Everything You Need to Know About the WSOP Circuit Foxwoods
This weekend PokerNews will be at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut to bring you all the action from the latest 2012-2013 World Series of Poker Circuit presented by Southern Comfort 100 Proof $1,675 Main Event. This marks the first time the WSOP Circuit has visited the colossal property, and already it has proven to be one of the best stops of the season.
Things kicked off with a bang on Wednesday, March 27, with Event #1 $365 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry, which attracted 800 entries and created a prize pool of $240,560. Only 125 players survived the various starting flights, with 25-year-old Zachary Donovan holding the chip lead heading into Day 2. Donovan, who has nearly $1 million in online poker winnings, and who recently relocated to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, used that big stack not only to plow through the money bubble at 81 players, but also to navigate to the final table.
The event was scheduled to finish on Day 2, but an impromptu third day had to be added to the schedule. Six players advanced to Day 3, with Donovan holding 3,050,000 in chips, Sam Taylor with 2,134,000, and the other four each under a million. As one could expect, the big stacks prevailed with Donovan and Taylor advancing to a heads up battle that lasted about two hours. In what would be the last hand of the tournament, Taylor got all in with AxQx and was racing against the 4x4x of Donovan. An ace on the flop looked good to Taylor, but when a four turned, it was all over.
WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Ring Event #1 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $300+$65 | 800 | $240,560 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zachary Donovan | Cabo San Lucas, Mexico | $48,112 |
| 2 | Samuel Taylor | New York, NY | $29,661 |
| 3 | Timothy Kelliher | North Dighton, MA | $21,867 |
| 4 | Joshua Quint | Orono, ME | $16,310 |
| 5 | Michael Nye | East Bridgewater, MA | $12,317 |
| 6 | Joseph Ward | Revere, MA | $9,430 |
| 7 | Jason McAvoy | N/A | $7,289 |
| 8 | Jason Wilson | Waterbury, CT | $5,725 |
| 9 | David Ray | Windsor Locks, CT | $4,547 |
From there, Daniel Chan of New York defeated Ralph Massey to win $48,521 in Event #2 $1,125 No-Limit Hold’em, which attracted 179 players and created a prize pool of $179,707, and Brian Scholl topped a field of 143 players to take down Event #3 $365 Limit Omaha Eight or Better for $12,040.
Angelo Didio captured a ring and a $25,668 first-place prize in Event #4 $365 No-Limit Hold’em, which had 388 players and a $116,671 prize pool. Event #5 $365 No-Limit Hold’em, which had 359 entries and a $107,951 prize pool, belonged to Glen Minxolli of Peabody, Massachusetts. Minxolli defeated Parveen Kapoor in heads-up play to win $24,829 and his gold ring.
Perhaps the most exciting event of the stop thus far was Event #6 $580 No-Limit Hold’em, which saw 212 players take their shot at the title and create a $106,933 prize pool. Poker pro Roland Israelashvili ended up bubbling the final table by finishing in tenth place for $1,999, but a couple of well-known pros managed to squeeze into the top nine. One of those pros is Jamie Kerstetter, who was recently featured in PokerNews’ popular Online Chat series. Unfortunately for Kerstetter, she missed out on her first ring and had to settle for sixth place.
Pretty sure I'm never gonna win. Button raised, sb 3bet and I 4bet jammed 88 into sb's 99. 6th. Gg live tourneys.
— Jamie Kerstetter (@JamieKerstetter)
Arkadiy Tsinis is the other pro to make it to the final table. You may recall his bracelet and $540,136 in Event #38 $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2011 WSOP. Things managed to go Tsinis’ way at the final table and the financial analyst turned poker pro added a gold ring to his collection of WSOP jewelry.
WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Ring Event #6 No-Limit Hold’em
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $500+$80 | 212 | $106,933 |
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkadiy Tsinis | Las Vegas, NV | $26,734 |
| 2 | Fabio Dagata | N/A | $16,521 |
| 3 | Stephen Happas | Braintree, MA | $12,030 |
| 4 | William Pappas | Boston, MA | $8,886 |
| 5 | Dean Schultz | Stow, OH | $6,683 |
| 6 | Jamie Kerstetter | Jersey City, NJ | $5,101 |
| 7 | Travell Thomas | Buffalo, NY | $3,946 |
| 8 | Alex Rivera | Hamburg, NY | $3,101 |
| 9 | Jonathan Horowitz | Bethany, CT | $2,481 |
With several events still to be determined, the race for the WSOP Circuit Foxwoods Casino Champion is undetermined. Whoever captures that title, along with the eventual winner of the Main Event, will automatically qualify for the National Championship this May in New Orleans. Click here to see which players who qualified thus far.
In addition to the qualifiers, players who earn enough points on the National Leaderboard will be able to buy in to the National Championship. Here’s a look at the current top ten:
WSOPC National Leaderboard Top Ten*
| Player | Points | Rings | Cashed | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rex Clinkscales | 285 | 0 | 14 | $73,547 |
| Ari Engel | 235 | 2 | 13 | $115,102 |
| Pedro Rios | 217.5 | 0 | 12 | $168,145 |
| David Nicholson | 167.5 | 1 | 10 | $74,832 |
| Yossi Azulay | 165 | 0 | 12 | $79,218 |
| Aaron Massey | 165 | 1 | 7 | $71,307 |
| Carter Myers | 162.5 | 1 | 7 | $63,062 |
| Wendy Freedman | 162.5 | 1 | 7 | $59,147 |
| Blake Barousse | 160 | 2 | 6 | $86,590 |
| Trevor Deeter | 157.5 | 1 | 9 | $43,879 |
*Leading up to the WSOP Circuit Foxwoods stop.
Finally, here's a look at the remaining schedule for the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit:
| Date | Event Location |
|---|---|
| April 4-15, 2012 | Harrah’s Cherokee (North Carolina) |
| April 11-April 22, 2013 | Horseshoe Council Bluffs (Iowa) |
| April 25 - May 6, 2013 | Harrah’s Philadelphia |
| May 9 - May 20, 2013 | Harrah’s New Orleans |
| May 22-24, 2013 | Harrah’s New Orleans (National Championship) |
Be sure to follow our live updates from the WSOP Circuit Foxwoods, as well as all the other remaining WSOP Circuit events, in our Live Reporting Section.
*Photos courtesy of WSOP.com.
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