the local players respond to the WSOP Circuit coming to town? Do they like it?
Absolutely. We have plenty of tournament players as we run two $235 Fat-Stack tournaments a month — the second Saturday and last Saturday of the month. We always get over 100 players for those, so they’re happy. We have a good group that play here locally, but also ones that travel the Circuit like Drazen Ilich and Brandon Fish. We’re happy they get to play in their home casino, maybe win some points and play in the National Championship.
How are the cash games during this time?
We’ve been running some great cash games. We had PLO going, which was a great game, a couple of $5/$10 no-limit, $2/$5 no-limit games. When I got here, we made a big change based upon players’ request: You can buy in for 75% of the biggest stack. We’ve had good reaction to that, and it’s made the games a lot more interesting. I encourage those who bust from a tournament to go on into the poker room and play some cash games.
Level 10
: 400/800, 100 ante
Level 10
: 400/800, 100 ante
Ari Engel, in the small blind and down to about 15 big blinds, three-bet to 4,400 after the button opened to 1,800. Scott Stanko made it 12,000 to go from the big blind, and the button mused about how he was too short to be on a steal before letting his hand go. Engel pushed the rest of his chips into the middle and the players showed their cards.
Engel: 
Stanko: 
Stanko's dominating position quickly disappeared on the flop: 
. The 
and 
brought him no help, and Engel doubled up to around 25,000.
Level: 10
Blinds: 400/800
Ante: 100
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
In the last hand before the break we caught Alex Masek raising preflop back and forth with his opponent. Masek reraised to 4,300, his opponent fired back 9,000, and Masek thought for a minute before making it 16,000. There was a quick "all-in" from his opponent and even a quicker "call" from Masek they both tabled their cards:
Masek: 
Opponent:
The board ran out small cards and Masek will start level 10 with 44,000 chips.
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
The players are breaking once again, and dealers are racing off the green T25 chips. More than 80 players have busted out, though they can still enter the Day 1b portion of the tournament if they choose.
Level 9
: 300/600, 75 ante
An under-the-gun player raised to 1,500, and Phil Mader made it 4,000 to go from late position. "This is going to be a big pot," said the under-the-gun player as he rubbed his temples before calling.
The players saw a flop of 
, and the first player checked. Mader continuation bet 5,000 and his opponent called. After seeing his opponent check a 
turn, Mader didn't slow down, firing 7,000. The player UTG folded, and Mader is near the century mark in chips.
Meanwhile, Jeff Heiberg is also hovering near 100,000 chips, and he and Mader appear to be among the chip leaders.
