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:

Caesars Atlantic City

The very energetic World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit hits Atlantic City fresh off the back of the last event in Florida.

The Caesars Atlantic City casino plays host to the WSOP Circuit from 2nd March 2 to 13th. The tournament will include nine Hold’em ring events and Limit Omaha event. A number of satellite and second chance tournaments and seniors and ladies events will be on offer. Buy-ins for ring events start as low as $350. The Main Event will start on 11th March with a $1,650 buy-in for three days of No Limit Hold’em.

Last year’s Main Event at the Caesers in Atlantic City had a larger buy-in of $5,150 and attracted 174 players to create a prize pool of $817,015. Roland Isra from New York took home the top prize worth $264,715 and the prized gold ring.

The WSOP Circuit moves to Atlantic City straight from the Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida where the first time the new circuit hit the state, the opening ring game worked its way into history as the largest single-venue poker tournament ever held in Florida.with a mighty whopping 877 participants. The winner of the stop’s Main event was 19-year-old professional, John Riordan, who took home $210,180 for first place. Riordan was also presented with a WSOP Circuit gold ring, the coveted prize awarded to all winners in poker’s biggest and most prestigious national tournament series. The WSOP Circuit stop also crowned Florida’s first major poker tournament female champion – June Amer won a WSOP Circuit gold ring and $65,338 in the $550 No-Limit Hold’em competition.

The next WSOPC series is the Regional Championship at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort from March 10-30; that’s in San Diego. Good luck!

Sam Barnhart

A staggering field of 480 players sat down at the start of the $1,600 No Limit Hold’em main event at the ninth event of the 2010-2011 World Series of Poker Circuit that was played out at the Harrah’s casino in Tunica, Mississippi.

Nine players managed to outlast the other 471 to gain a place at the final table and look for one of of the higher-paying spots on the podium. The top prize on offer was worth $148,612 as well as the WSOP Circuit gold ring. The massive field had created a prize pool of $698,400, meaning the last 54 players in contention took home a cash bonus for their troubles.

Mary Harden went into the final table as chip leader but was eliminated by Barnhart’s full house to give her third place. Her chips were of great benefit to the eventual champion, who took a great advantage in to the heads-up against Jesse White. The head-to-head final stage didn’t take more than an hour before Barnhart’s pocket kings were good enough to ease out White’s J-10 and receive the $148,612 prize money. White took home $91,881.

“Oh gosh, this is what it’s all about right here!” said Barnhart during the winner’s interview. “All of the tournaments, the time you spend, the money, this is why we play,” upon being crowned champion and getting hold of the all-important check.

Mizrachi started the day on a mission and that mission was to take out as many players as he could and continue to eliminate players and keep his stack growing. The first player to meet his demise at Mizrachi’s hand was Matt LaGarde. He stared the hand way ahead with a AQ in the hole, but fell quickly behind with a flop of KJ2. Both the turn and river failed to improve his hand and Mizrachi’s K10 took down the all in.

Play was heating up all over the tables after that and slowly but surely, one player after another got their chips in with the worst of it and quickly met the rail. As each player got knocked out, Mizrachi was one step close to taking down the championship.

The final table had an impressive lineup, especially considering that amount of talent that was across the pond at the EPT Monte Carlo event. Again, Mizrachi proved to be too much on more than one occasion and continued to eliminate players. His most notable victim was Men “The Master” Nguyen, who went out in third place.

While the final table seemed to fly by, the heads up action was anything but faced paced. Apparently seeing all of that money on the table tightened up both players a bit and it took well over 3 hours for the tournament to be decided. It was actually some of the most remarkable play that we have seen in quite some time in heads up action.

The final hand had both players looking down at paint, unfortunately for Mizrachi, his was not quite as formidable as Justin Bonomo’s. Mizrachi moved in with J9 and had the unfortunate luck to be looking across the table at KQ. The flop immediately lessened his hopes as it came out K-10-9. He got a little help on the turn with an A, but was reduced to a 5 outer on the river. Needing a Q or one of the two remaining 9’s, he was disappointed with a 3d. Both players ended up making a flush, but Mizrachi was on the short end of it with his only being J high to Q high.

He may be disappointed that he did not manage to hold on, but the $143,512 probably made that a little easier to take. Not only that, but he has some stake money for the WSOP that is right around the corner. Bonomo took down $237,692 for first place and also gets to wear the coveted ring. We can expect to see big things from both of these guys at the WSOP.

This year’s event will be the only game in town as the WPT decided to not renew the Tunica stop on the current season of the World Poker Tour. For years, the WPT and the WSOP competed for the tournament dollars of local poker players. This year, the WSOP should show a strong crowd for most events. Expect many pros to be among those in attendance during the events.

For more information, go to www.worldseriesofpoker.com. For those that may think about going to the event, discounts are usually offered for players playing in the events. Shuttle services are also available from the hotels to the casino. If you have never been to Tunica or to a WSOP Circuit event stop, this is one that you shouldn’t miss.

The scheduled for the circuit stop is below:

Date Event Buy-In Time
Tue, Jan 20th Event #1 – No Limit Hold’em $340 12:00 PM
Tue, Jan 20th Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Wed, Jan 21st Event #2 – No Limit Hold’em $340 12:00 PM
Wed, Jan 21st Omaha HI/Lo split Pot Limit $230 4:00 PM
Thu, Jan 22nd Event #3 – No Limit Hold’em $340 12:00 PM
Thu, Jan 22nd 7-stud Hi Lo Split $230 4:00 PM
Fri, Jan 23rd Event #4 – No Limit Hold’em $550 12:00 PM
Fri, Jan 23rd 6-Hand No Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Sat, Jan 24th Event #5 – No Limit Hold’em $340 12:00 PM
Sat, Jan 24th Seniors No Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Sun, Jan 25th Event #6 – No Limit Hold’em $440 12:00 PM
Sun, Jan 25th Ladies No Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Mon, Jan 26th Event #7 – No Limit Hold’em $230 12:00 PM
Mon, Jan 26th Seven Card Stud $230 4:00 PM
Tue, Jan 27th Event #8 – No Limit Hold’em $230 12:00 PM
Tue, Jan 27th Pot Limit Omaha $230 4:00 PM
Wed, Jan 28th Event #9 – No Limit Hold’em $340 12:00 PM
Wed, Jan 28th H.O.R.S.E $230 4:00 PM
Thu, Jan 29th Event #10 – No Limit Hold’em $440 12:00 PM
Thu, Jan 29th No Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Fri, Jan 30th Event #11 – No Limit Hold’em $550 12:00 PM
Fri, Jan 30th No Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Sat, Jan 31st Event #12 – No Limit Hold’em $1,080 12:00 PM
Sat, Jan 31st No Limit Hold’em $230 4:00 PM
Sun, Feb 1st Mega Satellite $550 12:00 PM
Sun, Feb 1st Mega Satellite $550 3:00 PM
Sun, Feb 1st Mega Satellite $550 7:00 PM
Sun, Feb 1st Mega Satellite $550 9:00 PM
Mon, Feb 2nd Event #13- Circuit Championship $5,150 12:00 PM
Tue, Feb 3rd Event #14- No Limit Hold’em $230 12:00 PM

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.