News

Day one of the WSOP Circuit championship event at Caesars Indiana ended with Joel Casper leading with 95,900 chips.  The remaining 49 players will return tomorrow to play down to the final table. Casper is a pro from Chicago whose best cash-in was $15,455 for his fourth place finish in a $1,000 no-limit Bellagio Cup II event. This $5,000 final event drew 169 entrants, a sizeable increase over last year's 127, and they generated a prize pool of $819,650. Eighteen places will be paid, with the top prize being $262,002.

First-day action started off very fast. "All in" was heard all over the place, and players dropped rapidly, with half the field gone by about 8 p.m. But as the tournament continued, the pace slowed noticeably.

Few "name" players survived day one. One of the best-known was David Williams, who has a WSOP bracelet in 7-stud and a second in last year's WSOP main event that paid $3.5 million. Today he went out in about two hours when he ran into a set of 10s.

Vanessa Rousso was here, followed around by a television crew. At the Circuit event at Grand Tunica last month she was out in about an hour. She lasted longer today, but was still gone after four or five hours. Other major casualties included Chad Brown and "Captain" Tom Franklin, a team member at Doyle's Room. Men "The Master" Nguyen, who finished second at last year's championship event, had been on hand for a couple of days and intended to play, but then his plans changed and he left town before the event began.

Play halted a little after 12:30 tonight and will resume at noon tomorrow.

Seats and Chip Counts

Joel Casper	Chicago, IL	95,900	2	8
Gary Chew	Waynesville, OH	89,900	6	6
James English	Tamarac, FL	75,700	1	1
Carl White	Jackson, OH	64,700	2	4
Ed Corrado	Naples, FL	62,500	2	7
Nenad Medic	Niagra Falls, ON	58,700	11	8
Steve Rassi	Morton, IL	57,600	11	9
Thomas Fuller	Boulder, Co	51,300	2	7
Gary Crow	Flowery Branch, GA	51,200	2	8
Brett Richey	New York, NY	51,000	6	3
Dennis Perry	Williamstown, KY	43,800	12	1
Troy Gibson	Atlanta, GA	43,400	11	2
Mark Chapic	Newbury, OH	42,500	2	3
Shawn Ostertag	Louisville, KY	42,200	12	2
Dean Schultz	Akron, OH	41,300	12	3
Ronnie Ebanks	Hollywood, FL	41,200	11	7
Jason Mann	Hermitage, AR	40,700	2	6
Willie Navarro	Tampa, FL	39,600	12	9
Danny Brown	Filmone, IN	39,300	12	9
Steve Bartlett	Livonia, MN	34,200	6	4
Hilbert Shirey	Winter Haven, FL	34,100	11	1
Chad Batista	Coral Springs, FL	33,000	3	8
Hoyt Lance	Ringold, GA	32,100	2	9
Allen Vandayburg	Mansfield, OH	31,600	12	4
Matt Russell	Houston, TX	29,200	6	7
Robert Arthur	Columbus, OH	28,700	3	2
Mikhail Voloshen	Philadelphia, PA	27,700	1	2
Tom Kellems	Cannelton, IN	26,300	6	8
Wayne Philpot	Orlando, FL	25,000	2	1
John Short	Pearl River, LA	24,200	1	7
Mike Walker	Cicero, IN	23,800	1	8
Chris Combs	Fisher, IN	22,300	3	4
Mark Williams	Colon, MI	22,200	2	2
Vinious Marques	Sao Paulo, Brazil	21,500	1	4
Ben Sabrin	Atlanta, GA	20,600	11	4
Jeff Whisnant	Morganton, NC	20,300	11	4
Kevin Marcotte	Cincinatti, OH	19,600	3	6
Eugene Todd	Brooklyn, NY	17,700	3	9
Jian Zhou	Seattle, WA	17,500	3	7
Douglas Garli	Alliance, OH	17,000	3	1
Jason Terry	Indianapolis, OH	16,400	3	3
Bangaldre Subbarad	Ashland, KY	15,600	6	9
John Hegele	Beckley, WV	15,200	1	6
Dennis Adkins	Nashville, TN	14,800	11	3
Randall Swope	Zanesville, OH	14,800	1	3
Scott Gullett	Prospect, KY	7,600	6	2

Payout Schedule:

1. $262,002
2. 137,471
3. 80,865
4. 64,692
5. 48,519
6. 40,433
7. 32,346
8. 24,260
9. 16,173
10. 12,938
11. 12,938
12 12,938
13. 11,321
14. 11,321
15. 11,321
16.  9,704
17.  9,704
18  9,704

 

For more information, please contact: 
Max Shapiro -- WSOP Media Director at (323) 356-3303
Or visit our official website:  www.worldseriesofpoker.com

World Series of Poker Commissioner – Jeffrey Pollack
Director of Poker Operations for Harrah's Entertainment – Jack Effel
Caesars Indiana  Poker Room Manager – Jimmy Allen