WSOPC Atlantic City Kicks Off

The World Series of Poker Circuit is now back and the event started this weekend at Harrah's Atlantic City. The first tournament gathered the most players for an opening event, while the prize pool for each of the two tournaments was over $300,000.

The
2008/2009 World Series of Poker Circuit started off at Harrah's resort
in Atlantic City this weekend. The first event of the series was the
$340 No Limit Hold'em tournament, which gathered 1,181 players for a
total prize pool of $354,300.

After two days of plays, the 90-minute heads-up action between Metin
Guvin Esen and Raymond Rossi started. Even though Rossi had twice the
amount of chips compared to his opponent, Esen managed to get back in
the game, eventually winning the whole tournament.

The final hand saw Rossi going all-in preflop with pocket treys. Esen thought for a moment and decided to call with . The flop showed , which put Esen in the lead. The turn ()and the river () did not change the situation, so Esen went home with more than $85,000, while Rossi had to settle for almost $50,000.

Below is the detailed final table prize distribution:

$340 No Limit Hold'em Final Table
Rank	Name	Prize
1st	Metin Guven Esen	$85,032
2nd	Raymond Rossi Jr.	$47,848
3rd	Peter Becchina	$28,344
4th	Mike Rodriquez	$24,801
5th	Ross Shapiro	$21,258
6th	Mina Akladious	$17,715
7th	John Phatt	$14,172
8th	Robert Wing	$10,619
9th	Vincent Basilicata	$7,086

The second event, a $560 No Limit Hold'em tournament, did not get as much attention from the players as the previous one. However, 617 people joined the tournament for a prize pool of $308,500.

Emil Lebovich and Peter Fianu met in the heads-up phase of the competition, with Lebovich having a comfortable chip lead of 4:1. It didn't take long and his chip lead also gave him the win for the night.

In the last hand of the evening, Fianu went all-in with 7-6, while Lebovich called called with A-7. The flop brought 8-Q-3 and Lebovich was in the lead. The turn showed another trey, and when the river flipped a king, it was all over for Fianu, who went home with almost $45,000. Lebovich pocketed the win and $86,380 for his effort.

The final table results can be found below:

$560 No Limit Hold'em Final Table
Rank	Name	Prize
1st	Emil Lebovich	$86,380
2nd	Peter Fianu	$44,733
3rd	Douglas Pitchford	$24,680
4th	Tim Bristof	$21,595
5th	Abraham Korotki	$18,510
6th	Jimmy Nunez	$15,425
7th	Larry Roberts	$12,340
8th	Alex Gomez	$9,255
9th	Jonas Wexler	$6,170

The Atlantic City WSOPC features a total of 14 events streched across two weeks and the buy-in ranges from $230 to $5,150. The first tournament started on the 5th of December, while the last event of the series will take place on the 18th of December.