David Fox and Lou Esposito - chip leaders

In the two and a half years that I have been covering tournaments, this has NEVER happened. There is actually a TIE for the end of day chip lead! Both David Fox and defending champ Lou Esposito have 102,100 chips and lead the field.

Day 2 play will get underway at noon central time on Tuesday and 69 players will return to continue the hunt:

Play has concluded for the day with 69 players remaining. They are drawing new seats for tomorrow and bagging & tagging their chips. When I get the end of day numbers, they will be posted here.

Lou Esposito is making his move late in the day today. On a King-high flop, he got all in and called by a player holding AK (top pair, top kicker). Lou's pocket Aces were good and they held up as he chipped up to almost 90k. After being short-stacked for the first 6 levels of play, he is now among the chip leaders.

72 players remain as the clock ticks away the last ten minutes of the day.

	Lou Esposito - defending champ

Claudia Crawford got her last chips in with AQ and was racing against Alan 'Bodog Ari' Engel, who held pocket 6s. Claudia couldn't catch a break, however, and was busted. With her departure, there are just two women left in the field: Anita Vasquez and Beverly Cheney.

Defending champ Lou Esposito has been riding a short-stack most of the day today, but he has recently picked up a couple of nice pots with top pair and pocket Kings, chipping up to about 50k.

Level 7: Blinds 400/800 with 100 antes. Play has resumed. This will be the last level of the day.

Current leader-board:

End of level 6 and they are coloring-up/racing off the green 25 chips, then will start the clock for the 15 minute break.

Action definitely slowed late in level 6 as many of the players were more interested in the NBA playoff game between San Antonio and New Orleans. Unfortunately the hometown was denied victory.

	Kimberly Lansing - Aces cracked

On a flop of 8 6 3 rainbow, Kimberly Lansing got all-in and called by a player holding 54 suited for the open-ended straight-draw. Kimberly's pocket Aces were ahead, but not for long as the turn was a 7, leaving Kimberly drawing dead.

	David Fox

Zachary Hyman got his chips in on the flop with K8 and an 8 on the board, but was called by UDH (Unidentified Dude in Hat) who held pocket 9s and had him notched. Last two cards were no help for him and Zachary was busted.

On the next hand, David Fox got all-in and called by UDH, who held pocket Kings. David had pocket Aces and they held up to double him up to about 86k, good for the chip lead.

Young Phan got his chips in with AQ in a race against pocket 9s.  No help for Young and he was ousted.

Steve Billirakis got his chips in with pocket 9s against Tim Miles' A7 suited.  Steve was ahead until an Ace landed on the river, sending Steve to the rail.

	Dana Diephouse

Don't know how I could have missed Dana Diephouse on my many treks through the tourney. Dana finished 6th here in this event two years ago (when Peter Feldman won and Gavin Smith finished second). Dana is still alive and well, sitting on about 24k in chips.

	Michael J. Cohen

Level 6: Blinds 300/600 with 75 antes. Play has resumed. Here's the current leader-board:

End of level 5 and players are taking 15.

Another table has broken, leaving 14 9-handed tables still in action. That means that 126 players (at most) remain.  Antonio 'Bagels' Cavezza was among the players dispatched during level 5.

	Bill Edler - busted

On the turn there were three clubs on the board.   Bill Edler got his last chips in and was looked up by chip leader Blake Purvis. Bill's pocket 6s were ahead of Blake's pocket 5s, but Blake held the only . Bad news for Bill when a fourth hit the river, giving Blake the flush and the pot. Bill hit the rail (or more likely hit the bar to watch the NBA finals). Blake's lead got bigger as he chipped up to about 78k.

	Josh Arieh - jilted

2007 Winter Bayou Poker Challenge championship runner-up Josh Arieh got his last chips in with pocket Queens and found himself in a race against Beverly Cheney's AK. A King hit the board to crack Josh's ladies, sending him to the rail. Beverly stacked up to about 25k.

	Steve Dannenmann - done

Steve Billirakis (small blind) moved in, putting Steve Dannenmann (big blind) to the test. SteveD was down to his last 4k and had 10% of his stack in for the blind. He made the call and was actually ahead with Q T . SteveB's Q 7 was dominated, but he caught three spades on the board to make a flush, sending the 2005 WSOP main event runner-up to the rail.

	Blake Purvis

Level 5: Blinds 200/400 with 50 antes. Play has resumed in a post-buffet stupor. Here are the chip leaders as of the break:

The dinner bell has rung and players are on dinner break for about 90 minutes. Play will resume at 7:30pm central time.

	Fred Sigur

On the river with the board showing T T 5 8 T, seat 2 checked and Fred Sigur bet 3k. Seat 2 called showing pocket 5s for the flopped full house. Fred rolled over T7 for the rivered quads to take the pot. With that hand, he was up to about 50k in chips, good enough to take the chip lead.

	Ed Jatho

Ed Jatho just sent a player packing and raked a big pot.  He held pocket Jacks and had flopped a full house on the J 7 7 flop.  That pot vaulted Ed into the chip lead with nearly 40k in chips.

Robert 'RCW' Cheung has departed.

	Antonio 'Bagels' Cavezza

Antonio 'Bagels' Cavezza got all in on the turn on a queen-high board. His pocket Aces were ahead of his opponent's pocket Kings. Tony had to sweat the river, but it was a blank and Bagels doubled up to about 19k.

Level 4: Blinds 100/200 with 25 antes. Butts are back in the seats and cards are back in the air. 188 players remain. After this level they will take a dinner break (about 6pm).

	Mike Browne

Level 3 bites the dust and players file out of the theatre for a 15 minute break.

Looks Mike Browne is holding the lead with about 36k in chips.

	Sabyl Cohen - felted

Sabyl Cohen got in a race with a shorter-stack and her pocket Jacks were ahead of his AK, but an Ace flopped and Sabyl shipped most of her chips across the table. She busted out shortly after.

Doug 'Rico' Carli, the most accomplished player on the WSOP Circuit, found himself all-in with pocket Kings and facing Steve Dannenmann's pocket Tens. No bad beat story here, and Rico doubled up to ~6k.

Here's a sampling of chip counts:

On a flop of Q 5 2 , David Fox (small blind) checked, seat 7 bet 4k and after a few beats, David called. Turn was the 7 and again David checked. Seat 7 went into the tank for a couple of minutes, then thumped out a stack chips (7k). David announced all-in and seat 7 called, which was only for another 75 chips. David rolled over pocket Queens for top set; seat 7 held AQ offsuit and was drawing dead. River was irrelevant and David doubled up to about 27k.

Level 3: Blinds 100/200. Play has resumed.

	TJ Cloutier and Gavin Smith

End of level 2 and players are on a 15 minute break.

Two of the biggest names in today's event, TJ Cloutier and Gavin Smith, have both busted out late in level 2. Neither one was able to get anything going today.

Final, official player count is 249, generating a prize pool of $1,196,650. 27 places will get paid. Here are the official payouts:

*This includes $11,000 for a 2008 WSOP Main Event seat with $1,000 in travel money. The winner will also receive a WSOP Circuit Championship ring.

Chris Bell busted out on the last hand before the break (set over set).

Here are some more folks who have appeared in the field: Larry Klur, (4th at 2006 Foxwoods Poker Classic) Edward Sabat, (3rd at the Rincon circuit event in February) 'Bodog' Ari Engel, Steve Billirakis, Antonio 'Bagels' Cavezza, (3rd at 2007 Foxwoods Poker Classic) David Dao, Lance Funston, Bobby 'Wiz' Wisiak, (8th in this event last year) Matt Graham, David Fox, (3rd in this event last year) JD Estilette, (6th in this event last year) Bach Vu, (won 2 prelim events here in 2006) and Kimberly Lansing, WPT internet hostess and rumored front-runner for the season 7 WPT hostess spot.

Level 2: Blinds 50/100. Play has resumed.

	Rick Drury

End of level 1 and players are on break. Looks like Ace-cracker Rick Drury is the chip leader with ~24k.

	Ted Lawson - toast

Ted Lawson has departed.  He got all in on the river with pocket Aces.  The bad new was that Rick Drury held pocket Tens and had turned a set to crack those Aces. 

Currently there are 240 players registered, but they are still taking entries through the end of this level. There are quite a few 'name' players turned out for this event. Here are the ones I spotted on my first pass through the room: TJ Cloutier, Doug 'Rico' Carli, Gavin Smith, Bill Edler, Allen Kessler, Josh Arieh, (2 WSOP bracelets, finished 2nd here last winter) Jonathan Little, Philip Sparta, Matt Brady, Bayou Poker Challenge defending champ Lou Esposito, Caesar's Indiana circuit winner Wilbur Futhey, Jimmy Tran, Young Phan, Steve Dannenmann, Ted Lawson, (2004 WSOP bracelet winner) Robert 'RCW' Cheung, (2007 WSOP bracelet winner) Allie Prescott, Chris Bell, Zachary Hyman, Ed Corrado, Joseph 'JoeyTheB' Brooks, Matt 'Allinat420' Stout, Charles Kelley, (2007 WPT Borgata runner-up) Clint Schafer, (finished 2nd here last year) Sabyl Cohen, Beverly Cheney, and Chef Paul Prudhomme.

Level 1: Blinds 25/50. Players are starting with 10,000 chips and levels will last 75 minutes. Cards are in the air!

Day 1 of the three-day Bayou Poker Challenge Championship will get underway just after noon central time.

Kaelaine Minton Reporting

Kaelaine is one of the hardest working reporters on the tournament cicruit, and she can play poker, too!  She won the 2007 World Poker Open Media Tournament at the Goldstrike in Tunica, besting a field of 50 to win the event and the WPO gold bracelet!   Her motto is "will do anything poker-related for money".

Contact Kaelaine