Kirk Leads the Way Into Day 2
The 2011/2012 World Series of Poker Circuit continued on Saturday with Day 1 of the Main Event from Harrah’s St. Louis. The tournament was broken into two starting flights, appropriately titled Day 1a and 1b. The former attracted 367 runners, while the latter, which allowed for reentries, brought in 239 more. The 606-player field surpassed last year’s field of 449 players, though that event was not offered as a reentry.
Last year, WSOP Circuit phenom Kyle Cartwright captured his third gold ring by winning the Main Event, not to mention the $142,290 first-place prize. Coincidentally, Cartwright captured his fourth gold ring on Saturday, though it wasn’t in the Main Event. Instead 22 players returned for Event #10 $1,090 NLHE, which began the day before with 229 players. Cartwright managed to make the final table along with Circuit regulars AP Phahurat and Amanda Musumeci.
What's more, Phahurat , who is actually Cartwright's roommate, finished as the runner up. In the final hand, Phahurat got his shorter stack all in preflop holding 
and was dominated by the 
of Cartwright. The board ran out an uninspiring 
and it was all over.
Cartwright, who’s four rings puts him just one behind all-time ring winner Mark "Pegasus" Smith, collected his $53,354 prize and immediately entered the Day 1b flight to attempt a title defense. Unfortunately for him, he got all in preflop in a five-bet pot holding 
against 
and was dealt a bad beat to eliminate him from the tournament. The good news is that because Cartwright didn't play Day 1a (he was busy winning his fourth WSOP Circuit gold ring in Event #10), he has the option to rebuy at the start of Day 2. He'll start with just a 20 big-blind stack, but Cartwright told PokerNews that’s his plan.
If you want to add another interesting wrinkle to the Cartwright/Phahurat story, their other roommate, Tripp Kirk, took 12th in Event #10, entered the Main Event, and then went on to bag 113,900, enough to make him the Day 1 chip leader.
While Cartwright and company had to wait until the second flight to play the Main, others took a shot on Day 1a. Some pros that did and managed to survive were Kurt Jewell, Casey Cavanaugh, Dennis Phillips, Scott Clements, La Sengphet, David Clark, Huy Nguyen and “Pegasus.”
Unfortunately not everyone was so lucky on Day 1a. Many players fell and opted to reenter on Day 1b including Ben Smith, Joe Hebda, Seneca Easley, Everrett Carlton, Sam Barnhart and Drazen Ilich.
They were joined by some new players such as Musumeci, Phahurat, Charles “Woody” Moore, Paul Harris, Jennifer Parrish and music superstar and St. Louis native, Nelly. Unfortunately for the Grammy Award winning hip hop artist, he was unable to survive the day and was eliminated in Level 7 after getting all in preflop holding 
offsuit against the 
of Richard Harrington. The board bricked for both players and Harrington sent the recording artist to the rail.
Some players who punched their ticket to Day 2 in the latter flight were the aforementioned reentries, as well as big stacks Thomas Conway, Bill Byrnes, Peter Brooks and Raj Dhanakula.
Notable WSOP Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis Day 1 Chip Counts
| Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Tripp Kirk | 113,900 |
| Thomas Conway | 111,000 |
| Bill Byrnes | 111,000 |
| Peter Brooks | 99,900 |
| Raj Dhanakula | 90,800 |
| Mark Johnson | 77,200 |
| Jason Wagers | 77,200 |
| Casey Cavanaugh | 69,100 |
| Kurt Jewell | 65,000 |
| Paul Harris | 52,800 |
| Dennis Phillips | 45,700 |
Day 2 will commence at Noon CST with approximately 300 players looking to play down to the money and as close to the final table as they can get. Unfortunately we’re not able to tell you much about the prize pool or how many players will be paid, as registration for the tournament is open right up until the start of Day 2.
Be sure to follow the action from the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis right here on PokerNews as our Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you all the action and eliminations.
If you love poker, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.