Another World Series of Poker Circuit event is underway in Tunica, Mississippi, and although this $5,150 buy-in event wasn’t able to attract the huge numbers of say a Vegas or Los Angeles mega tournament, a small but dedicated group of tour professionals still managed to make the trek down south to compete. 

154 players started yesterday’s Day 1 in the Great Bayou State including former WSOP Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker, Jason Potter,  Allen “The Chainsaw” Kessler, Adam Junglen, Kathy Liebert, Jordan Morgan, “Captain” Tom Franklin, Bill Edler and PokerRoad Radio’s Gavin “The Caveman” Smith. 

Smith began the day in a chaotic seesaw battle, as he watched his chip stack fluctuate wildly above and below his initial 20,000 chip starting stack.  Reading the excellent live updates provided by PokerNews (www.pokernews.com) it was easy to picture Gavin as either the chip leader or completely busted at any one moment, given the wild swings he seemed to be experiencing.  By midday in Tunica though, a positive trend finally began to develop and it became apparent that Gavin was in store for one of those particularly good poker days- the kind that every gambler patiently waits for.  Eventually, Gavin left the table at Harrah’s Tunica with nearly 150,000 in tournament chips. 

26 other players survived Day 1 including online pro Matt “allinat420” Stout, Shane Smith, “the Captain”, Liebert, Morgan, and current chip leader David Dao. 

Day 2 of the WSOP-C Tunica, is set to begin at 2:00 central standard time, and will once again be covered live by PokerNews.com.   
 

Story by Mark Anderson