Louisiana’s Jonathan Poche is having quite a month on the Circuit. Barely a week after winning the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event in New Orleans for $121,000, Poche is the overwhelming chip leader at the WSOP-C National Championship final table at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Poche entered Day 2 second in chips, trailing only La Sengphet, but cruised his way to a massive stack to put himself in excellent position for the $300,000 first-place prize and his first WSOP bracelet. The 29-year-old has 534,000 chips entering the final table, more than double any of the other players remaining.
Thirty-five of the original 97 players advanced to Saturday’s Day 2, and several familiar faces made early exits from the $1 million freeroll event. Former WSOP Circuit winners Brian Ali and Kenny “Super Tuan” Nguyen were among the first eliminated, and they were joined by three-time WSOP-C champion Dwyte Pilgrim and two-time winner Kyle Cartwright shortly after. Curt Kohlberg, Tim West, and Bernard Lee ultimately met their demise before the final two tables were reached, and tension began to build with the money bubble approaching.
Chris Klodnicki and Allen Kessler, the two biggest names left in the field, both fell short of the final table late in the day. First it was Klodnicki bowing out in 17th place after flopping trip jacks against the flopped full house of Sengphet. Then Kessler put his remaining chips in preflop with pocket eights from the button and was called by Adam Hui’s pocket fours from the small blind. The Jc-7c-4h-Ah-Ks board gave Hui a set, leaving Kessler crippled. He was eliminated two hands later by Poche.
Kessler and Hui had a heated Twitter battle following the hand. Hui posted the details of his double-up, to which Kessler responded, “horrid CALL with your stack from sb when u get button next hand.” Hui called the play standard, and that set Kessler off again: “u think its std call off your stack with 44 from sb? U had button next hand and 0 invested.”
It was the Circuit’s all-time cashes leader who fell just short of his 51st cash on Saturday. With the top 10 players being paid, and 11 remaining in the tournament, WSOP-C regular Doug “Rico” Carli moved all in with Ks-Qh on a queen-high board but found himself up against the pocket aces of Hui, who sent Carli out of the tournament empty-handed.
After a short break to combine two tables into one, WSOP-C Choctaw Main Event champ Huy Nguyen was all in preflop with Ks-Qh against the Ah-Kc of Poche. The best hand held up, and the televised table of nine was in place. Nguyen collected $27,500 for the min-cash.
Poche has more than double the chips of second-place Sengphet, who finished the day with 245,000. She’s followed by Hui and James Anderson, who won the largest WSOP-C event of the season in October by besting a field of 226 at the Midwest Regional Championship for $525,449. Also at that final table were Bernard Lee, Curt Kohlberg, David “Doc Sands, Shannon Shorr, and Brandon Adams, all of whom earned seats to the National Championship.
Josh Evans, who secured his seat by taking third at the WSOP-C New Orleans Main Event, is fifth heading into Sunday’s final table. Evans was eliminated by Poche in New Orleans, so he’ll be looking for a bit of redemption when the players take their seats Saturday. Evans will be seated directly to Poche’s left.
Here’s a look at the seating assignment for the final table of the inaugural WSOP-C National Championship:
Seat 1: Charles Moore — 65,500
Seat 2: Adam Hui — 239,000
Seat 3: Drazen Ilich — 118,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Poche — 534,000
Seat 5: Josh Evans — 222,500
Seat 6: La Sengphet — 245,000
Seat 7: Sam Barnhart — 166,000
Seat 8: James Anderson — 235,000
Seat 9: Matthew Lawrence — 140,000
