The 2008 World Series of Poker year may be winding down but the Circuit Event at Caesars Palace is just beginning. Well, at least the Main Event is just beginning as the smaller tournaments have just finished up.
And the best one of these may have been Event #11 No-Limit Hold’em $550 buy-in where veteran Men “The Master” Nguyen and poker public relations man Jason Newitt battled it out at the final table to see who would come out on top.
Many people would have picked Nguyen to be the favorite with his vast array of poker experience and $2.8 million worth of WSOP winnings. But Newitt was able to prove that he belonged on the felt as he took down Nguyen and others en route to capturing top prize.
After Newitt proved he can play just as good of a poker game as he talks, he took home $71,439. Nguyen, on the other hand, wound up in fourth and cashed out with a lot less at $16,669.
Another interesting smaller tourney that took place was the “Cleopatra Open”, or Ladies Event. Besides just the cool title, the action proved to be pretty good too as Barbara Enright, who holds 3 WSOP bracelets, was able to capture first. She earned $15,558 as she was able to outlast Linh Vuong who finished second.
The Main Event kicked off today as well and Micheal Binger has jumped out to the quick chip lead with 33,500. Seasoned pros Erick Lindgren and Bill Elder are chasing him as they have 21,000 and 20,000 chips each.
Here is the current top 15 list as of 8:25 PM:
Place/Player/Chip Count
1. Michael Binger – 33,500
2. Sabyl Cohen – 30,000
3. Daniel Alaei – 27,000
4. Chad Batista – 25,500
5. Justin Bonomo – 25,000
6. Jordan Morgan – 22,000
7. Erick Lindgren – 21,000
8. Tim Vance – 21,000
9. Mark Teltscher – 20,500
10. Mark Seif – 20,400
11. Peter Feldman – 20,000
12. Bill Elder – 20,000
13. Alex Kravchenko – 19,500
14. Amir Vahedi – 19,000
15. David Benyamine – 15,000
There is sure to be more flip-flopping among the leaders in this WSOP Circuit tourney so keep checking for more updates.