News

Caesars Indiana -- It was nearly 4 a.m. before play ended on day one of the WSOP Circuit championship event at Caesars Indiana. The cut-off was supposed to be 3 a.m., but with 20 players left at that point, everyone agreed to play down to 18 so they all could be in the money when play resumes at noon on the second and final day. 
   A field of 117 players signed up, creating a prize pool of $556,450, with the winner to get $180,290, a gold championship ring, and a seat in the $10,000 main event of this year's WSOP.   
   Chip leader for the final day will be Robert Cheung of Vancouver, British Columbia. Cheung has over $1 million in tournament cashes, most of it coming when he won a $1,500 no-limit event at the WSOP last year that paid $673,278. He also has a fourth in the Circuit championship event at Tahoe in 2006.
   Earlier, Bernard Lee, the Boston Herald and ESPN writer who has his own poker radio show and finished second in yesterday's event, busted out soon after the dinner break. He had pocket queens in a classic match-up against A-K, and lost when an ace was the first card to flop. About four hours later, Dean Schultz, second in total Circuit cashes behind Doug "Rico" Carli, went out, and so did John Racener, who won a Circuit main event in Atlantic City. Kelley Kiser, who won the ladies championship here, busted out around midnight when her A-Q lost to a set of 10s. 

Here are the starting chips for Day  Two:

Robert Cheung  212,400 
Jason Mann   164,200 
Phil Sparta   162,600 
Wilbur Futhey  95,700 
Doug Carli   64,300 
Giovanni Marcacci  57,000 
John Ferguson  53,000 
Dave Costain   51,600 
Steve Merrifield  51,100 
Tim Laws   49,200 
Dale Poynter   48,200 
James McKinney  46,700 
Jason Glass   46,200 
Benjamin Hock  45,000 
Jerry Martin   44,200 
Michael Iacovone  38,900 
Beth Shak   23,500 
Bill Johnson   13,800 

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 – Jimmie Allen
Caesars Indiana Tournament Director -- Chris Reason & Andy Cunningham