Jeff Banghart of Nebraska Leads Field in
Championship Event at End of Day One
Jeff Banghart of Bennington, Nebraska, with 86,800 chips, was the leader as day one of the WSOP Circuit at Horseshoe Casino Coucil Bluffs ended with 42 players remaining. With 1,420,000 chips in play, the average stack was 33,810.
The championship event attracted 142 players who generated a prize pool of $677,700 that would pay 18 places. In all, the eight Circuit events brought in 2,089 players and a total prize pool of $1,629,494. This first Circuit event series at Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs has proved to be a great success, bringing in enough players and spectators to increase table game and poker room drops by about 35 percent.
Each player in this final event was given 10,000 chips, playing 75-minute rounds, starting with blinds of 25-50.. The three biggest names who flew in for this championship event were Phil Gordon, Chris Ferguson" and T.J. Cloutier. T.J. did not make it past the first level, and the other two were also gone midway through the first day. T.J. went out when he moved in with A-K into a safe-looking board and got nailed by pocket queens.
Then, not long after the dinner break, Ferguson and Gordon went out bang-bang, one right after the other. Earlier, Gordon was left with about 3,000 chips when he called an all-in bet with pocket kings and his opponent, with A-K, flopped an ace. Now, he was all in with 10s-7s against Everett Carlton, who finished third the night before, and now held Ac-Qc. The flop paired Gordon's 7, but also Carlton's queen, and Gordon was through. He was still taking his farewell bows when Ferguson followed him out. Holding Ac-10c, Ferguson made trip 10s when the board came 10-7-3-2-10, but another player, with pocket 7s, had made a full house.
Meanwhile, also in early going, the amiable Ed Corrado, a familiar face on the Circuit trail who has made five final tables in the past two years, went broke. His pocket 8s were no match for pocket queens.
When the final round of the night started at 10 p.m., only 52 of the 142 starters were still in action, and by the end of the round, 10 more were gone.
Play will resume at noon tomorrow and continue until the final nine are left.
Here are the remaining players listed by chip count:
| Player | City | Chips | Table | Seat |
| Jeff Banghart | Bennington, NE | 86,800 | 29 | 7 |
| Sam Von Duhn | Chicago, IL | 69,600 | 23 | 3 |
| Alan Cutler | Chicago, IL | 68,200 | 29 | 4 |
| James English | Tamarac, FL | 65,400 | 19 | 6 |
| Matt Infranca | Blue Springs, MO | 65,100 | 19 | 1 |
| Krista Gifford | Chicago, IL | 61,200 | 19 | 2 |
| Everett Carlton | St. Paul, MN | 56,500 | 19 | 3 |
| Ryan Fisler | Waterloo, Ontario | 55,100 | 27 | 6 |
| Erik Albertson | Omaha, NE | 54,500 | 27 | 5 |
| Ken Felchuk | Winfield, KS | 51,500 | 27 | 9 |
| Shannan Roberts | Kansas City, KS | 48,600 | 27 | 3 |
| Kosta Sengos | Sioux Falls, SD | 41,300 | 21 | 9 |
| Deb Blair | Tucson, AZ | 37,900 | 29 | 8 |
| Larry Vance | Torrance, CA | 35,800 | 27 | 7 |
| David Wintroub | Omaha, NE | 35,100 | 19 | 7 |
| Doug 'Rico' Carli | Alliance, OH | 34,300 | 21 | 7 |
| Kevin Ratliff | Chicago, IL | 31,500 | 23 | 8 |
| John Kincaid | Omaha, NE | 30,500 | 19 | 8 |
| Bob Slezak | Omaha, NE | 30,000 | 27 | 4 |
| Tony Panos | Lawrence, KS | 29,700 | 27 | 1 |
| Sean Johnson | Chamberlain, SD | 29,600 | 27 | 2 |
| Matt Streeter | Lincoln, NE | 29,400 | 19 | 4 |
| Stan Schrier | Las Vegas, NV | 25,200 | 19 | 9 |
| Dennis Otto | Corpus Cristi, TX | 24,900 | 23 | 6 |
| Chris Hunt | Aurora, NE | 24,800 | 21 | 1 |
| Brian Gabrielle | Moosomin, Can. | 24,700 | 21 | 2 |
| Ray Flavin | Woodstock, IL | 22,700 | 23 | 7 |
| Warren Campbell | Omaha, NE | 20,600 | 23 | 9 |
| John Sanna | Madison, WI | 20,400 | 27 | 8 |
| Jeff Bryan | Fort Calhoun, NE | 19,300 | 21 | 3 |
| Danny Ciaramella | Pittsburgh, PA | 18,700 | 29 | 9 |
| Tony Hartmann | Minneapolis, MN | 18,700 | 29 | 5 |
| Tyler Meierotto | Kansas City, MO | 17,900 | 29 | 2 |
| David Dicken | Waterloo, IA | 17,500 | 29 | 3 |
| Thadd Wolff | Omaha, NE | 17,300 | 21 | 6 |
| Linda Hackney | Durand, MI | 17,200 | 29 | 1 |
| Yoon Soo Kim | Milwaukee, WI | 16,200 | 21 | 4 |
| Lee Borrall | Brooklyn, WI | 13,800 | 29 | 6 |
| James Jewett | Boise, ID | 13,500 | 21 | 8 |
| Paul Kraus | Los Angeles, CA | 13,200 | 23 | 1 |
| Ryan Hartmann | Minneapolis, MN | 12,900 | 23 | 4 |
| Brett Richey | New York, NY | 12,300 | 23 | 2 |
PAYOUT SCHEDULE
1. $219,576
2. $115,209
3. $67,770
4. $54,216
5. $40,662
6. $33,885
7 $27,108
8. $20,331
9. $13,554
10.$10,843
11.$10,843
12.$10,843
13.$9,488
14.$9,488
15.$9,488
16.$8,132
17.$8,132
18.$8,132
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