Sunday, May 22, 2011 11:48 PM Local Time
About 12 hours after the first hand of the final table was dealt, we have a winner here at Harrah's New Orleans. AJ Jejelowo topped the field of 75, taking home a first-place prize of $235,956. Here is how things shaped up when play began.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|
| 1 | Allie Prescott | 353,000 |
| 2 | Harry Cullen | 164,500 |
| 3 | Allen Kessler | 85,000 |
| 4 | Jeremy Gaubert | 121,500 |
| 5 | Gary Friedlander | 469,000 |
| 6 | Kunal Patel | 160,000 |
| 7 | Matt Waxman | 171,000 |
| 8 | AJ Jejelowo | 489,000 |
| 9 | Scott Lipshutz | 237,500 |
Entering the final table with the chip lead, Jejelowo slipped a little at the start. From there, however, it was smooth sailing as he played a slow and steady game to consistently add to his stack. He was by far the most aggressive at the table constantly putting his opponents to the test with three-bets. Those preflop wins suited Jejelowo just fine as he watched the other players drop one by one. It wasn't until three-handed play when Jejelowo got in on the eliminations, sending a short-stacked Harry Cullen to the rail. On the final hand, Jejelowo's got there against Gary Friedlander's on the river when the board ran out .
Born in England, Jejelowo moved to the United States with his parents before his ninth birthday. After going to Johns Hopkins University, he moved to Houston, Texas where he is a medical researcher at Rice University. He arrived here in New Orleans on Wednesday, winning a mega-satellite to play in the Regional Championship. On Day 1 he finished as one of the short stacks, but vaulted his way up the chip counts and held a place near the top the rest of the way, en route to his first-place finish.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|
| 1 | AJ Jejelowo | $235,956 |
| 2 | Gary Friedlander | $145,422 |
| 3 | Harry Cullen | $95,214 |
| 4 | Allie Prescott | $66,202 |
| 5 | Scott Lipshutz | $48,673 |
| 6 | Allen Kessler | $37,736 |
| 7 | Matt Waxman | $30,794 |
| 8 | Kunal Patel | $26,401 |
| 9 | Jeremy Gaubert | $12,000 |
Congratulations to Jejelowo for a job well done. He'll have a few days to celebrate before heading to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for the WSOP-C National Championship. That concludes our coverage from New Orleans, but we'll be back at it on Friday to bring you the conclusion of the WSOP-C season.
Until then, all that's left is good night!
Sunday, May 22, 2011 11:16 PM Local Time
AJ Jejelowo opened to 40,000 from the button and Gary Friedlander made only his third three-bet of the heads-up duel, making it 140,000 to go. Jejelowo responded with an all-in shove with the big stack. Friedlander called all in for a total of 639,000 and the cards were on their backs.
Showdown
Friedlander:
Jejelowo:
The flop came down , keeping Friedlander ahead and also giving him a flush draw. Jejelowo still needed to catch one of three nines in the deck to take the lead. The turn changed nothing, but the spiked on the river to lock it up the tournament for Jejelowo.
Instead of doubling up and taking the chip lead, Garry Friedlander is out as the runner-up for $145,422.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 11:06 PM Local Time
Gary Friedlander has closed the gap a bit and is up to about 650,000.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 10:57 PM Local Time
Gary Friedlander raised to 52,000 on the button and AJ Jejelowo called from the big blind.
The flop was checked by both, landing the on the turn. Jejelowo bet 60,000, enough to get a fold from Friedlander.
| AJ Jejelowo | 1,746,000 | 55,000  |
| Gary Friedlander | 505,000 | -55,000  |
Sunday, May 22, 2011 10:39 PM Local Time
AJ Jejelowo - 1,691,000
Gary Friedlander - 560,000
Sunday, May 22, 2011 10:28 PM Local Time
Harry Cullen went all in on the button for 106,000 and AJ Jejelowo called from the big blind.
Showdown
Cullen:
Jejelowo:
The board ran out , failing to help Cullen and bringing his tournament to an end with a third-place showing.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 10:06 PM Local Time
Level: 25
Blinds: 10000/20000
Ante: 3000
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:58 PM Local Time
| AJ Jejelowo | 1,445,000 | 95,000 |
| Gary Friedlander | 536,000 | -4,000 |
| Harry Cullen | 270,000 | 10,000 |
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:54 PM Local Time
That's another level behind us, and the three surviving players have stepped off the stage for a quick break.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:27 PM Local Time
Harry Cullen has patiently waited for a spot to get his chips into the middle. With a flopped full house, we'd say thats a good time to do it.
With the board reading , AJ Jejelowo called Cullen's raise all in and both had nailed that flop. Jejelowo had trips with , but Cullen was ahead with . Cullen faded the necessary outs on the river as the fell and is now up to about 460,000.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:18 PM Local Time
AJ Jejewolo raised to 45,000 (?) preflop, and Gary Friedlander called to see a flop from his big blind.
It came , and Jejelowo continued out with 50,000. Friedlander made the call, and the dropped on fourth street. Both players checked now, and the filled out the board. When Friedlander checked a third time, Jejelowo eyed up the pot and slid out a full stack worth 200,000. The call came quickly, and Jejelowo turned up for the flush. It was good.
It sounded like Friedlander had a straight, but we couldn't make out the full conversation. In any event, the pot goes to Jejewolo, and it opens up his lead a bit. He's up to about 1.355 million now with well over half the chips in play.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:16 PM Local Time
AJ Jejelowo raised to 32,000 on the button and Gary Friedlander three-bet to 75,000 from the big blind.
Jejelowo called and the flop came down . A check from Friedlander led to a bet of 85,000 from Jejelowo. After about a minute, Friedlander called to see the turn. Both checked, landing the on the river. Friedlander checked again and Jejelowo fired 200,000, too rich for Friedlander as he gave it up.
Jejelowo retakes the chip lead with about 1,060,000, while Friedlander slips to about 960,000.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 9:05 PM Local Time
Gary Friedlander opened to 38,000 under the gun and Allie Prescott shoved from the small blind for about 220,000. Friedlander called immediately and tabled , miles ahead of Prescott's .
The board ran out , ending Prescott's run here at Harrah's New Orleans with a fourth-place finish.
Friedlander, meanwhile, is up to just more than 1.1 million.
Prescott had a fine run here in New Orleans as the only player to cash in the "Big Three" events. He took 18th place in the Main Event, 3rd place in the $1,000 ring event, and now 4th place here in the Southern Regional Championship.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 8:59 PM Local Time
Harry Cullen limped in under the gun, and both AJ Jejelowo and Allie Prescott called from their respective blinds.
The flop came , and Jejelowo led out with 25,000. Prescott flatted, and Cullen came along as well to see the appear on fourth street. Jejewolo checked now, and Prescott followed suit. Cullen shoved all in, drawing a big belly laugh from Jejewolo. He folded fairly quickly, though, while Prescott tanked and folded with some hesitation.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 8:50 PM Local Time
From the button, Allie Prescott made it 40,000 to play, and Gary Friedlander defended his big blind with a call.
The flop came , and Friedlander knocked the table. Prescott bet something with a "five" at the end, possibly 45,000, and Friedlander slid out a check-raise to 92,000 total. Prescott took a couple minutes to stare his opponent down before matching the raise with a call.
That led them to the innocuous looking turn, and Friedlander took pause now. After some mental gymnastics, he settled on a bet of 134,000, sliding it forward in a neatly-stacked technicolor tower. Prescott double-checked his hole cards, then spent some more time in the tank before plunking the call into the pot.
The was the last card off the deck, and Friedlander again took a few minutes to think before announcing his all in. The call represented Prescott's full stack of about 250,000 as Friedlander had him slightly covered. Prescott checked his cards one last time, chewed on it a bit more, then surrendered his cards into the muck.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 8:37 PM Local Time
Level: 24
Blinds: 8000/16000
Ante: 2000
Sunday, May 22, 2011 8:34 PM Local Time
| AJ Jejelowo | 954,000 | 149,000 |
| Gary Friedlander | 551,000 | -129,000 |
| Allie Prescott | 520,000 | 30,000 |
| Harry Cullen | 226,000 | -179,000 |
Sunday, May 22, 2011 8:26 PM Local Time
That's the end of a very uneventful level, and the players are off for a quick break.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 7:59 PM Local Time
AJ Jejelowo opened to ~27,000, and Gary Friedlander came along with a call from the big blind. Both men checked the flop, and Friedlander fired out 30,000 on the turn. Jejelowo called, and Friedlander slowed down with a check on fifth street, the . Jejelowo took his cue to bet 60,000, and Friedlander quickly made the call.
We could only see the in Jejelowo's hand, but Friedlander's was good enough to take it down.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 7:43 PM Local Time
Harry Cullen opened to 44,000 under the gun, and Gary Friedlander reraised to an amount we could not decipher. However much it was, it was too much for Cullen to call, and he yielded the pot to Friedlander.