Harrah's Rincon WSOP Circuit Championship Event Begins
Peter Feldman is the chip leader after day one
Valley Center, CA (February 20, 2007) - For the third consecutive year, the World Series of Poker Circuit was hosted by the Harrah's Rincon Casino-Resort. Harrah's Rincon is located about 40 miles north of San Diego, nestled in a lush mountain valley. Jointly managed by the Rincon Tribal Council and Harrah's Entertainment, the 16-story luxury hotel and casino is one of southern California's most peaceful getaway destinations.
But the Rincon Poker Room has been far from peaceful this month. After ten days of preliminary events which awarded over a million dollars in prize money to more than 200 poker players from several states and five different countries, the $5,000 buy-in championship event began today with 181 entries. The size of the field created a total prize pool of $877,850. Eighteen players will receive prize money.
Former world poker champions Scotty'the Prince' Nguyen (1998), Chris'Jesus' Ferguson (2000) and Carlos'the Matador' Mortensen (2001) entered the main event. The tournament also attracted former WSOP gold bracelet winners Annie Duke, Layne Flack, Barry Greenstein, Gavin Griffin, Kathy Liebert, Max'the Italian Pirate' Pescatori, Robert Williamson III and Todd Witteles. Other notables in the field included Phil Gordon, Erik Lindgren, Gavin Smith, and James Van Alstyne. Several players qualified to play via satellite tournaments that were held the last two weeks at Harrah's Rincon.
World Series of Poker Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was on hand to welcome players and start the tournament. In his opening remarks, he noted that the WSOP is special because it attracts both professional and amateur players - and allows new stars to shine on poker's brightest stage. He also thanked several people at Harrah's Rincon for putting on yet another WSOP Circuit. Finally, Mr. Pollack encouraged players to attend other Circuit events and the World Series of Poker, which will take place in Las Vegas in June and July.
The Harrah's Rincon championship event will take place over three days. One-hundred forty-eight players busted out on day one, leaving 43 survivors to return to play on day two. The final nine will appear at the final table, to be played Thursday, February 22nd.
Day one ended with Peter Feldman as the chip leader. He currently has 128,700 in his stack and is trailed closely Joe Sebok (119,100) and Steve Diano (114,900). Mr. Feldman won last year's WSOP Circuit championship at Harrah's New Orleans. Should he hold on and win first place in this event, he would become the first player ever to win two WSOP Circuit championship events.
Name Hometown Chips Table Seat
Peter Feldman Harper Woods, MI 128,700 13 4
Joe Sebok San Francisco, CA 119,100 14 9
Steven Diano Las Vegas, NV 114,900 6 7
Erik Catelais Montreal (Canada) 95,700 13 3
Danny Wong Walnut, CA 84,900 15 6
Matthew Davidson Toronto (Canada) 84,300 7 2
Ron Faltinsky Monterey Park, CA 83,300 14 1
Matthew Graham Houston, TX 77,000 6 3
Gavin Smith Las Vegas, NV 69,100 14 5
Jerry Renfroe San Luis Obispo, CA 67,500 13 7
Gavin Griffin Orange County, CA 54,100 15 7
Charles Swope Escondido, CA 51,500 15 1
Steve Wong Hoofdorp(Netherlands)48,500 7 5
Yoon Kim Milwaukee, WI 45,100 13 9
Winn Roberton Las Vegas, NV 43,600 6 2
Juan C Alvarado McAllen, TX 43,200 13 5
Jeff Stoff Encinitas, CA 42,300 6 1
Matt Lombardo San Diego, CA 41,500 7 8
John H.Sullivan Templeton, CA 36,100 6 8
Thomas Hover Las Vegas, NV 36,000 7 1
Weikai Chang Albany, NY 35,900 14 7
Shane Schleger New York, NY 30,200 6 5
Todd "DanDruff" Witteles Las Vegas, 29,100 13 1
John Sandberg SJC, CA 24,500 15 9
Erick Lindgren Las Vegas, NV 24,400 6 6
Roberta DeLeon Surprise, NC 24,100 7 4
Barry Greenstein RPV, CA 23,300 15 5
Richard Clink Corona, CA 22,500 14 4
Scott Dlugos Rancho Sante Fe, CA 20,600 6 9
Maynard Lundstrum Marietta, GA 20,000 13 8
Christopher Bonita Winthrop, MA 19,400 7 9
Allen Kessler Huntington Valley, 19,200 15 8
Tim White Maricopa, CA 18,900 7 7
Glenn Uchibori Honolulu, HI 17,300 14 8
Jordan Smith College Station, TX 16,500 7 6
Vegard Nygaard Oslo (Norway) 16,400 14 6
Don Fryer Los Angeles, CA 15,600 13 6
Phil Plantier Poway. CA 13,700 6 4
Joseph Ochoa San Diego, CA 12,500 13 2
Derek Harrington Henderson, NV 10,800 15 2
Mack Lee San Jose, CA 10,800 14 3
Tim Anders Las Vegas, NV 10,300 7 3
Chris Ferguson Pacific Palisades,CA 7,500 14 2
Payouts are as follows:
1. $280,859
2. 147,364
3. 86,685
4. 69,348
5. 52,011
6. 43,343
7. 34,674
8. 26,005
9. 17,337
10. 13,870
11. 13,870
12. 13,870
13. 12,136
14. 12,136
15. 12,136
16. 10,402
17. 10,402
18. 10,402
by Nolan Dalla
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