Harris Paroya Bags Up 314,100; Raymer and Phillips Thrive on Day 1
The World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis stop got underway on Sunday and drew a field of 449 entrants, creating a prizepool of $646,762. The air was palpable with excitement as players took their seats and spectators surrounded the tables to watch some of their family, friends, and even a few poker superstars compete for the $142,290 first-place prize. By the end of the night, 92 players survived and it would be Harris Paroya who looked to be the chip leader with 314,100.
While Paroya emerged as the big stack, the day’s focus was on the large number of notables who entered the event. They included 2004 WSOP Main Event Champ Greg Raymer; St. Louis native Dennis Phillips; Poker Hall of Famer T.J. Cloutier; and World Poker Tour Borgata Open Champion Dwyte Pilgrim, who had busted from the NAPT Mohegan Sun in Connecticut the night before and took an early flight all the way to St. Louis. Joining them were circuit regulars such as Sam Barnhart, “Captain” Tom Franklin, Bobbie Talbot, Keith Woernle, Kurt Jewell, Joel Merwick, La Sengphet, and the Brothers Hinkle, Blair and Grant.
Unfortunatley, not all of the notable names were able to survive. Cloutier was one of the early casualties, as was poker pro Josh Brikis. They were soon joined on the rail by Talbot, Barnhart, Merwick, Sengphet, Woernle, and Pilgrim. Some other players fought long and hard, but ultimately fell in the last levels of the night. They included the Hinkle brothers, Jewell, Hugh Jordan Drummond, and Kenny Nguyen.
Not all was bad for the notables. A number of them managed to survive the day with healthy stacks including Mark “Pegasus” Smith (tied for the most WSOP-C rings with four), Kyle Cartwright (Harrah’s Tunica Casino Champion), John Land, Aaron Massey, and Nadya Magnus. While all of these players will return for Day 2, all eyes will likely be on two particular players: Dennis Phillips and Greg Raymer, who bagged up 197,600 and 133,000 respectively.
Day 2 action is set to resume at Noon CST on Monday when the final 92 players will look to crack the top 45 and survive the money bubble on their journey to the final table. As always, the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all the action, eliminations, and stories straight from the tournament floor.