From the initial field of 420, just 45 players returned at 12:00 pm today to play for the lion’s share of the $636,300 prize pool generated for the $1,700 New Orleans Main Event. It took just seven hours to bring the field from 45 down to 6, each of the final players guaranteed $21,956 with a first place prize of $122,221 left to play for.
Final Table Payouts
- $122,221
- $83,543
- $58,161
- $41,245
- $29,806
- $21,956
- Shea Dubrock - $16,494
- Reid Walker - $12,640
- Debbie Lee - $9,886
It has already been a good week for Duane Fontenot, after the Louisiana poker player took down his first WSOPC ring in this week’s Event #1: $400 Double Stack Opener for $13,861. Now sitting with 5,000,000 in chips, he sits with a sizable lead on the final table of the biggest event of the series. Throughout the day, Fontenot hung around the top couple of stacks but it was a clash with Donovan Dean at the final two tables that saw him ascend high up the leaderboard. With a 12 years of poker tournament cashes, he looks to make his best WSOPC week even better with a win here tomorrow.
The podium is rounded out by a pair of players already having secured their lifetime best scores. Justin Smedley (3,745,000) found his first ever tournament cash in this tournament, while Philip Lucia (2,160,000) secured his third. Both of them played under the radar for the majority of the day and now sit as the second and third biggest stacks at the ft. Smedley’s poker playing experience comes from mostly cash games, whereas Lucia’s cashes in tournaments only came at a few Caesar’s New Orleans tournaments this year.
Sitting fourth on the leaderboard is a face familiar from the poker circuit as Corey Harrison (2,045,000) sits looking to claim his second WSOPC ring. It was 12 years ago when the Louisiana poker player won his first WSOP bracelet for $432,411, and he has since added quite a few accolades to his resume. With just shy of $1 million in live earnings, a win here tomorrow would push the Louisiana poker player into the top ten all time money list of his home state.
Danny Chang (1,880,000) sits in fifth place on the leaderboard currently after spending much of the day as one of the shortest stacks in the field. Having already final tabled the $400 PLO8 event earlier this week, the New York player is in the same boat as Harrison as a win here would also push him over the $1 million in lifetime earnings. With his first WSOPC ring coming this year in Big O, he looks to add a new high score from NLH into his decorated resume of titles.
Last but not least is Chad Carver (1,650,000), who is looking for his first WSOPC ring. Hailing from Arkansas, Carver’s recorded tournament cashes date back 19 years. Having collected $126,691 in lifetime earnings, he has already secured his best live cash and looks to continue to add to his tournament collection of titles along the southern poker circuit.
Final Table Counts
- Duane Fontenot - 5,000,000 (125 bb)
- Justin Smedley - 3,745,000 (93 bb)
- Philip Lucia - 2,160,000 (54 bb)
- Corey Harrison - 2,045,000 (51 bb)
- Danny Chang - 1,880,000 (47 bb)
- Chad Carver - 1,650,000 (41 bb)
Day 2 Action
It took less than two full levels to see the field drop from 45 to 28, just one away from the three table redraw by first break. Players like WSOPC Cherokee champion Mark Davis (39th), defending champion Yousef Saleh (34th), Wyatt Rogers (30th), and Trishelle Cannatella (29th) all exited during this time and they all collected $4,357 for their efforts.
WSOPC Council Bluffs Main Event champion Ryan Brown (25th-$4,574) fell to the start of day chip leader Shea Dubrock after a missed gutshot flush draw jammed into a set of tens. Huy Phan (21st-$4,574) and Stanley Seelig (20th-$4,574) both fell to Debbie Lee in the same hand, pushing her into the overall chip lead.
At the final two tables, the big name eliminations kept coming. WSOPC ring winner BJ McBrayer (16th-$5,367) was unable to survive with eights against Danny Chang’s tens . Shortly after, ACR pro and WSOPC ring winner Katie Lindsay (15th-$5,367) lost a race to Duane Fontenot, with WSOP bracelet winner Michael Lech (14th-$5,367) losing his chips to Shea Dubrock when his straight flush draw missed.
Donovan Dean became the final casualty before the final table as he ended up getting in his ace-king against Fontenot’s ace-queen to generate the biggest pot of the whole tournament. A queen on the turn would lock up the chip lead for Fontenot going into the final table and the 8-time WSOPC ring winner would depart the field in eleventh place for $7,894.
Final Table Action
Fireworks occurred early into the final table as Chad Carver got in his pocket aces in against Rusty Moorer’s pocket jacks. No help materialized for Moorer and Carver left Moorer with fewer than three big blinds. He would get in those three big blinds the following hand with ace-queen only to see Danny Chang defend the big blind with nine-two and flop a boat. Moorer collected $7,894 for his efforts, his second tenth place finish in this event in a row.
Debbie Lee had lost the majority of her start of final table stack to Reid Walker just a few hands in, leaving her the shortest at the table. She ended up moving all of her chips into the middle holding pocket fives after Corey Harrison opened, and Harrison looked her up with kings. No help came to the last woman standing on the runout and Lee collected $9,886 for her ninth place finish.
Despite the significant boost at the start of the final table, the next player on the chopping block was Reid Walker. His downfall came mostly at the hands of Justin Smedley when he ran his queens into Smedley’s aces, which left him as the shortest player left in the tournament. He would get in his ace-king up against Philip Lucia’s nines and he was unable to pair up either of his cards. Lucia and Smedley would rise up the counts onto the podium while Walker finished in eighth place to collect $12,640 for his efforts.
Start of day chip leader Shea Dubrock would be the final elimination of the night in sixth place. After losing a few pots throughout the final table, the young gun opened holding queen-five of hearts to see Harrison defend the big blind with queen-jack. A queen-high flop with two hearts would see both players get their chips into the middle, but a heart would not come to save Dubrock and he collected $16,494 for his efforts.
Play ended with 38:34 left in Level 23 with the blinds at 20,000/40,000, with a 40,000 big blind ante. All six of the players will return at 12:00 pm tomorrow to play to a winner, with levels lasting 60 minutes each and a 15-minute break at the conclusion of every two levels.
This will conclude the Day 2 coverage of the $1,700 New Orleans Main Event, be sure to check into tomorrow for continued coverage and the eventual winner.
and Harrison checked over to Dubrock bet 100,000. Harrison moved all in for 525,000 effective and Dubrock called to put himself at risk. 
and Harrison's jack-kicker played to eliminate the start of day chip leader from the tournament. 
to the river. 
