The Harrah's New Orleans Bayou Poker Challenge WSOP Circuit Championship resumed on
day two with 69 players who survived day one. Several short stacks had to get into
the action early and were hitting the rail before their chairs got warm. The first
notable player to depart was Chef Paul Prudhomme, who is a regular here in New
Orleans. He plays every year but has yet to cash. The next notable to leave was
the WSOP Circuit's most decorated player, Doug 'Rico' Carli. Doug has 34 cashes, 19
final table appearances, (four in the championship event) and two preliminary event
wins in WSOP Circuit events, but was unable to improve on those numbers today,
departing well short of the money.
Jimmy Ngoc Tran, Joseph 'JoeyTheB' Brooks, Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler, and Tim Vance
(EPT Copenhagen winner) were among the 25 players busted during the first level of
play.
Beverly Cheney was the last woman sitting in this event. Her stack was crippled
when she got all in with pocket Kings against a player holding Ace-Jack. The flop
was three Jacks giving her opponent quads. Beverly was eliminated soon after in
33rd place, just six shy of the money.
Day 1 co-chip leader David Fox, who finished third in this event last year, was
busted in 30th place, just three short of a payday.
The money bubble burst a few minutes after 5pm. Eighteen more players had to go
before day two would end. Among those were Jonathan 'FieryJustice' Little, who has
been tearing up the tournament trail for the last couple of years, earning a WPT
title and almost $2.5 million. Jonathan had to settle for 18th place. The final
table was set just before midnight with the departure of Fatolla Shahen in 10th
place.
The big story for this final table is the return of Lou 'The Big Easy' Esposito. He
won this event last spring; he finished 9th in the winter circuit event here last
December, and tomorrow he will appear at his third consecutive championship final
table! There are also two WPT final-tablists still in the hunt. Gabe Costner
finished 5th in the WPT World Poker Open in January of this year and Charles Kelley
finished second in the WPT 2007 Borgata Poker Open.
Final Table action will get underway at 2pm central time Wednesday and will be
covered LIVE right here on PokerPages.com. | 
