Kathy Liebert Eliminated by Brock Parker

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

Kathy Liebert has been eliminated at the hands of Brock Parker.  Parker is now up to 80,000.

Eric Lynch Doubles Through Soheil Shamseddin

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

With the board showing J98Q on the turn, Soheil Shamseddin has moved all in from the cutoff, and Eric "Rizen" Lynch studies Shamseddin for a bit before calling with 99 -- a set of nines. Shamseddin turns over QJ for top two pair.

Shamseddin says, "Queen or a jack. Queen or a jack." The river card is the A, and Shamseddin smiles and says, "Or an ace." Lynch wins the pot with his set of nines to double up in chips.

Eric "Rizen" Lynch  -  41,000
Soheil Shamseddin  -  47,000

Tyler Smith Doubles Through Faraz Jaka

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

Tyler Smith was all in for 31,100 with AK against Faraz Jaka's J-J. The board came 10728A, and Smith paired his ace on the river to win the pot and double up in chips.

Tyler Smith  -  64,000
Faraz Jaka  -  106,500

David Williams Eliminated by Pat Walsh

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

David Williams was just eliminated by Pat Walsh.

Pat Walsh  -  71,000
David Williams  -  Eliminated

Erik Seidel Eliminated by Nick Grippo

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

Nick Grippo and Erik Seidel get it all-in preflop with Seidel holding pocket jacks to Grippo's A-Q.  The A-Q prevails and Seidel is eliminated.

Nick Grippo - 87,500
Erik Seidel - eliminated

Ravi Raghavan Bluffs at One

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

Ravi "govshark2" Raghavan raises to 1,700 from the cutoff, Andrew Lichtenberger calls on the button, and the player in the big blinds calls as well.

The trio sees a flop of 542 and the big blind leads out for 2,000.  Raghavan makes it 6,650 to go.  Lichtenberger folded and the player in the big blind calls.  The turn brought the Q and the big blind checked.  Raghavan bet out 14,875 and the other player hardly hesitated before announcing call and shoving all his chips in the middle.

The other player may have believed Raghavan moved all in, but Raghavan still had 10,000 chips behind, so the other player got his remaining 6,000 chips or so back.  

The river brought the 4 and the big blind checked.  Raghavan moved all-in and the other player quickly folded.  Ragahavan let out an audible "Phew" as he turned up K7 for king high and a busted flush draw.

"I can't even beat that," the other player says as Raghavan rakes the pot.

Ravi Raghavan - 73,000

WPT Indiana: Day 2 Begins

Level 6: 300-600, 75 ante

There was no redraw for new seats yesterday, but the tournament staff decided to do one at the start of play, so everyone has new table assignments for Day 2. 

Action today starts in Level 6, with blinds at 300-600 and a 75 ante. Play will continue for five levels, with a one-hour dinner break. With 96 players remaining, the early estimates on media row are that the over-under on the end-of-day field are in the 40-45 range.

Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player - Eric Froehlich

Level 5: 200-400, 50 ante

WPT Goes Hollywood in Indiana

Level 5: 200-400, 50 ante

Today’s action in Indiana offered a refreshing change of pace. One of the new stops on the Season VIII schedule brought 144 players to Lawrenceburg, Indiana and the Hollywood Casino. It was a relaxed feel during Day 1 as players couldn’t help but sweat the NCAA Tournament and even place a few prop bets on the players in the field here.

The Day 1 field was a mix of amateurs, local pros and circuit regulars all battling for their piece of the more than $1.3 million prize pool. The majority of the field survived to see Day 2, as 103 players survived to the end of play. Some of the runners who didn’t make it to the end of the day include Gavin Smith, Billy Kopp, J.J. Liu, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Tom Marchese, Josh Arieh, and Jonathan Little.

While former WPT Player of the Year winner Little hit the rail early, two contenders in this year’s Player of the Year contest are going strong. Faraz Jaka is the current frontrunner in the contest and he posted another impressive Day 1 in Indiana, finishing the day with 144,225. Legends of Poker winner Prahlad Friedman also still has a shot at his second final table of the season and Player of the Year honors. He ended Day 1 43,575.

The player at the top of the chip counts is Eric Froehlich, who ended the day with 149,400 chips.  He is another player with the potential to claim the Player of the Year crown.  Froehlich, who finished in 4th place at this season's Foxwoods World Poker Finals, would need a win here in order to catch up with Jaka.  He doubled up early when his set of kings held up against another player’s set of jacks and picked up even more chips by eliminating Little midway through the day. He is the man to beat heading into Day 2, but there is still a lot of play to be had before the field hits the 12-person money bubble.

WPT Indiana: Day 1 Ends With About 103 Players

Level 5: 200-400, 50 ante

Day 1 comes to an end with about 103 players, and we have gone out into the field to gather up all the official chip counts so we will be posting those to the chip counts page over the next hour or two. We're not sure when the official counts will be released, so we're working late to get the chip counts posted.

Stay tuned.