Caesars Atlantic City WSOP-C Championship Recap – Days 1 and 2

The Main Event of the WSOP Circuit Event in Atlantic City kicked off on Thursday with a respectable crowd of 208 players taking their shot at the Circuit Championship. This number drew only 69 fewer players than the same event last year. In a year seeing record low turnout to Circuit Main Event’s, this event was one of the bright spots.

There were plenty of pros in the field for this event. John Cernuto, Nick Fragos, Dennis Phillips, Roy Winston, Chris Reslock, Cliff Josephy, and Bill Gazes were among the players in the field. Tunica Main Event final tablist Matt Stout and Mike Leah were both in attendance as well as last year’s winner Eric Haber was also in the field.

Chris Reslock was the first pro to be knocked out from the event when his A-K ran into Q-Q early in Level 2. He was unable to catch one of his over cards and he was out the door. Roy Winston was soon out the door behind him when he moved all-in with pocket fives on the turn and was called down by an opponent holding pocket aces.

Nick Fragos was the next big name eliminated when the last of his chips went in with A-Q. Bill Gazes woke up with pocket queens and the ladies were enough to eliminate Fragos. Gazes would then later on bust 2006 WSOP Main Event Final tablist Rhett Butler when he sucked out a straight on the river.

The end of Day 1 saw Chris Klodnicki finish on top with 218,000 chips. Professional Alex Bolotin was third in chips with 148,800. Other names to make day two were Mike Sica, Cliff Josephy, Mike Leah, Brent Roberts, Beth Shak, and Bill Gazes. Only 52 players survived to Day 2 of this Championship Event.

Day 2 started on Friday with players looking to build some chips in an attempt to make the money. This event will only pay 27 players with 27th receiving $6,055 and the winner taking home $322,944.

Cliff Josephy was one of the first players to hit the door. He was one of the short stacks and it didn’t take long for him to get his chips in, albeit doing so forced his elimination. Bill Gazes had better luck. In a pair of hands, Gazes went from one of the short stacks to over 100,000 chips, putting himself strongly in contention. However, Gazes would lose that stack back and finally had to move all in with K-7. He was called by the K-3 of Casey Jarzabek and Jarzabek caught a 3 on the flop to send Gazes packing.

Play continued until 28 players were reached and then play went hand-for-hand. Ryan Karp then made a key error at the bubble that cost him not only his tournament life, but also left him as today’s bubble boy. Pre-flop, Karp three-bet to 21,500 and was called by Matt Brady. The flop fell 2c-3c-4s and Brady bet out 35,000. Karp then moved all-in for 123,000. Brady makes the call being covered by 1,500 chips. Brady shows 4h-4c for a set of fours and Karp shows Ad-Kd for air and a wheel draw. The turn fell the 8h and river the 6d and Karp was left with only 1,500 chips. The very next hand, Karp was all-in with Q-J and Adam Sanders and Michael Katz came along to try and bust Karp from the event. They checked it down and in the end Sanders held a flush to send Karp out on the bubble.

After the bubble burst, there was a steady stream of bustouts as we made our way to the final table. The first of the notable bustouts was Mike Sica, who bust in 15th. He was all in for 195,000 and was called by Michael Michnik, who just barely had Sica covered. Sica held Ah-Kc and Michnik held Qd-Qh. The board missed both players and Sica took home $10,092 for his efforts.

Mike Leah was the next big name to drop. First, he was crippled when his pocket 10’s were outdraw by the A-5 of Chris Klodnicki. Finally, he was all in with Kd-10 against the 9s-4c of Casey Jarzabek. Leah hit his kicker when the board fell 10s-7c-6h, but Jarzabek picked up a straight draw. He would then hit his four-outer on the turn when the 8d fell, giving him the straight and sending Leah out in 11th place. Mike Leah took home $12,110 for strong finish.

This is how the last table shaped up:

Seat 1: David Zeitlin
Seat 2: Jason Young
Seat 3: Casey Jarzabek
Seat 4: Matt Brady
Seat 5: Alex Bolotin
Seat 6: Michael Michnik
Seat 7: Chris Klodnicki
Seat 8: John Nixon
Seat 9: Frank Vizza
Seat 10: Samuel Chartier

Only one player had to be eliminated in order to take us to our official final table. It only took a matter of minutes before we reached our final table. After running his A-Q into pocket kings to cripple his stack, Casey Jarzabek moved all in for his last 77,000. He held Ks-5s and was called by Alex Bolotin who held pocket deuces. The flop fell Kh-2c-3c to give Bolotin bottom set and Jarzabek top pair. Jarzabek picked up some home on the turn when the 5h fell. Jarzabek had six outs to avoid elimination. Unfortunately for him, the river fell a harmless 10c to send Jarzabek home in 10th place. He took home $12,110 for his near final table finish.

After two days of play, the final table is now set for this WSOP Circuit Championship. The remaining players will return tomorrow to take their shot at the Championship ring and over $322,000 top prize. Alex Bolotin will enter the day with the chip lead at 893,000. Jason Young is the short stack at 213,000. The stack sizes of our final players are enough to allow for a lot of play. Don’t expect to see a lot of early bustouts tomorrow barring some unusual circumstances or hyper-aggressive play.

Players will return Saturday at 2 P.M. EDT to conclude this circuit championship. We will be back to provide you a recap of the event. Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out who took down this WSOP-C Championship.

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