Los-Angeles cash game player and little-known circuit professional, Ali Eslami, has won the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Western Regional Championship held in San Diego, California this week.
The WSOPC held one if its quieter events this week, with only 98 players caring about the Western Regional Championship that kicked-off last Sunday. The lowest turnout for a Regional Championship so far, the San Diego-based event trails behind Atlantic City (Eastern Regional Championship) and Hammond, Indiana (Midwest Regional Championship, held in Hammond, Indiana).
There was no lack of top-quality talent, however, as a considerable arsenal of world poker’s top guns came out on parade. The likes of Daniel Negreanu, Kathy Liebert, Jonathan Little, Scott Montgomery, Carlos “El Matador” Mortensen, Shannon Shorr.were joined by recently-crowned 2011 National Heads-Up Poker Champion Erik Seidel.
The final started and finished on Wednesday. Tim West, fresh off his Wynn over unpopular Norwegian Annette Obrestad at the Wynn Classic, held a respectable chip lead and this saw him through to the heads-up against Eslami in the battle for the $282,242 first place prize, the diamond and gold WSOP Circuit ring and the seat at the WSOPC National Championship in May.
The heads-up took two hours, with West and Eslami clashing heads in relenting style but neither being able to make any visible damage in the other’s stack. It appeared inevitable that a biggest-hand-takes-all finale would be forthcoming.
Eslami didn’t have to do much once West had gone all-in with a marginally smaller stack, but much worse hand and by the turn he had become the WSOP Circuit’s Western Regional Champion:
A massive field of 808 players turned up to the Main Event of the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) Circuit event held in the Choctaw Resort Casino in Durant, Oklahoma last weekend.
The $1,500+ $100 buy-in for the event created a huge total pot that was to pay the 83 top finishers plus award WSOPC National Championship seats to the winner and the “Casino Champion” – the person accumulating the most points at any of the individual WSOP Circuit stops’ 10 official open “ring” events.
Winner, 25-year-old Nguyen reached his second final table at the Oklahoma tournament and his experience here helped him to take down the event and pocket the most solid of his four career WSOPC cashes. The heads up was played out against Traci Brown, who played the final day of the event on her birthday and received the blessing of the poker gods. She took home $143,462 for her second place – very good going after being in second-to-last place on the third day of play.
Sources have reported that the enormous field was dotted with well-known faces including Tom McEvoy, Ylon Schwartz, Berry Johnston and TJ Cloutier. The final table included WSOP bracelet-winner Robert Cheung, famed for his unbeatable trun in the 2007 WSOP $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event; and Drazen Ilich who has won two WOPC ring events and cashed on five occasions.
The Oklahoma stop of the WSOPC was the eighth event in the 2010-2011 calendar which began back in last August in the Horsehoe Council Bluffs Casino in Iowa. The next stop is underway from Thursday 27 January at the Harrah’s Casino in Tunica, Mississippi and will run until 15 February. The WSOPC consists of 17 events that culminate in the National Championship stop to be played from 27 to 29 May 2011.
The WSOP Circuit recently completed a stop at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana. Unlike many circuit events over the years, this event saw a sharp decrease in the number of overall participants. The prior record low for the Main Event of a WSOP Circuit event was 99. This event drew a paltry 84 players. Noticeably absent from this event were big name stars of the poker world. The only significant name in the field was Bernard Lee and he was eliminated before the end of Day 1.
Just to give an idea of how small this field was, play that was scheduled to last until 3 a.m. in the morning on Day 1 was suspended at around 10 pm. Day 2 was also another very short day, lasting just under 5 hours. A husband and wife pair made it deep into Day 2 in the David and Stacy Kopacz, but only David would make the final table.
Due to the small field size, only 9 players finished in the money and in the end this is what the final table looked like:
Seat 1: Jerry Martin 139,500 Seat 2: David Kopacz 151,000 Seat 3: Samuel Oberlin 229,500 Seat 4: Jamin Stokes 189,500 Seat 5: Dean Schultz 114,000 Seat 6: Joey Couden 128,000 Seat 7: Derek Whelan 117,500 Seat 8: Ray Lynn 17,500 Seat 9: Len Ashby 177,000
In the end, play ended up three handed between David Kopacz, Samuel Oberlin, and Jerry Martin. Martin had a massive chip lead and in one hand took a dominating lead when he eliminated David Kopacz after flopping a set with pocket queens.
Heads up play saw Martin enter with almost a 5 to 1 chip lead over Oberlin. Martin had just over 1 Million in chips and Oberlin was just over 200,000. It only took one hand to put Oberlin back in contention. Oberlin moved in with pocket queens and was called by the K-J of Martin. Queens held and Oberlin had over a half million in chips.
Oberlin took the lead with some strong betting a few hands later and then another huge confrontation occurred between the two. With the flop showing Jc-4c-5h, Martin moved all-in against Oberlin and Oberlin called. Again, Oberlin was holding pocket queens. Martin was holding J-7 and needed help. Help did not arrive and Samuel Oberlin overcame a massive chip deficit to win the first WSOP Circuit Title of the season.
Oberlin took home $143,064 as well as the gold circuit championship ring. His win goes to prove that when you reach heads up play, many times the player that catches the cards wins up the winner.
The WSOP Circuit will be heading to Hammond, IN next. Starting the 24th, the first circuit event in the Chicago, IL area will take place. Details about the event can be found at www.worldseriesofpoker.com. It will be interesting to see the interest in the Chicago area for this event. Hopefully the recent trend in low attendance will start to reverse. With the current state of the economy, it is hard to tell.
The World Series of Poker Circiut season has kicked off with its first stop in Elizabeth, IN. The WSOP Circuit are groups of tournaments held at various locations around the U.S. This gives players exposure to the World Series of Poker, but on a smaller scale. Most tournaments are around the $500 buy-in range, but there are higher buy-ins with the Main Event of the circuit event coming in at a $5,000 buy-in.
The winner of each circuit event receives a gold ring in addition to the first place prize money. Winners of the Main Event of each Circuit series will receive an entry into the Main Event of the next year’s World Series of Poker Las Vegas. This year’s circuit schedule is below: October 2 — October 14, 2008 HORSESHOE SOUTHERN INDIANA October 24 — November 2, 2008 HORSESHOE HAMMOND (Chicago area) November 6 — November 16, 2008 HARVEYS LAKE TAHOE (Nevada) December 5 – December 18, 2008 HARRAH’S ATLANTIC CITY January 20 – February 9, 2009 HARRAH’S TUNICA (Mississippi) February 12 – February 25, 2009 HORSESHOE COUNCIL BLUFFS (Iowa) March 4 – March 14, 2009 CAESARS ATLANTIC CITY March 19 – March 29, 2009 HARRAH’S RINCON (San Diego) April 12 – April 29, 2009 CAESARS PALACE (Las Vegas) May 8 – May 20, 2009 HARRAH’S NEW ORLEANS Many of the events in the WSOP Circuit are No Limit Holdem, but the Circuit does try to mix the events up on occasion offereing H.O.R.S.E., Limit Holdem, Omaha 8 or Better, 7 Card Stud, and on rare occasions Stud 8 or Better. The larger of the circuit events is held in January in Tunica MS. I personally have played in 3 Circuit events in Tunica, and I must say that the staff at Harrah’s run a fantatic tournament. They have an entire area set aside for the events and it truly feels like a mini World Series of Poker.
Many view the WSOP Circuit as the minor leagues. You will find that many of the preliminary events are headlined and won by virtual unknown players. It is not uncommon for a first time poker player to play in an event and take one down. This is partially what the circuit was intended for, to give players at all levels a chance at WSOP glory.
Professionals tend to fly in for the Main Event of the various WSOP Circuit Events. The $5,000 buy-in is part of the attraction. The other is the opportunity for media exposure as many of the Main Events are covered by various media outlets.
Also, like the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, you can satellite your way into any event at the WSOP circuit. $65 satellites can win you an entry into the $500 events. $125 satellites win you’re an entry into the $1,000 event. You can play all the way up to $550 satellites to take your shot at the $5,000 buy-in Main Event. Mega satellites are also held.
For those of you that like to hustle cash games, the WSOP Circuits usually have a decent spread of cash games going at all times as well. So no matter what your game, there should be a Circuit event for you. Check www.worldseriesofpoker.com for more information about the WSOP-C.
