World Series of Poker Circuit Rincon Regional Championship Day 1: Eslami Topping the Board
Day 1 of the 2010-2011 World Series of Poker Circuit $10,000 Regional Championship – Rincon took place on Sunday. Ninety-one entrants came out to play, and after eight levels, about 60 remained. Leading the way is Ali Eslami with 128,500 in chips.
Even though the field was small, plenty of talent packed into the tournament room on the second floor of Harrah’s Rincon. Former WSOP Main Event champions Carlos Mortensen, Jerry Yang and Phil Hellmuth were all in action; Hellmuth showed up late, as usual. He battled some food poisoning for the first part of the day before finally making his way down to the tournament at the start of the second-to-last level. Along with them, Shannon Shorr, Matt Waxman, Adam Levy and Kathy Liebert were in the field.
Waxman, who won the WSOP Circuit Main Event at Caesars in Atlantic City, was eliminated by Anthony Brown. From under the gun, Waxman raised to 625. Action folded around to Brown in the big blind and he made the call to see the K♠8♣4♦ flop. Brown checked and Waxman bet 700. Brown made the call. The turn was the 10♠ and Brown checked again. Waxman bet 1,400 this time, and Brown made another call.
The 9♥ completed the board on the river and Brown checked. Waxman took a moment, looked back at his hand and then moved all in a moment later for 6,425. Brown tanked for a minute or two and then made the call. When he called, Waxman spun his hand into the muck. Brown showed the K♦J♠ and won the pot. He was up to 67,000 while Waxman hit the exit.
Full Tilt Poker was also fairly well represented in the field. Justin Smith, Joseph Cheong, Jordan Morgan and Eric Froehlich were a few of the Red Pros who showed up to play while Team Full Tilt member Erik Seidel was also in the mix.
Cheong, who made the 2010 WSOP Main Event final table as a famed member of the November Nine, didn’t make it through the day. In Level 7, Cheong had the last of his money in preflop with two nines. He was up against the pocket tens of Dylan Wilkerson. The board ran out 7♦5♥2♦7♥4♦ to send Cheong out the door.
Registration is still open throughout the night and into Monday. Players will be able to register through Level 9 of this Regional Championship event, which means one level of play on Monday’s Day 2. That should add a few more late arrivals to the list and allow the field to creep towards the 100-player mark.
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