Caesars Indiana -- It was nearly 4 a.m. before play ended on day one of the WSOP Circuit championship event at Caesars Indiana. The cut-off was supposed to be 3 a.m., but with 20 players left at that point, everyone agreed to play down to 18 so they all could be in the money when play resumes at noon on the second and final day.
A field of 117 players signed up, creating a prize pool of $556,450, with the winner to get $180,290, a gold championship ring, and a seat in the $10,000 main event of this year's WSOP.
Chip leader for the final day will be Robert Cheung of Vancouver, British Columbia. Cheung has over $1 million in tournament cashes, most of it coming when he won a $1,500 no-limit event at the WSOP last year that paid $673,278. He also has a fourth in the Circuit championship event at Tahoe in 2006.
Earlier, Bernard Lee, the Boston Herald and ESPN writer who has his own poker radio show and finished second in yesterday's event, busted out soon after the dinner break. He had pocket queens in a classic match-up against A-K, and lost when an ace was the first card to flop. About four hours later, Dean Schultz, second in total Circuit cashes behind Doug "Rico" Carli, went out, and so did John Racener, who won a Circuit main event in Atlantic City. Kelley Kiser, who won the ladies championship here, busted out around midnight when her A-Q lost to a set of 10s.
Here are the starting chips for Day Two:
Robert Cheung 212,400
Jason Mann 164,200
Phil Sparta 162,600
Wilbur Futhey 95,700
Doug Carli 64,300
Giovanni Marcacci 57,000
John Ferguson 53,000
Dave Costain 51,600
Steve Merrifield 51,100
Tim Laws 49,200
Dale Poynter 48,200
James McKinney 46,700
Jason Glass 46,200
Benjamin Hock 45,000
Jerry Martin 44,200
Michael Iacovone 38,900
Beth Shak 23,500
Bill Johnson 13,800
For more information, please contact:
Max Shapiro -- WSOP Media Director at (323) 356-3303
Or visit our official website: www.worldseriesofpoker.com
World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack
Director of Poker Operations for Harrah’s Entertainment – Jack Effel
Caesars Indiana Poker Room Manager – Jimmie Allen
Caesars Indiana Tournament Director -- Chris Reason & Andy Cunningham