JOHN CHRISTIAN WINS HARRAH
New Orleans, LA (May 10, 2011) – The highly-successful World Series of Poker Circuit’s seventh season moved one step closer to winding down as cards flew into the air at Harrah’s New Orleans.

New Orleans is the fifteenth and final WSOP Circuit destination of a season which began in Iowa, nearly nine months ago.  Tens of thousands of players competed in 145 poker tournaments which have now been completed at 14 tour stops.  Now, with everything on the line and as many as 50 at-large spots still remaining in the first-ever WSOP National Championship, players from all over the country are flooding into New Orleans faster than the mighty Mississippi.

As was expected, turnout for the first of 11 gold ring events was heavy in anticipation of a busy two-week poker festival.  The first event, a $300 (+55) buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament (officially classified as Event #1) attracted 473 entries – a large number considering the Monday starting date.

The winner was John Christian, from Baton Rouge, LA.  He is a 27-year-old poker pro, from Baton Rouge, LA.  He had primarily played online up until recent events and is now transitioning back to live action.

“I was mostly a cash game player years ago,” Christian explained in a post-victory interview.  “I then started playing online and have been doing that with a lot of success in recent years.  But with the (recent shutdown of major poker sites in the U.S.), I now expect to play more live action.  I do not expect the transition to be that difficult.

No doubt, Christian’s win on the WSOP Circuit demonstrates his flexibility as a successful poker pro.  He has become a regular player inside the Harrah’s New Orleans poker room once again, commuting about an hour from his home located in Louisiana’s capital city.  Christian mostly played in cash games.  He estimates he’s played in only about five tournaments this entire year.

Christian officially collected $29,288 for first place, although he was involved in a four-way chop.  He was also presented with his first gold ring, the ultimate symbol of achievement awarded for winning a WSOP Circuit event.  With his victory, Christian joined John Holley (winner of Event #2, which also ended on this day) as early leaders in the race for Best-All Around Player in the WSOP Circuit National Championship rankings.

The total tournament prize pool amounted to $136,224.  The top 54 finishers collected prize money.  A complete list of all players that cashed in EVENT #1 can be found at here.. 
 
The tournament was played over two consecutive days.  After most of the starting field was eliminated on Day One, 27 survivors returned for Day Two action.

Final table play began with ten players on a Tuesday afternoon in the main stage of the special events center at Harrah’s New Orleans.  From the start, it seemed this was Adam Lippert’s tournament to lose.  The longtime poker pro from Brooklyn, NY who is a regular fixture in many East Coast poker rooms arrived in the finale with about a quarter of the total chips in play.  Combined with his experience, many believed this would be Lippert’s first WSOP Circuit win.

But it wasn’t to be.  Lippert lost just about every conceivable coin flip situation and gradually bled away most of his chips to the point where he was short-stacked with half the pack remaining.  There was not much Lippert could do, losing monster-sized pots with A-K against pocket queens (twice) and losing other times with middle-sized pairs to ace/face card combinations.  In the end, Lippert was part of the chip and settled for a second-place payout.   

When play began, the finalists and their starting chip counts were as follows:

Seat 1:  Andy Phillips (Palm Coast, FL) – 898,000 in chips 
Seat 2:  Brett Tortarich (New Orleans, LA) – 360,000 in chips
Seat 3:  Doug Cox (Northport, AL) – 180,000 in chips
Seat 4:  Paul Vo (Austin, TX) – 118,000 in chips
Seat 5:  Sam Ansley (Colleyville, TX) – 460,000 in chips 
Seat 6:  Clint Schafer (Baton Rouge, LA) – 318,000 in chips 
Seat 7:  Adam “Lippy” Lippert (Brooklyn, NY) – 1,360,000 in chips
Seat 8:  John Christian (Baton Rouge, LA) – 500,000 in chips
Seat 9:  Kyle Cartwright (Bartlett, TN) – 545,000 in chips

Final table play began at 7 pm.  Play ended at about 11 pm – making the total duration about four hours.  The official order of finish was as follows:

Ninth Place:  Paul Vo went out after only about 15 minutes of play.  He is a 26-year-old part-time poker player from Austin, TX.

Eighth Place:  Clint Schafer, from Baton Rouge, who finished 32nd in the 2008 WSOP Main Event (good for nearly $200,000) and finished as the runner up in the 2007 WSOP Circuit Main Event Championship at Harrah’s New Orleans (good for nearly $300,000) was the eighth-place finisher.

Seventh Place:  Sam Ansley, a 60-year-old retiree from Colleyville, TX finished in seventh place.

Sixth Place:  Doug Cox, a 46-year-old database manager from Northport, AL took sixth place.

Fifth Place:  Kyle Cartwright, a 23-year-old poker pro from Bartlett, TN ended up in fifth place.  Cartwright has enjoyed a monster year on the WSOP Circuit.  He has won three gold rings – two in Tunica and one in St. Louis.  His victory at Harrah’s St. Louis was in the Main Event.  Cartwright’s bid to become one of only three players to win four gold rings fell just short in this tournament.  Nevertheless, Cartwright has already qualified for a seat in the National Championship, by virtue of his championship win in St. Louis.

Fourth Place:  Brett Tortorich, a 23-year-old architect for the U.S. Navy took fourth place.  This was his first time to cash in a WSOP Circuit event.
 
Third Place:  Third place went to Andy Phillips, who is self-employed and lives in Palm Coast, FL.  He is a recent graduate of the University of South Florida.  Interestingly, Phillips was celebrating his birthday on this day.  He didn’t win the top prize, but still opened a very nice gift totaling $13,228 in prize money.

Second Place:  Adam “Lippy” Lippert was the official runner up.  The Brooklyn poker pro came close to winning what would have been a second WSOP Circuit gold ring in this competition.  He won his first title in 2007 at Caesars Indiana.  Lippert added $18,108 to his poker bankroll for second place.  He now has more than $800,000 in live career tournament earnings, including several major victories and high finishes.

First Place:  John Christian, a poker pro from Baton Rouge, LA became the latest WSOP Circuit champion.  He earned his first WSOP Circuit gold ring with an impressive win at Harrah’s New Orleans.  First place paid $27,248.

Christian is the current leader in points for Best All-Around Player for the Harrah’s New Orleans series.  The player who accumulates the most overall points in the ten gold ring tournaments receives a pre-paid entry into the $1 million 2010-2011 WSOP Circuit National Championship, to be held at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, next month.  At least 11 players from Harrah’s New Orleans will qualify for the nationally-televised WSOP gold bracelet event.

A FULL SCHEDULE of remaining events at Harrah’s New Orleans can be found at here.