The last major open event leading up to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is down to a final table in the Big Easy. The WSOP-Circuit $10,000 Southern Regional Championship played down to nine players at Harrah’s New Orleans Saturday with some familiar faces still vying for the top prize of $237,456.
AJ Jejelowo will begin the final table with the chip lead, holding a slim lead over Gary Friedlander. The two players exchanged the chip lead multiple times Saturday, with Jejelowo finishing just 20,000 chips ahead of Friedlander when play concluded for the day. But it’s anything but a two-man race. Poker pros Allie Prescott, Matt Waxman, Jeremy Gaubert and Allen Kessler each have a shot at their first WSOP-C gold ring. Kessler is the on the short stack, sitting with around 20 big blinds, but if there’s anyone in the game who can grind out a short stack, it’s man they call “Chainsaw.”
The tournament began with 75 players Thursday to create a prize pool of $698,398. Among the players to take part in the event were Team PokerStars Pro David Williams, Dwyte Pilgrim, David Singer, Joseph Cheong, Tommy Vedes, David “Bakes” Baker, Chad Brown, John Dolan, Kido Pham, and Brandon Adams, who held the chip lead after Day 1.
The field was trimmed down to 18 on Day 2, with Brian Senie and Shannon Shorr at the top of the leaderboard. Shorr, who finished a disappointing ninth at the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship earlier this week, hopped on a plane after his elimination at Bellagio and arrived in time to get a seat in New Orleans. He chipped up brilliantly on Friday, but his tournament came to a crashing halt on the official TV final table bubble.
With the blinds at 2,000/4,000 and a 500 ante, Shorr raised to 10,000 from early position and Allie Prescott put in a 3-bet to 27,500 from middle position. Action folded back to Shorr, who moved all in for around 160,000, and Prescott called, having Shorr’s stack barely covered. Shorr turned over pocket kings and found out the bad news when Prescott tabled a pair of aces.
The board ran out 6c-4s-2h-7s-4d to send Shorr out the door with his second final table bubble in just four days. However, he’ll be back for the WSOP-C National Championship after making the final table of the Horseshoe Hammond Regional Championship in October. The 100-player National Championship gets underway May 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and will feature the top qualifiers from the 2010-11 WSOP-C traveling season.
One more player will leave New Orleans empty-handed on Sunday. With 75 players registering for the tournament, only the top eight will get paid. A money bubble of $27,901 should make for some interesting television when play resumes at 2 p.m. ET. Here’s a look at the chip stacks heading into the day:
1. AJ Jejelowo — 489,000
2. Gary Friedlander — 469,000
3. Allie Prescott — 353,000
4. Scott Lipshutz — 237,000
5. Matt Waxman — 171,000
6. Harry Cullen — 164,500
7. Kunal Patel — 160,000
8. Jeremy Gaubert — 121,500
9. Allen Kessler — 85,000
Payouts:
1. $237,456
2. $146,922
3. $96,714
4. $67,702
5. $50,173
6. $39,236
7. $32,294
8. $27,901