ABE FARONI WINS EVENT #9 AT HARRAH

CHESTER, PA – WSOP Circuit Event action continued through its final weekend at Harrah’s Chester. The latest WSOP Circuit champion was Abe Faroni, a 22-year-old student at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

For the win, Faroni was awarded his first WSOP Circuit Gold Ring along with $27,353 in prize money. He also picked up 50 points toward qualifying for a seat to the WSOP National Championship to be held in July in Las Vegas.

While the 50 points were not quite enough to put Faroni in serious contention for a seat to the $1 million freeroll Bracelet Event, which will be nationally televised in July, two players who joined Faroni at the final table, Jonathan Sorscher and Brandon Fish broke the 100 point milestone with respective fifth ($6,477) and ninth place ($2,349) finishes in this event.

The runner up ($16,907), Andrew Barber, picked up 37.5 points for a total of 150. With his runner up finish, Barber, who traveled to Harrah’s Philadelphia all the way from Sacramento, CA is a virtual lock to play under the ESPN spotlight in July.

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Officially listed as Event #9 -- the $1,080 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament attracted 94 entries. The total prize pool came to $91,180 with the top 12 players making the money. All players who cashed received WSOP Circuit National Championship ranking points.

It was a busy day in the ballroom at Harrah’s Philadelphia as day one of the Main Event was in progression during final table play in Event #9. Sorscher was the dominating chip leader to start the final table, with 170,000 chips separating him and his nearest opponent. Although it was a disappointing 5th place finish for the 32-year-old pro from Lynbrook, NY, he can at least be happy with his 117.5 point total in the National Championship points race. While 117.5 does not make him a lock, he is definitely in prime position for earning his seat.

With three events remaining, the Casino Champion points race has heated up here at Harrah’s Philadelphia. John Alfera, with 2nd and 3rd place finishes this series, sits atop of the points leader board with 67.5 points while Sorcher is right on his heels at 62.5

The Casino Champion is the player who earns the most points through the 12 events at Harrah’s Philadelphia. This player will earn an automatic seat to the $1 million WSOP Circuit National Championship to be held in late May. More information about the WSOPC National Championship can be found here. An explanation of the points system can be found here.

Still to come are 3 events. See the complete Harrah’s Philadelphia Circuit schedule and event results here. The WSOP Circuit Events at Harrah’s Philadelphia runs through May 7th. You can find the complete 2011/2012 WSOP CIRCUIT SCHEDULE here.

*100 top WSOP and WSOP Europe qualifiers have been invited to buy into the WSOP National championship, resulting in a potential prize pool of upwards of $2,000,000. More info at: http://bit.ly/y2YwU8

MORE ABOUT THE WSOP CIRCUIT AT HARRAH’S PHILADELPHIA

Harrah’s Philadelphia is a casino and racetrack located in Philadelphia, PA -- about 15 minutes south of Philadelphia International Airport. It is the 16th (of 17) WSOP Circuit host properties. Harrah’s New Orleans is the last remaining stop of the 2011-2012 WSOPC season.

This marks the second season that the WSOP Circuit has visited Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Harrah’s Philadelphia first opened in 2007, offering slot games and horse racing. Table games were introduced to the casino in 2010 after they were legalized by the state of Pennsylvania.

Harrah’s Philadelphia originally opened as Harrah’s Chester, but is currently in the process of rebranding itself as Harrah’s Philadelphia, which is expected to be complete on May 1st.

Harrah’s Philadelphia’s “12 Rings in 12 Days” series is taking place April 25-May 7.  Tournaments are held in the ballroom located on the second floor of the casino. Cash games can be found in the poker room next to the race book also located on the second floor.

Each Ring Event Final Table will be streamed live from the final table stage area in the ballroom. The live stream can be accessed at: http://www.wsop.com/2011/circuit/live-video/. Because final table start times are tentative, viewers should follow the WSOP on Twitter @wsop to be notified when live streams begin. 

Media Contact:

Alan Fowler

WSOP/Caesars Interactive Entertainment

afowler@caesars.com