UPDATE (11/9, 4pm PST): It's all over! We have a new WTP National Champion, and his name is John Owens!
John engaged in a great final table that saw him slowly but surely establish his dominance, accumulating chips to take roughly half of the chips in play by the time 6 players remained. After brilliantly checking a flopped flush to induce an all-in from John Holt, eliminating him 4th, Owens had nearly all of the chips.
It only too one hand to get from 3 to 2 players, and then another final hand to determine the champion.
Josh Bardwell and Steve Alexander, both also from NC, finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. Heck of a job by all who made the Top 16!
Here are the final results:
1 JOHN OWENS, NC 2 Josh Bardwell, NC 3 Steven Alexander, NC 4 John Holt, VA 5 Jim Hilton, NC 6 Aziz Koc, NC 7 Neil Brimat, NJ 8 Tammy Faucher, AK 9 Kenneth Merck, NC 10 David Larson, NC 11 Jim Hilliker, PA 12 Frank Murray, NC 13 Karen Rutherford, PA 14 Alex Clauss, NJ 15 Wanda Walters, MD 16 Justin Miller, NY
UPDATE: We are under way in Day 2 of the National Championships! 48 players are competing for $25,000 in cash along with the title of WTP National Champion. Stay tuned for updates throughout the day!
Original: World Tavern Poker's ultimate league event, the National Championships has reached the end of Day 1 with 48 players remaining! All chips have been bagged and tagged, and the remaining players will start again in the POKER ROOM at 11am on Wednesday to play to a Champion.
When play resumes, blinds will be 10k/20k and will run 30 minutes each. There are approximately 5.4 million chips in play, and the average stack is about 112,500 (5.5 big blinds).
Here are the remaining players, first in order by chip count, and then by last name, then seating assignment for Day 2.
PLAYERS REMAINING - By CHIP COUNT
Amy Williams 340,000 Steve Alexander 305,000 Jim Hilton 290,000 Bob Fink 255,000 Luis Torres 225,000 Tammy Faucher 185,000 Chris Adkins 160,000 John Holt 160,000 Antonio Burney 150,000 Josh Bardwell 140,000 Justin Miller 140,000 Chris Hebert 135,000 RL Paige 135,000 Neil Brimat 130,000 Hutch Kirkpatrick 125,000 Kenneth Merck 125,000 Wanda Walters 120,000 Cathy Lawrence 115,000 Karen Rutherford 115,000 Eric Finger 105,000 Faye Houston 105,000 John Potocki 105,000 Jim Hilliker 100,000 Ginger Moser 100,000 John Owens 95,000 Domenick Fama 86,000 Bob White 85,000 David Tidaback 80,000 Dominic Hallford 75,000 Mike McNair 75,000 Marie Shank 75,000 Ken Harrington 70,000 David Holbritter 70,000 Frank Murray 65,000 Dan Jones 60,000 Jim Kriksciun 60,000 Mike Oakes 60,000 John Knopp 50,000 David Larson 50,000 Alexander Clauss 45,000 Brian Somers 45,000 ??? Cassel 40,000 Larry King 35,000 Tyrell Horton 25,000 Heriberto Acosta 20,000 Jack Houston 13,000 Aziz Koc 6,000
PLAYERS REMAINING - By SEAT ASSIGNMENT (Table, Seat)
RL Paige - 31, 1 Amy Williams- 31, 2 Karen Rutherford - 31, 3 Jack Houston - 31, 4 Aziz Koc - 31, 5 Domenick Fama - 31, 6 Heriberto Acosta - 31, 7 Eric Finger - 31, 8 David Tidaback - 31, 9 Mike McNair - 31, 10 Chris Adkins - 32, 1 Jim Hilton - 32, 2 Luis Torres - 32, 4 John Potocki - 32, 5 Kenneth Merck - 32, 6 Dan Jones - 32, 7 Alexander Clauss - 32, 8 Brian Somers - 32, 9 Neil Brimat - 32, 10 Justin Miller - 33, 1 ??? Cassel - 33, 2 Marie Shank - 33, 3 Wanda Walters - 33, 4 Jim Kriksciun - 33, 5 Faye Houston - 33, 6 Cathy Lawrence - 33, 7 David Holbritter - 33, 8 Josh Bardwell - 33, 9 John Owens - 33, 10 Tyrell Horton - 34, 1 Jim Hilliker - 34, 2 Dominic Hallford - 34, 3 Hutch Kirkpatrick - 34, 4 David Larson - 34, 6 Larry King - 34, 7 Ken Harrington - 34, 8 Frank Murray - 34, 10 Chris Hebert - 35, 1 Tammy Faucher - 35, 2 Bob Fink - 35, 3 John Holt - 35, 4 Mike Oakes - 35, 5 John Knopp - 35, 6 Antonio Burney - 35, 7 Ginger Moser - 35, 8 Bob White - 35, 9 Steve Alexander - 35, 10
PLAYERS REMAINING - By LAST NAME
Heriberto Acosta - 20,000 - 31, 7 Chris Adkins - 160,000 - 32, 1 Steve Alexander - 305,000 - 35, 10 Josh Bardwell - 140,000 - 33, 9 Neil Brimat - 130,000 - 32, 10 Antonio Burney - 150,000 - 35, 7 ??? Cassel - 40,000 - 33, 2 Alexander Clauss - 45,000 - 32, 8 Domenick Fama - 86,000 - 31, 6 Tammy Faucher - 185,000 - 35, 2 Eric Finger - 105,000 - 31, 8 Bob Fink - 255,000 - 35, 3 Dominic Hallford - 75,000 - 34, 3 Ken Harrington - 70,000 - 34, 8 Chris Hebert - 135,000 - 35, 1 Jim Hilliker - 100,000 - 34, 2 Jim Hilton - 290,000 - 32, 2 David Holbritter - 70,000 - 33, 8 John Holt - 160,000 - 35, 4 Tyrell Horton - 25,000 - 34, 1 Jack Houston - 13,000 - 31, 4 Faye Houston - 105,000 - 33, 6 Dan Jones - 60,000 - 32, 7 Larry King - 35,000 - 34, 7 Hutch Kirkpatrick - 125,000 - 34, 4 John Knopp - 50,000 - 35, 6 Aziz Koc - 6,000 - 31, 5 Jim Kriksciun - 60,000 - 33, 5 David Larson - 50,000 - 34, 6 Cathy Lawrence - 115,000 - 33, 7 Mike McNair - 75,000 - 31, 10 Kenneth Merck - 125,000 - 32, 6 Justin Miller - 140,000 - 33, 1 Ginger Moser - 100,000 - 35, 8 Frank Murray - 65,000 - 34, 10 Mike Oakes - 60,000 - 35, 5 John Owens - 95,000 - 33, 10 RL Paige - 135,000 - 31, 1 John Potocki - 105,000 - 32, 5 Karen Rutherford - 115,000 - 31, 3 Marie Shank - 75,000 - 33, 3 Brian Somers - 45,000 - 32, 9 David Tidaback - 80,000 - 31, 9 Luis Torres - 225,000 - 32, 4 Wanda Walters - 120,000 - 33, 4 Bob White - 85,000 - 35, 9 Amy Williams - 340,000 - 31, 2