Archive 080815

TOURNAMENT UPDATES:

-SCHUYLER THORNTON WINS ANTE UP MAIN EVENT IN PEARL RIVER:

(First off quick kudos to Eric Comer, Paul Dutsch and the staff who put together a great event up in Pearl River.)

Thornton, a Texas native, crushed the field and got started early in flight C. We should know he was on the right of one GCP's principals and quickly built a 100k stack in early levels. He made a move with 77 against pocket kings and binked a seven. There was no looking back and two days later he earned 24k for first. BJ McBrayer finsihed fourth for just under 8k adding to his multiple cashes for the week. Philip Walsh also cashed in multiple events over the series.

-BIERMAN RUNS DEEP IN INDIANA:

In the WSOPC Main Event, NOLA's Steve Bierman just missed a final table finishing 15th. The cash earned him 7.7k. He also pipped Adam Friedman, a player with Hellmuthian self-belief, and Kurt Jewell. Great run Steve.

-HEAD OF THE TABLE:

In the same event Lindale, Georgia's Russ Head won first place. Last year Head just missed the ring and placed second. This yeaer he wouldn't be denied and after a marathon heads up battle, Head won 123k for first.

BEAU RIVAGE MAIN EVENT RESULTS:
-CARTTWRIGHT NIPS WUNSTEL:
In heads up play Kyle Cartwright and Corrie Wunstel got it all in on the flop with Corrie holding pocket kings and Kyle trying to hit a massive draw. Confident the pot with similar stacks would decide the tournament a deal was made based on their equity in the hand. Cartwright with the larger stack hit his hand and got the W.

A ton of locals were in contention early as Baton Rouge rounder Wally Chambers earned the mantle of day one chip leader with 135k. Sley Sanchez of New Orleans finished only a hair behind at 134k. Claudia Crawford, Gordon Hardy, Rebecca Campbell, Paul Hebert, Frank Alpandinar, Kwong IP and Alex Wood all returned in the top twenty. Ashley Butler and Dave Chocheles of NOLA also made day two.

Once they got to 27 players they started paying people. Dave Chocheles stalled out at 21st fo 3.4k. Chip Ervin went out one spot later for the same amount. Jeff Sager and Fred Sigur of NOLA made it a pay jump higher winning 4.4k for 17th and 16th places respectively. Claudia Crawford and Wally Chambers finished 14th and 15th for 5.5k.

Three more NOLA based playes Mikhail Karasoulis, Don Dove, and Jeremy Gaubert earned 6.5k and just missed the final table. The money started to get good as the remaining nine players contended for the title. This is how things offically shaked out:

1st KYLE CARTWRIGHT BARTLETT, TN $84,488
2nd CORRIE WUNSTEL BATON ROUGE,LA $44,829
3rd STEVEN RASH ST. GEORGE ISLAND $31,035
4th HAI NGUYEN PENSACOLA, FL $26,207
5th AMIR SAHWBDIVANI IRAN $22,414
6th SAM AISHURIEKI PENSACOLA, FL $18,966
7th MATTEW GREEN CULLMAN, AL $15,518
8th RON LANE MOBILE, AL $12,069
9th JAMES BROWNE GALVESTON, TX $8,621 .

BEAU RIVAGE RESULTS:

-BIERMAN CHOPS SENIORS:
With four players remaining in the seniors a deal was made between chipleader Edwin Childress of Arab, AL, Tommy McCollum of Biloxi, Donald Fulps of Columbus, GA and New Orleans' own Steve B ierman. Also cashing at the final table, David Pleat of Destin, Russell Duval and Len Emmanuel both of Long Beach, MS and Mark Ryan of Slidell.

-WATTS GETS THE W:
Joel Watts of Ocean Springs, MS won 5k for first place in the 6 handed No Limit Hold'em With Boutnties event. He beat D'Iberville's Don Hall in heads up play. Reed Cooley of Santa Rosa Beach, FL finished third. Slidell's Brian Fontana, Brandon Valera of Pensacola and David Nicholson rounded out the final table. Also cashing Lacey Coffey and Rob Mariano.

-BANG BANG MBANG:
Isua Mbang of Slidell, LA won 5.3k for first in Event 9. Lacey Coffey of Biloxi added to his stellar seris with another final table (3rd, 1.9k). Larry Alexander of Grand Bay, AL finished 4th. The final table included: Sam Ellis of Hernando, MS, 5th, Thu Tran of Mobile, 6th, Handri Maskudi of Lafayette, LA, 7th and Jason Arrington of Gulf Shores, 8th. Also cashing Larry Moore and Chip Ervin.

-LANSDON WINS:
Montgomery, AL native Matt Landson (pictured) won 4k for first in Event 10. The PLO 8 or Better event featured Eric Kaplan, Tom Franklin, Keith Ray and Bobby Washington at the final table.

-PRAISE NUSSRALLAH:
Steve Nussrallah of Alpharetta, GA won 7k for first place. Tom Franklin finished third for 2.8k. Bobby Moree of Pearl River, LA, Dennis Pasentine of Madeville, LA and Hiep Doan of Marrero, LA finished 4th thu 6th. Tam Phan of D'Iberville, MS and Robbie Matthews of Denham Springs, LA also cashed.

-SIMON SAYS CHAMPIONSHIP:
The gregarious Simon Philip of Pensacola, FL won event 13. Handri Maksudi of Lafayette, LA finished second. Three locals comprised 3rd through 5th: Nick Machi, Ted Barrick and Nash Ball. Jerry Byrd of Bay Minette, AL, Randy Kennedy of Mobile, AL and Troy Franklin also made the final table and cashed.

BEAU RIVAGE RESULTS:

-K-IMPOSSIBLE CHOP: The massive 250k reentry tournament concluded before they reached the final table. After a rumored 10 way chop Terry Kim of Marietta, GA earned 50k and everybody else 18k. Not a misprint folks. First was to pay over 60k. Kim and short stacks like Mark Rose were big, big (ICM) winners. The rest of the final table included Doug Claybrook of Lake Charles, LA; Alan Morgan of St. Louis; Fred Dominga of Panama City, FL; Robert Smith of Milton, FL; and Monroe Whitman of Tallahassee.

The unlucky players to bust just before the chop? Mike Horchoff and Judy Finch. Want to know who else cashed? Go here as we aren't listing all 150.

Though we will cherry pick some names right now that we saw in a quick scan (with apologies to all the friends we missed). So congrats (to everybody): 25th Katie Pasano, Chris Baudean, Kenny Milam, Tai Cao, Jeff Sager, Jeter Brock, Bruce Little, Chris Sumrall, Kris Kent, and Dave Chocheles.

JETER HEATER: Jeter Brock won a touch under 5k for first place in the Omaha

8 or Better Event 2. He beat Peter Feriozzi of Milton, FL in heads up play. Dan Scott of NOLA finished 3rd. Congrats also to Lorelei Stallings of Gulf Shores, AL who bagged fourth. Jeter definitely qualifies as one of the good guys at the table. A well deserved championship for him.

ALL ABOUT THE ROOSEVELTS: Norcross, GA's Roosevelt Clack won 9k for first place in the renty event. Also at the final table Joe Hebert of Metairie, Casssandra Williams of Tallahassee and Tim Hill of Prentiss, MS. Janice Randall and Charlie Gelvin both were near misses for the final table.

HEBERT SHARES: Joe Hebert, Tom Franklin and CL Joe Hurst of Tallahasse, FL chopped Event 5. Congrats to Nesrin Can of Turkey, Garland Thomas of Birmingham, Doug Segers of Vicksburg, MS and Michelle Russo for cashing.

BEAU RIVAGE NEWS:

-FRIDAY! Their annual fall festival of poker starts Friday with a 250k guarantee on a $355 buy-in. You'll have not one, not two but three flights to attempt to advance. Here is the complete schedule.

Other highlights: two flights of the $1610 Main Event also with a 250k guarantee, 6Max, PLO and a Seniors event. Room rates are $69 during the week and $109 on the weekend for poker players.

-HILLMAN TOPS 50K! The Beau's monthly 50k guarantee whittled 264 players down to just Lucas Hillman (pictured left) of Raleigh, MS and local Barry Champion. Hillman pocketed 18k, Champion a hair under 10k, and Carolos Tirado took third for 6.9k.

A ton of the usal suspects cashed this event including Mo Moeini, Phil Leblanc, Bert Ladner, Judy Rhodes, Dustin Baily, David DelChamps, Thu Tran, and Don Crabtree.

-NEW POKER ROOM! If you haven't been to the jewel on the coast in a while and are looking to play some cash.
, don't get lost. Instead of going to the back of the casino and going left. Do the opposite. You'll want to take a hard right and head to the old Coast restaurant to see the new digs.

WSOP MAIN EVENT INFO:

-Thanks to the had work of Kenny Milam, the WSOP Main Event Satellite will be coming back to Harrahs New Orleans.

Next Sunday, September 13th you can win a seat into the 2016 WSOP Main Event. Buyin is $250 adds on and rebuys $100. They are also throwing in a seat to their December Event.

-Speaking of WSOP Main Events. TV Coverage starts September 14th on ESPN at 7pm. Spoiler alert: expect to see a lot of Daniel Negreanu.

-If you are interested in more spoilers regarding the November Nine here's an aticle by Chad Holloway profiling them..

We're not fully back... but almost. Thanks for the patience people! A giant thank you to the hard work of Pinnacle for getting us back up and helping us through the process. More to come...

And why were we offline? Yes, we got hacked and then so did the entire server on which our site is hosted. All the other sites went offline and it's been a long slog to start getting things back up.

HARWOOD, MASEK AND FISH FINAL THREE OF NATTY:

DARRYLL FISH STICKS TIL THIRD, HARWOOD WINS SECOND BRACELET, ALEX MASEK GETS EIGHT RINGS BUT NO BLING:

Sometimes the National Championship, which is the carrot on the stick for players to chase the WSOP-C points ends up like last year with an outsider winning things. This year Lonnie Harwood, who technically bought in and didn't qualify, won the accolades but if anybody has Circuit cred it's her. Actually, wait if anybody has circuit cred it's Alex Masek. He holds the record with 8 circuit rings but could not best Harwood in heads up play. Ari Engel another ridiculously bejeweled circuit reg finished 13th. Last years champ Dominik Nitsche min cashed as did Michael Sanders.

The good loot went to Loni though as she earned 341k for first. Masek made 211k for second and Fish 152k for third. Fish had a tough summer but 152k cures a lot of ills.

BEAU RIVAGES 50KS

HUGO DEINKEN AND DON DOVE CHOP ONE, KEVIN BAKER RUNS THE THE SHOW ON THE SECOND:

A couple of Harrahs weekly tournament regs chopped up the bulk of the money in the June 50k tournament at the Beau Rivage. Hugo Deinken gets the first place plaudits. Here are the results:

Deinken

Hugo

New Orleans, LA

$16,368

Dove

Don

New Orleans, LA

$8,839

Lorenz

Jeremiah

Biloxi, MS

$5,893

Pierce

Robert

Slidell, LA

$5,238

Champion

Barry

Andalusia, AL

$4,583

Adams

Chris

Clayton, NC

$3,929

Coffey

Lacey

Biloxi, MS

$3,274

Coker

Joyce

Millbrook, AL

$2,619

Hayes

Alfred

Lake Charles, LA

$1,964

Beaudette

Cody

Slidell, LA

$1,571

Ladner

Bert

Biloxi, MS

$1,571

Banks

LaDarren

Tuscaloosa, AL

$1,571

Nguyen

Anthony

New Orleans, LA

$1,375

Curtis

Andrew

Phenix City, AL

$1,375

Sa

Luiz

Baton Rouge, LA

$1,375

Yates

Matt

Gulfport, MS

$1,310

Korab

Mazen

Crowley, CA

$1,310

Gaubert

Jeremy

Thibodeaux, LA

$1,310

KEVIN BAKER, OF LA GRANGE GEORGIA, BESTS FINAL TABLE THAT INCLUDES CHRIS BAUDEAN OF NEW ORLEANS FOR JULY TITLE.

Sorry couldn't find complete results for this one. Regardless congrats to all that cashed. NEXT 50K August 15th...

WSOP MAIN EVENT 2015

"TRUCKER" KENNY MILAM CONTINUES STACKING CHIPS AND JOINS GCP.NET CO-OWNER BILL PHILLIPS ON TO DAY 5:

These 2 players are a main staple at the Harrahs weekly tournaments and they prove that with hard work and perseverance...you can be successful in this game. I tried to think of all the HHs that we have all dissected together...years worth. It would be nice to see them both make the final table.

With his patented Milam Trucking hat on and the cowboy boots on...local poker player Kenny Milam moves on to day 5 of the biggest tournament of the year. He bags right at 376k. Again...it Would be pretty cool if he makes the Final Table and Vegas is flooded with Milam Trucking hats and shirts.

"Wild Bill" Phillips...What can I say here except if there was ever a person in this world that deserves this...it is you. Today may be the biggest day of your life. No matter what happens...you have a ton of people who are proud of you starting with 3 small ones back in Louisiana(Whats up with Signal Mountain, TN...lol)...time to do work kid.

FOR ALL THE LOCALS STUCK BACK IN CAJUN LAND...COUSHATTA IS RUNNING THEIR SUMMER POKER CLASSIC

Coushatta Casino and Resort in Kinder...great pool...same structures but they have added a seniors event on the Tuesday. Wednesday is the "Survivor" tourney where you can win your seat into both the $500 on Thurs...and the $1000 Main Event on Friday. The Buy-in is a straight $1k...and they have strategically placed Free self serve Icee Machines through out the whole cosino. Google then to get more info.

WSOP MAIN EVENT 2015

"TRUCKER" KENNY MILAM STACKING CHIPS:

With is patented Milam Trucking hat on and the cowboy boots on...local poker player Kenny Milam bags a nice stack of $219k. Would be pretty cool if he makes the Final Table and Vegas is flooded with Milam Trucking hats and shirts.

Other GCPers bagging nicely are Andrew Stringer...Tomas Teran is right there with Kenny. ..Mike "The Mouth" Matusow has a little over $200k...Chris Moorman at $190k...Kyle Cartwright has around 175ish...Brian Hawkins(pic) is at 135

We have a single "Minion" left after day one...co-owner of this site "Wild Bill" Phillips. He bagged somewhere around $40kish. Lots of fireworks went off on the private minion page as we had an investor who decided to post some stuff that was considered "Inappropriate" to many. For those of us who know and have played with this person in then past...we actually thought his FB account might have been hacked...either that or he was on one hell of a bender when he posted was he did...Onto positive notes..."Wild Bill" will be crushing it today at the Rio...I predict he bags 137K which I would think will be a little above avg. LETS GO BILL!!

A little good luck to Kenny...I found this pic of him sporting a Bama make that an Arkansas hat.

WUNSTEL WITH ALL THE CHIPS, WSOP UPDATE:

WUNSTEL FIRST IN CHIPS IN PLO EVENT WITH 19 LEFT:

Keep knocking on the door and just maybe somebody will answer. A summer of deep runs by local players continues, hopefully this time a bracelet will be waiting for Corrie Wunstel when the door is finally answered. So far, so good.

The Baton Rouge player has almost double the stack of second place Shane Abbot with 1.2 million. Matt Colvin of Dallas, TX is in third with 520k. Wunstel won a massive at the end of last night to bring a lot of bullets back for his mission today.

Also, in contention is the ever dangerous Jared Ingles of Dry Prong, LA. He's got 292k. First place pays 266k. Every player is guaranteed 8k, with the laddering up to the bigger paydays about a table away. GCP's Jonathan Little busted in 25th place, Jonathan Gaviao of Gainseville, TX left in 23rd place. Jason Gladden of Hattiesburg, MS made the money, so too San Antonio's Jim Willerson, Knoxville's Eric Brelsford, and Houston's Seth Bearden.

Good luck to Jared and Corrie today. Get that bling. Also, we saw that Caufman Talley added another of many WSOP cashes this year in the Split Format. Sean Winter of Jacksonville went deep in the 10k Six Handed championship finishing 15th and winning 27k.

JASON MERCIER WINS FOURTH BRACELET:

It's been a good year to be from Florida. Mercier won the 5k No Limit Hold'em Event and 633K. The Fort Lauderdale pro is quickly climbing the short list of multiple bracelet winners.

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MONSTER STACKS AND MORE AT WSOP:

BAROUSSE OVER A MILLION:

There are only seven players with bigger stacks than Blake Barousse. There are also only 271 others that stand in his way from his first bracelet. With 1,003,000 in chips he'll have a lot of ammunition to fire in Day 3 of the Monster stack tournament. The players return already in the money and guaranteed 6k at the cashier's cage. The number they are all looking at is the 1.2 million for first.

Hoyt Corkins went to bed with 844k in his bag. Jason Su of Austin, TX will return to 643k, fellow Texan bryan Sneed of Houston has 399k. Kyle Cartwright finished with 375k. Michael Horchoff of River Ridge, LA is making another run with 352k. Tim Burt ended the night with 324k. Houstonians Pedro Rios (275k) and Jackson White (271k) got some work to do but still bagged. Baton Rouge's Josh Mancuso is cashing again in another gimick event and also returns for day 3. So too, friend of GCP Jeremy Halaska.

Doug Ashmore of Houston made the money but didn't make day 3. He was joined at the cashier's cage by three players from Autin, TX; Mark Napolitano and John Hay and Raouf Malek. Also cashing were Dustin Brunner of Jasper, AL, Rick Basham of Destin, FL, Herb Montalbano of Addison, TX, Stephen Falcon of Houston, Luther Tran of Bayou La Batre, AL, and Andrew Meibaum of Metaire, LA.

LITTLE FINISHES SIXTH AND RELEASES NEW BOOK:

In a much more subdued and more likeable manner than Phil Hellmuth Jonathan Little is a master of self-promotion. What's he do on the night of his book release (also features chapters by fellow Gulf Coasters Chad Holloway and Ed Miller)? He makes a final table in the 5k NLHE 8 Handed event. Then he manages to bust just in time to go sign some books for his fans. 85k payday for Jonathan.

Cord Garcia of Houston second bracelet chase of the series ended in 25th place. Grayson Ramage of Austin TX won 11k for 35th and also from the same hometown (feel like we've mentioned Austin a lot this update) Sampath De Silva won just under 10k for 48th.

BARBOUR FALLS TO FELLOW FLORIDIAN IN WSOP 1500 NLHE:

NATASHA BARBOUR WINS 284K FOR SECOND:

Barbour, featured in our "Ladies" section, link above, is one of a ton of great female players from our region. She proved it again as she fell in heads up action to Ben Zamani (Boca Raton) who won 460k to go with the bracelet. In basketball there is a phrase "Live by the Three, Die by the Three," in poker that could easily by "Live by the Bluff, Die by the Bluff."

Barbour bowed out after repping the type of hand her opponent had on a two ace board. She's capable of brilliant, pressure applying bluffs and this time it just didn't work out for her. Her top two finish was well deserved as she made a tremendous fold to not go out very early at the final table when her AQ rivered an Ace. However, she figured out her opponent's shove meant he had better (he did AK).

Fun final table to watch although we hated the way it started. When it was ten handed Caufman Talley of Lafayette flopped a set of 8s against chipleader Ben Zamani. Only problem, Zamani flopped a set of aces to bust Talley. Just gross. Talley earned 26k. Next we turned our rooting attention to Baton Rouge's Kevin Benoit only to see him the first player eliminated from the official final table earning 33k for ninth. Great run by both players.

Also, in the money were Houstonians Darrell Funk of Houston, Van Vandervoort, Jason Ryan, Jason Lang, Melanie Weisner, Craig Friou, Jackson White. Also cashing: Enrique Melguizo of Austin, Daniel Weiman of Atlanta, David Lin of Auburn, AL, Jason Lee of Gainesville, FL, Shannon Shorr, and Jason Mtichell of St. Augustine

LOCALS DEEP, HELLMUTH'S 14th, DEEP STACKS FOR CHEAP:

SHORR CLOSE, 6 HANDED SCORES:

It might surprise you to discover Shannon Shorr has yet to win a WSOP bracelet. In the 1500 NLHE event he came really close finishing 5th for 43k. James Sievers of Monroe, LA finished 22nd. One event later Jovon Williams of Gretna, LA and David Nicholson both made the top 40 of the popular 6 Handed format.

MILLIONAIRE MAKER LOADED FINAL TABLE:

The point of the low buy-in Millionaire Maker is to give some novice a shot at a WSOP bracelet and a huge score. That didn't keep Mike Sexton, Erick "Don't Lend'em" Lindgren, or Oivier Busquet from crashing the final table. However Adrian Buckley of Westminister, CO walked away with the most loot of the bunch. The highest finishing locals were Jonathan Tamayo (36k) of Humble, TX, Hoyt Corkins (29k) of Glenwood, AL, and Michael Horchoff (16k) of River Ridge, LA.

PHIL HELLMUTH WINS BRACELET 14:

For a guy who can't play or adapt, Phil Hellmuth runs pretty good. How's this for stas: 109 cashes, 52 Final Tables, 14 Bracelets. Yeah, you are reading that correcting in just under half the tournaments he's cashed in at the WSOP he's made the final table. In just under 1/3rd of the final tables he's made he's won the tournament. His second place finishes is almost as high--meaning the guy gets to the best part of the money over and over again. This time he won a 10k Razz event, the same game he lost to Ted Forrest heads up to last year. Oh yeah, his last bracelet was also in Razz. He also earned 271k for his time.

MORE TO RIO THAN JUST RING EVENTS:

Andy Moon (Vidalia, LA) and Steve Bierman (NOLA) are just a couple of local players cashing in the massive deep stack fields. With first place prizes that tickle 60K not a bad investment for $235. Go here for complete results.

WSOP: MILLY MAKER DAY 1 CHIP COUNTS:

TALLEY, NICHOLSON, HORCHOFF, COSPOLICH AND MORE MAKE DAY TWO:

Lots of rooting interests chasing glory and over one million dollars. 1130 players returned after 7275 entrants started action in two flights. Houston native Cord Garcia who won the Colossus is in the mix, trying to pull off a double in the "gimmick" events. Gimmick events? Monster fields with low buy-ins and cute names; couple more left with the Monster Stack and Lucky 777 still to play. First place will pay over 1.2 million and everybody at the final table will earn over 115k. Bubble should burst early. It's an 11 am restart.

Caufman Talley, Lafayette, 104k
David Nicholson, Perkinston, MS 86.6k
Patrick Horrigan, NOLA 77k
Josh Mancuso, Baton Rouge, 71k
Michael Horchoff (pictured), River Ridgeg, LA 52k
Andy Moon, Vidalia, LA 42.2k
Brian Cospolich, River Ridge, LA 38k
Earl Barron, 40k, Clarksdale, MS
Joseph Schmitt, NOLA 23.4k
Kevin Baker, LaGrange, GA 19.3k
Thomas Pullens, Picayune, MS 18.2
Melanie Weisner, Houston, TX 12.6

WSOP, BRACELETS, CASHES AND CHEATS:

LEHR STEERS CLEAR OF ALLEDGED CHEAT AND WINS BRACELET:

Bracelet number two found its way to Keith Lehr's wrist when he prevailed in the 10k Heads-up No Limit Championship. The Shreveport nativve won 334k after dispatching Paul Volpe in pretty quick fashion in his final match. The Shreveport gambler won his first bracelet 12 years ago, this one arguably was much harder. Valeriu Coca his quarter final opponent has been accused of cheating, but a leery Lehr managed to beat him anyway.

HOUSTON WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM:

We sniffed out a storyline in the way Texans and Houstonians were attacking the Colossus. When the dust settled Cord Garcia won the event and fellow Houstonian Ray Henson finished third. The final table included some crazy hands most notably the three way all in to eliminate Paul Lentz in fourth place. Garcia bet, Paul Lentz shoved, Henson reshoved, and Garcia insta-called with AA. Lentz held Ac2c and Henson AK. That pot pushed Garcia to the title. Congrats to Caufman Talley who finished 17th winning 38k. Bobby Toye won a hair over 5k and Mihail Karasoulis of Metairie won exactly 5k finishing 499th.

SHORR FIFTH IN 1500 NLHE:

GCP blogger Shannon Shorr earned 43k finishing fifth in Event 11. The Tuscaloosa, AL pro is soon to turn 30, and his birthday present to himself of a bracelet may have to wait a few days. James Siever of Monroe, LA added another cash to his WSOP with a 23rd place finish.

PAUL HEBERT GETS BIGGEST CAREER CASH AT VENETIAN:

Thanks to Kenny Milam for this tidbit... Pierre Part, Louisiana's native son Paul Hevert won 49k in the 600 NLHE 120k guarantee event. They did a three way chop and he got the second place chunk. Congrats to Paul who is a fixture on the Gulf Coast scene. We've heard he may be parlaying this score into a WSOP Main Event seat. Good luck Paul.

ANOTHER POKER ICON PASSES, AND BLOGS, BLOGS, BLOGS:

FRESH BLOGGINGS ABOUND ALL OVER:

Monkey and Jonathan Little give WSOP tips. Nolan Dalla continues to pump out quality content from the center of the poker world. Davy Murrah talks poker friends. Shannon Shorr checks in before his 30th birthday. Start clicking some good reads.

ESKIMO CLARK PASSES:

Clark, a one of kind old school gambler, originally from New Orleans recently died. Chad Holloway (pokernews) and Nolan Dalla (look left) both recently wrote fair remembrances of a man who has been in some of poker's biggest games. That said of late he's problem even more famous for his ability to angle for a stake to get back in those games. His first half of a long poker career was notable for his wins. His second half, perhpas is best summed up by a famous, but probably unture urban legend about Clark. It involved him and fellow scamp Sam Grizzle in a WSOP bathroom. "Somebody" overheard the follow the conversation.

Sam: How you doing today Eskimo, you got any chips?
Eskimo: I got a bunch how about you?
Sam: Stacks and stacks. You want trade 10%?
Eskimo: Absolutely.
(Clark walks out and a third player approaches Grizzle)
Player: You got a raw deal, Eskimo just busted, he doesn't have any chips.
Sam: Awww, that's okay, I never even bought in.

COLOSSUS UPDATE:

A COLOSSAL COLONIC:

Poker players inherently possess some common skillsets and qualities. Many of our shared traits like critical thinking and a natural questioning of authority can make us good brave poker players. That streak of independence combined with intelligence at times can produce a massive group who are all really good at doing one other thing besides poker and that's complaining and complaining and complaining some more. Since, we don't always agree it means any decision a floor makes will have at least one person foaming at the mouth. Makes running a tournament tough to do as literally every guy in the room thinks he's the smartest guy there and he can do it better. To read the rest head over to Wild Bill's blog: DINE ON THE WHALES.

COLOSSUS UPDATE:

DREAM STILL ALIVE:

There are roughly 500 players still with a shot at winning the Colossus. Friend of GCP Caufman Talley is 21st in chips. Seems like it's his turn considering how well his running mates have done so far this series. Anothere big storlyine; they do everything big in Texas so it's no surprise the names of Texans, particularily Houstonians litter the chip counts and payouts for an event called the Colossus. At the top and 12th in chips is grinder Ray Henson from Houston. Behind him David Chen, Lance Garcia, Gabriel Andrade, Ted Leva, Isidro Sifuentes, Jose Cavazos, Josh Billingsley, David Aue, Sam Robinson, and Bassel Assi. Also with chips and a prayer, Greg James Vicksburg, MS, Ryan Lawson, San Antonio, Thu Tran, Mobile, AL, Bobby Toye Baton Rouge, Gates Harris West Point, MS, John Dolan, and Mihail Karasoulis, Metairie, LA.

COLOSSUS CASHING:

Did we mention Houstonians and Texans had a field day in this event? Good because a slew of players from Houston made the money including: Dan Schmiech, Larry Karambis, Christopher Clayton, Douglas Ashmore, Hunter Frey, John Sisneros, Mojgan Stringham, Christopher Hall, Mitchell Moore, and Kevin Casey. Austin almost matched Houston for Texans in the money including: Brian Rue, Gary Harvey, Jay Lee, Cody Ross, John Duncan. San Antonio featured Brad Hanson, Maziar Keshavarzi, Shaun Dery, and Betsy Rudell.

Alabamians in the money included bracelet winner Corey Harrison, Birmingham, Nathan Willis, Florence, and Thomas Bak of Muscle Shoals. Louisianians had a few more with Jimmy Patton, Oakdale, Chris Martin, Pride, Frank Folino, Luling, Gabriel Daspit, Shreveport, Danny Dorcey Chamette, Illyer Kamberi, Bossier City, Josh Mancuso (pictured channeling Phil Hellmuth behind him--from Rex Clinkscales twitter feed), Baton Rouge, and Lafayetters Tai Cao, Eric Matthieu and Kim Lejeune.

Mississippians in the money included; Matt Lansdon, Biloxi, Leslie Roussell, Laurel, Robert Briggs, Madison, and Elton BeBee Ridgeland. Also congrats to Brian Walsingham, Kristen Deardorff and Chen Chen for cashing. On the other side of our footprint congrats to Gloria Whimper, Kelley Slay, James Duguid, David Jackson, of Jacksonville, FL.

HYPERACTIVE:

His friend Corrie Wunstel made a deep run in the 5k event and BlakeB couldn't help but go deep in the 1k Hyper Holdem Event. It's like a Turbo but faster (another new to the WSOP event). Barousse led a group of Louisiana players as they sprinted into the money. He finished 16th for 9k. Joining him at a busy cashier's cage were Judy Leblanc of New Iberia, Ryan Lenaghan, and Jame Sievers of Monroe. Also in the money Philip Hui and James Scarpulla of San Antonio as well as Jason Mercier. Actor James Woods followed up a Shoot-out final table with another in the money finish.

WSOP BEGINS:

5K DEEP RUN BY CORRIE WUNSTEL:

Corrie Wunstel gave Gulf Coasters an early sweat to the hot, fresh World Series of Poker 2015 edition. In the 5k No Limit Hold'Em Event he made day two with 20 other players. A field loaded with pros including second place finisher bryn Kenny, Greg Merson (4th), Amir Lehavot, Byron Kaverman, Doc Sands, and Nam Le. Unfortunately, he ran top two into a straight early on to end his bracelet hopes. Still earned over 14k. Great run Slim!

MORTON DAVIS FINISHES 11TH IN CASINO EMPLOYEES EVENT 1:

Okay we fibbed, the earliest sweat for Gulf Coasters, particulariy for those that Splash the Pot or members of Deez Nits out of Pensacola was Morton Davis. In event one, which awards a bracelet but no POY points Davis ran well early. He finished 12th after his overpair ran into a set and won 4.5k for his effort.

NICHOLSON WITH CHIPS... IN THE MONEY:

David Nicholson returns with 99k in the $1500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better. Only 48 other players stand between him and a bracelet, but most have more chips... for now. Ky MacPherson of Austin, TX also returns as does Douglass Moss of Valdosta, GA. Captain Tom Franklin added to his long list of cashes but has already visited the cashier's cage and will not be purchasing a New World Series Champion jacket in honor of this event.

COLOSSUS $565 LOTTO DAY1A RESULTS:

Laurel, MS's Leslie Roussell garnered the biggest stack of Gulf Coasters in the first flight with 81.3k. Erick Lindgren has his long list of debtees also advanced. Brian Walsingham made it through with 44k as too TK Miles and Shannon Shorr. Also bagging were a trio of Lafayetters headlined by Tai Cao and including Eric Matthieu and Brandon Hess. Ryan Lee of Hammond, Jason Gooch of Ruston, LA, and Frank Folino of Luling also put a chip count and chippies into a large plastic bag. Good luck all.

COLOSSUS $565 LOTTO DAY1B RESULTS:

Kristen Deardorff, formerly of Gulfport, finished in top 100 of chips. Duy Tran of TN bagged 57.9k. Gabriel Daspit, Shreveport. Other locals returning include: Matt Marsoobian of Gulfport, MS, Matt Landson of Biloxi, MS, Danny Dorcey of Chalmette, LA, Stephen Pirri of Metairie, and Jimmy Patton of Oakdale, LA. Good luck all.

WSOP ZOMBIES, MINIONS, AND MISSISSIPPI MUD:

MONKEY MINIONS BACK FOR UNFINISHED MONKEY BUSINESS!

Last year the minions invaded the Rio for the WSOP Main Event for the first time ever. Complete story, involving 40k in cash and a truck stop here. This year the roster has changed a little but the group is coming back for more and planning on deeper runs. If you are interested in owning a piece of the minions you need to go right here right now as shares are selling briskly. Congrats to Seville Hale, Michael "Carwash" Schneider, and GCP's Wild Bill Phillips on their selection, and thanks to Will Souther for spearheading this effort again.

CHAD HOLLOWAY'S ZOMBIES ATTACK THE WSOP:

The former Tulane law student won a bracelet a couple of years ago and now debuts his first ever comic at the WSOP. Not just any comic, one an Academy Award winner requested to be in.   This guy is truly living the life. You can buy the WSOZ (World Series of Zombies) comic now at Comixologoy ( a digital version) for $1.99. The limited edition paper version will be available for purchase at the Blue Shark Optics booth in the Rio for $5.00.

Walking around the Rio about halfway through the Series, perhaps this concept will seem obvious to you. Players are kind in that groggy punchdrunk daze. Course most them are not undead and nor are they focused on eating your brains.   Chad asks the question what if they were? This book looks like a lot of fun.

INTERNET POKER IN THE MISSISSIPPI MUD:

On the docket before online poker gets legalized are the more attractive additions of sports betting and lottery games. While the casinos are slumping and that seems like an opening to increase taxable gambling revenues lawmakers don't quite figure it that way. Rather they cite the curious stat that half of Mississippi's residents don't have a computer or Internet Access (you know... you can get the Internet on the computer these days) as evidence of... what? That the other half doesn't want to play poker. to read more of your elected officials "thoughts" go to Cardplayer here.

JASON MERCIER'S INTERNET POKER GAME IN THE OPPOSITE OF MUD:

The Florida pro and GCP Blogger can't stop scooping Scoop events over on Pokerstars. Course he to habitate in Holland to win all those online poker tournaments but Dutch life is agreeing with him. He's won three events in the last week and as of this writing is deep in a few more.