ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – The World Series of Poker Circuit Events Eastern Regional Championship got underway Sunday at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City.
The second of four, nationally televised, $10,000 buy-in, No-Limit Hold’em Regional Events scheduled for the 2010/2011 WSOP Circuit season, the tournament attracted 136 entries, generating a total prize pool of $1,279,624.
While attendance did not exceed expectations for the event, much can be said for the elite class of poker talent that did travel to Atlantic City to compete in the last major tournament of 2010.
Poker’s best and brightest converged in the ballroom at Harrah’s Resort for the late morning-start tournament. 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener, Andy Bloch, Barry Shulman, Amnon Filippi, Chad Brown, Kathy Liebert, TJ Cloutier, Dwyte Pilgrim and David Baker were among many other notable pros who took their shot at the $358,295 first place prize and one of nine seats into the $1 million-dollar freeroll WSOP Circuit National Championship bracelet event to be held May 27-May 29, 2011 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
...And not to be forgotten of course, the diamond-encrusted, Circuit Event gold ring.
At the end of day one, WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst had far and away a commanding chip lead over the remaining 92 day one survivors. With 126,375 chips, the Yale Law student will begin day-two play with over 37,000 chips distancing her from her nearest opponent, Isaac Baron. Andy Frankenberger returns to an 84,850 chip stack while Kenny Hicks and Nick Mitchell round off the top five at around 80k each.
Other notables who survived day one include Sorrel Mizzi, Nick Schulman, Dwyte Pilgrim, Ted Lawson, TJ Cloutier, Amnon Filippi, Bernard Lee and Shannon Shorr.
World Series of Poker Tournament Director, Jack Effel addressed the crowd before making the announcement to shuffle up and deal, thanking those in attendance for supporting poker and the WSOP Circuit Events.
While those present had come to play in a highly competitive poker tournament, the event conjointly took on the air of an end-of-year gathering of mutually respected friends and colleagues. Indeed, the overall mood was light and even jovial at times, with many players expressing their pleasure with the efficiency of how well the tournament was run by Harrah’s Resort poker director, John Arthur and guest TD Effel.
The only groans and grumbles heard throughout the day were when Darren McFadden, Mario Manningham or other offensive personnel made critical fumbles, resulting in turnovers during the day’s NFL games displayed on screens around the ballroom.
Around 4pm, an impromptu change of schedule took place after Effel left the decision to the players whether to skip the day’s dinner break and play eight levels instead of the planned 11. After their rousing approval to make the change, it was decided that play would end shortly after 9pm. Indeed, today was all about the players.
Day two play will begin at noon. PokerNews will provide live updates throughout the day, which can be found on their site or at WSOP.com.
The nationally-televised event will be aired on VERSUS network in mid-2011.
The prize pool is as follows:
|
1
|
$358,295
|
|
2
|
$221,452
|
|
3
|
$159,851
|
|
4
|
$117,457
|
|
5
|
$87,808
|
|
6
|
$66,758
|
|
7
|
$51,607
|
|
8
|
$40,538
|
|
9
|
$32,362
|
|
10
|
$26,232
|
|
11
|
$26,232
|
|
12
|
$26,232
|
|
13
|
$21,600
|
|
14
|
$21,600
|
|
15
|
$21,600
|
See the complete Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Circuit schedule and previous results here. The WSOP Circuit at Harrah’s runs through December 22nd. You can find the complete 2010/2011WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.
Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City
777 Harrah’s Blvd
Atlantic City, NJ 08401
(609) 441-5165
Toll-Free: 1 (800) 645-6774