Is that a prop bet in your pants or are you just happy to see me?
As the Duke of Fremont gets ready for trial, Andrew and Dan are among a field of 200 playing $135 No-Limit Hold’em in the Golden Nugget’s $25,000 guaranteed weekender event. Dave meanwhile hooks it to Planet Hollywood in chase of the Caesars Megabeat (which pays better on a Wednesday afternoon) and damn, that’s a pretty good promo when coupled with their new 20 for 20 freeroll.
At Mandalay Bay this weekend it’s the $10,000 Tiger Jam, and is Wikipedia racist for thinking Phil Ivey = Tiger Woods? The WSOP lays out their summer plan with their annual media conference call. And we check in with David Clark, aka DC n La, from New Orleans, where the WSOP-NOLA circuit event is happening and the WSOP Circuit national championship takes place next week. And when a showdown reveals Dan’s 5c8c < 4s6s … he’s left asking Andrew if it was just an unfortunate river in the midst of sneaky button play or really, against a fellow Texan, just a late-position cliche …
Circuit Gangstas: La n DC celebrate their latest victory in LA by throwing gang signs.
La Sengphet took down another one on the WSOP-circuit — winning a $345 NLH at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, Calif. for her fourth WSOP-C victory (third in a ring-bearing event) and a $25k payday. Her other half, David Clark, made a final table the day before, and won his second ring just a couple stops earlier at WSOP-Tahoe. Their story is becoming sickeningly charming … perhaps even inspirational … showing that true love and poker success can go hand-in-hand for a couple of old-fashioned rounders making their way across an ever-unpredictable poker landscape.
I have a feeling the inaugural WSOP million-dollar freeroll might feature some of the best poker we’ll see throughout the WSOP. The unofficial kick-off for the 2011 WSOP activities — and perhaps opening testament to the dramatically reduced relevance of typical patch players this year — gets underway this Friday.
Below is the official list of who gets to play — final save for point and money totals on the nine players who locked up seats yesterday and played (or are still playing) the Southern regional championship at Harrah’s New Orleans today.
NOTABLE:
98/100 qualifiers are men; the two women are both from Texas.
99/100 qualifiers are American; the other is from Canada.
Plenty of interesting names qualified for 1 of 100 seats over the course of the ever-expansive WSOP-circuit 2010/11 season. And I’m sure some of the best stories come from winners we’ve never heard of … but regardless, several well-known players and a few special-to-Pokerati players will be fighting for 10 payouts ranging from $27,500 to $300,000, including …
La Sengphet (one of only two women who qualified)
David Clark
Josh Evans
Charles “Woody” Moore
Dwight Pilgrim
Allie Prescott
Allen Kessler
Tim West
Bernard Lee
Ali Eslami
Traci Brown (the other female qualifier, also from Texas)
Brandon Adams
Shannon Shorr
Andy Frankenberger
UPDATE: It’s official, both La n DC qualified! For the inaugural minor-leagueChampions LeagueNIT 2011 WSOP-Freeroll World Championship. Whatever it turns out that people end up calling it … we can only hope here at Pokerati for a high-stakes poker lovers’ quarrel at the final table.
La N Dc
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! Finally heading HOME! After 3wks of grinding I am happy and proud to say my Baby has successfully crawled his way into the 10k seat freeroll. Great job Baby, so proud of you!! 😀 We now have 2shots at 300k 🙂
For at least a few players, today is a day kinda like when high-school kids wait to get their college acceptance/rejection letters … waiting to see the final points tally to be official, so they know whether or not they qualified for the WSOP-Circuit National Championship — the $1 million freeroll that will kick off the 2011 WSOP.
Click here for the national leaderboard to see who’s got a seat for sure, and who looks likely as we wait for WSOP officials to turn orange squares into red
Team Pokerati’s La Sengphet is a lock (8th among non automatic qualifiers with 155 points, 2 rings, 7 cashes, $67k) … yay La! You go girl! … and, of course, she also won a non-points pendant for her 1st place finish in the WSOP-Caesars ladies event. And it looks like her other half, David Clark, also will make the cut but just barely (112.5 pts – 1 ring, 9 cashes, $59.5k) … DC made a final table in a non-ring PLO/8 event at WSOP-NOLA for good measure without the points … and he finishes just ahead of Steve Zolotow, who qualifies with the same point total, no rings, just 3 cashes, and $43k in earnings to give you an idea who got in at the bottom of the field.
At the very bottom, interestingly enough, with 100 points, is John Riordan, who won a ring and $210k in Florida. But he will not get a seat this year because he is not yet 21. Will be curious to see how the WSOP handles this case … will he simply get a rain check for when he comes of age? Because if so, when will we see bona fide WSOP-Teen events?!? You know, of course, that I am in the minority willing to admit that I think poker is good for kids.
Another late qualifier is longtime friend of Pokerati’s Josh Evans … who finished 3rd in the WSOP Southern Regional championship last week at Harrah’s New Orleans. Thrilled about that, as it gives us another excuse to re-run that highly acclaimed but not quite award-winning film we created about Josh as he got 6-figure deep in the ’07 main event:
[CORRECTION: Josh got 3rd in the WSOP-NOLA $1,600 main event … which still gives him enough to qualify (140ish pts, 7 cashes $81k) but did not give him the guaranteed seat as just making a Regional Championship final table does.]
Is it too early to call her the Dwyte Pilgrim of 2011?
We were just telling you how well La Sengphet was playing … when boyfriend David Clark gave me a buzz to let me know, yo dude, don’t hate on the short bus! But lest he start thinking he could keep up with his better half … yesterday she took down her second WSOP-circuit ring of the season — winning the last event of WSOP-St. Louis, a $345 NLH.
Not sure on the number of players or payout yet … we’ll of course let you know. And pretty sure that’s another 50 circuit championship points, too, which would put her 4th in the pool of 34 potential non-automatic qualifiers. And depending on the other deep runners in her event and the main … it looks like she may well have won the crown for Harrah’s St. Louis “casino champion” … which would guarantee her a seat in the WSOP’s million-dollar circuit freeroll in late May.
Meanwhile, they are celebrating La’s victory all across Laos … though we did just learn they aren’t doing this all for La … it also happens to be Laotian New Year all week.
CORRECTION: Turns out we overlooked two cashes for David in St. Louis and one in Florida. Pokerati regrets the error(s) … and, of course, basing the entire premise of a post around them. WSOP.com still working to rectify their contribution to the misinformation.
La Sengphet, seen here signing off on her latest final table chipstack, is becoming a familiar face deep in WSOP circuit events.
When resident Team Pokerati lovebirds La Sengphet and David Clark started off their 2011s with matching WSOP circuit rings, we thought we might see another Sosa/McGwire sitch … a back-and-forth poker slugfest propelling the Dallas couple to seats in the new WSOP Circuit National Championship million-dollar freeroll that’ll kick off the 2011 WSOP in late May. It seems we were at least half-right.
Most recently, La made a final table in a $345 Omaha Hi Lo event in St. Louis and followed that with a 13th place finish in a $345 NLH — enough for her to surpass her boyfriend’s total winnings for the year. But perhaps more important — and a more exciting reason for me to be paying attention to relatively minor events at Harrah’s Mid-America — she played her way to 30 more WSOP circuit points!
Of those who don’t automatically qualify, there’ll be some 34 seats won … and La is currently tied for 16th. Click here to understand how WSOP circuit points work. (I just learned myself.) And click here to see the current national leaderboard.
At this point, with just three more circuit stops left — Caesars Palace, Chester, PA, and a regional championship in New Orleans — there’s an extra level of intensity to these otherwise smaller events. Not sure if the national championship, which should prove to be one of the more skill-packed tourney fields of the year, is helping create a new generation of rounder pros, or just answering their call. But either way, with so much on the line for these minor leaguers hoping to build a career … how awesome is La’s hat?
See below, the 2011 family scorecard for Pokerati’s favorite poker couple currently on tour:
Is it too early to call La n DC the Dwyte Pilgrim of poker couples? Don’t wanna jinx anyone … but Team Pokeratiers La Sengphet and David Clark … I’m tellin’ ya … players to watch.
While DC won the first WSOP-circuit ring of 2011 (and $51k) at WSOP-Choctaw, La followed suit at the next circuit stop — Harrah’s Tunica — becoming the first female to win a ring this year. A Pokerati fave from back in the Dallas days, she won a $555 event with 278 players yesterday — paying her $32k. La, of course, finished 7th in the major-league WSOP ladies event this past summer (making her Team Pokerati’s 2010 WSOP MVP), and took 2nd in a non-bling-added ladies event at Choctaw two days after David’s victory.
Adding to the niftiness of this final table … Andy Nguyen, the second-place finisher, is a good friend of La n DC’s and drove with them to the tournament from Dallas to Tunica for his $20k score. The lucky threesome (La does credit hitting a gutshot as a key hand in her victory) say they’re headed to Florida next for the inaugural WSOP-circuit stop at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.
Coincidence that they announced this special tournament yesterday, about 30 minutes into La’s heads-up match? Probably so … but seems like it should be a fun event for poker lovers … not to be confused with far more common poker-lovers.
Tomorrow — Sunday, 13 Feb 2011, starting at 1 pm. Buy-in is $160 per couple … 7,500 starting chips. Caesars Poker management explains:
This tournament will feature a structure where you and your partner will switch every 15 minutes playing 30 minute blind levels. At the final table couples will switch every 20 minutes playing 40 minute blind levels.
Hmm, sounds like a PR email I got for Las Vegas Swingers Ball during AVN …
No word on whether or not Caesars expects a rash of gay commitment ceremonies among local Vegas grinders — nowhere else to be on Valentine’s weekend, obv — who might see a competitive advantage for any two dudes willing to hold each other’s hand while sharing chipstacks.
Rising poker couple: DC n La ring in the new year with a WSOP bang to confirm their his-and-her badass status.
Move over Tom and Julie Schneider … you two were like so ’07-’09. The new, reigning king-and-queen power couple of Team Pokerati are DC n La. Sure, DC wasn’t wearing a Pokerati patch when he took down the first ring event of the inaugural WSOP-Choctaw … but hey, that’s never stopped us before from taking claim to a player with lots of chips after putting up a big win. (And of the 8 patches we have left, only three of those still have glue!)
Two days after David Clark‘s win in Durant, Oklahoma (the closest thing to the Dallas market the WSOP could find), his girlfriend, La Sengphet, got 2nd place in the $235 Ladies Event for a $5k payday. La, of course, was Team Pokerati’s 2010 WSOP MVP — making the final table of the ladies event (7th place, $22k) to add to her previous big scores in an ’09 Venetian Deep Stack (2nd, $31k) and Caesars Mega Stack (1st, $12k). (She’s Asian, too, btw.)
Also at the final table in Oklahoma with DC was friend o’ Pokerati Josh Evans, who finished 6th for $10k. You may remember Josh for tearing up a second-chance tourney at the ’07 WSOP before making a deep run in the main event where he made his video debut in this fine poker film, which has since become an “underground” cult classic:
Wish I coulda been there. Great to see players I grew up with (poker-wise) in the Dallas boomtime poker rooms represent! Also it’s kinda a reminder why these sorts of “small” events matter to skillful grinders, even without online sponsorship in play. (After all, where else can you expect to find the next Dwyte Pilgrim?) Also cool to see Choctaw, with its brand spankin’ new casino-resort built by Dallas poker money, able to ship some cash back to Texas.
Click below to see more of DC n La in recent Pokerati-branded action:
