by Sharla Lehrmann

For complete player stats please go to : http://www.pokerpages.com/2005wsopstats.htm

Atllantic City’s own, Chris Reslock Takes First Place ! He wins $335,235

	Chris Reslock and his mound of moola topped off by the coveted gold and diamond WSOP Circuit Championship Ring

With the regular 18K raise, Chris bet out at John. John answered by taking it up to 60K. Chris called the raise. The flop came the 7 6 3 . John pushed 65K in the middle and Chris came over the top of John this time to 200K. John pushed in the rest of his chips to make it an all inner. John showed the A K and Chris the K 7 . Chris had top pair and a healthy diamond draw. The turn brought a 6 and now John had to find an Ace to stay in the game. The river came a 3 instead and Chris takes game, set, match.

	Chris Reslock

Chris Reslock is a storybook tale. He is 52 years old and plays most of his poker right here in Atlantic City. He has a beautiful wife and three great children. He was driving a cab here in Atlantic City and about a decade ago decided he was not too shabby at this game called poker and went after it as his new profession. He has a knack that he realized and decided to go for the gusto. He knew he could always head back to the taxi trail if it didn’t work out. Apparently he has never looked back. He has made money and made a nice living playing poker and I think we should watch out for him in the future. Something tells me he is just catching his stride.

John Juanda will take home $186,240 for 2nd place.

	John Juanda

And as soon as we say that, we have our winner..such as it is in NLHE.

A half a dozen or more hands transpire, and Chris regains his chiplead.

John is eking his way back up. He now sits at 540K and Chris at 420K.

Back to business. Players are back in their seats.

10 minute break

Now we’re getting somewhere. Chris raised to 18K again on the button and John repopped him to 60K. Not to be outdone, Chris came back over the top to 140K and John pushed all in. Chris said “I call”. Chris had pocket rockets, the A A and John Juanda, JJ had JJ, the J J . The flop was amazing…as it came the J A 4. Im thinking Chris has a one outter here, the case Jack. The K T hit the turn and river . Both caught their set, but the aces doubled Chris through John and now we have a major shift in action. John has about 250,500 now and Chris 709,500.

John now has 563K and Chris 397K. Flip flopped.

But not for long. The lead shifts back to the Juanda camp as Chris raised to 18K from the button and John called. The flop came the K 7 T . John checked to Chris who bet 20K. John smooth called. The turn came the K . John checked and Chris bet 60K. Another smooth call by John. The river came the 6 and this time no betting took place. John showed the Q T for two pair and Chris showed the back of his cards. John takes a pretty pot.

{mostime:12/10/2005 0:004

Chris still has the lead, but not by much.

With John on the button, he calls the 6K and Chris checks his option. Flop comes the A 3 3 . Chris fires 10K and John stays on board. The turn is the 6 . Check by both. The river is the 5 . Chris fires at the pot again, this time with 20K and John calls again. Chris shows a 2 4 for a straight and John mucks his hand.

On the button, Chris raised to 18K and John called. The flop was the A K 8 . Checked by both. Turn card was the 8 . John bet 30K and Chris mucks.

Well, here we are again, back at even. Limping from the button, John calls Chris. Chris checked his option. The flop was the J 9 5 . Check check. With the 8 on the turn, Chris bet 12K and John called. The T landed on the river and Chris bet 20K. John came on in with a reraised to 60K and Chris called. John had the K Q for a king high straight and Chris showed he had a Jack high straight. Ship it to Johnson!

Well, that half hour sped by like molasses. We now move to a 500 ante and 3K / 6K blinds. It looks like this. John raises to 14K, Chris reraises, John folds.......Chris raises to 17K, John reraises, Chris folds.....you got the drift and the majority of the hands now.

John and Chris have played 7 hands already and we are back to the seesaw effect. We have reached the 200 mark for number of hands played.

Players are in their seats and raring to go..........to sleep probably. We have about half an hour left at this level.

Harrah's did another dinner for the players...except this time they forgot us. Now we just wait until they finish their treat. tap tap tap tap.........

This is about weird. No one has come back to finish the tournament. It is like aliens took them.

Currently Chris is leading with 636,500 chips while John is sitting with 323,500.

Believe it or not, the players will take an hour for dinner and resume play at 10:05pm.

We move off center a bit. Hand one, Chris raised to 12K and John called. The flop arrived, the 4 K 3 . John checked and Chris bet 20K. John bumped it to 70K and Chris called him. The turn came the 2 . Checked by both. The river was the Q . John checked and Chris bet 40K. John mucked.

Not going to make for the best TV, but then there is that little magic tool called editing. Players are almost dead even in stacks. No one is ready to give it up.

And it looked so promising. John raised to 12K on the button and Chris called him. With the flop of the K Q 4 , Chris bet 15K and John came over the top of him to 45K. Chris then reraised to 185K and John said “Im all in”. Chris said, me too. John showed the K Q and Chris the K Q . John had a possible runner runner perfect to catch spades, but alas, the 9 9 came to divy the pot up. No winner. Drat.

Patience is a virtue...but really. Back and forth, back and forth, raise and fold.....will it ever end? We are basically back to square one with both players about even in chippage.

With John on the button, he takes it to 12,500 and Chris called. The flop brought the 7 6 3 . Chris bets 15K this time and John calls. The turn brings the 9 . Chris bets 35K and John calls again. The river is the 6 . Chris checked and John bet 120K. Chris does call. John shows the 6 5 for three sixes and Chris the 9 7 for two pair. John scoops a monster and now the chip count is, John Juanda 575K and Chris Reslock 385K. The winds have shifted a tad.

Chris Reslock got the best of John Juanda on this hand. He raised to 12K from the button and John did his usual and reraised to 40K. Chris called the raise. The flop came the A 8 3 . John bet 60K this time and Chris came calling. The turn brought the 5 . This time they both checked. With the J on the river, they checked again. John showed the K 2 for a king high only. Chris turned over the 7 8 for a pair of eights to take the pot and the chip lead with the 200K pot.

The chip dance has provided for absolutely no movement in chip count over the last level. We move to a 500 ante with 2K / 4K blinds.

We have bustled through about 111 hands so far today. We have 5 minutes remaining at this level and then we will take a break and bump it up a little higher.

Chris raised to 8500 total and John reraised for another 27,500. Chris folds once again.

Looks like we are down to only one Full Tilt Poker cap. Im not certain, but I think Chris was the only one not donning the logo.

John raised and Chris called. Qc 7h 7s. Chris checks and John bets 16K. Chris lets it go.

John seems to have a little read on Chris now as everytime Chris raises, John comes over the top and forces Chris to release his hand. It just happened for the 3rd time in a row.

Chris called Johns raise preflop. The 6h Jd Qc hits the flop. Chris checks and John bets 16K. Chris folds.

The play is pretty unremarkable at the moment. I am not going to share each and every hand as the chips swing like a pedulum. It is a mind game now, and no big plays are happening. Dont worry, I wont let you miss anything big.

Chris bets 45K on the turn of the Ah after the flop of the 5 2 9 AFter the flop, Chris bet 20K and John had called. Preflop, John limped from the button and Chris raised 10k. John called. The 8 comes on the river. Both check. Chris shows a pair of nines with a king kicker and John mucks his hand.

Chris Reslock and John Juanda. The final two. Chris is not intimidated by playing with John. He is making moves and coming over the top, much like his nemesis.

	Final Two-John Juanda and Chris Reslock. Greg Raymer, the WSOP host for this event, prepares to speak to the crowd as Jack Effel introduce him

Chad took his chance and pitted his pair of sevens against Chris Reslock's pair of jacks. After John Juanda raised to 9K, Chad pushed all in for a little over 59K. Chris called from the big blind and John let his hand go. The board was ominous when it came the T 8 9 . Chad surely didnt want a seven, unless they came in pairs or pair the board on the river. The 3 came on the turn for no help. He needed a jack or a six to save his unpleasant demise. The 5c didnt fulfill that for him and we lose Chad Moore to 3rd place for $102,430.

	Chad Moore

Here comes Chris Reslock raising to 10K from the cutoff and Nick Schulman gave him a call. The flop came the A 8 3 . Chris bet 10K again and Nick called. The turn brought the T . Nick checked and Chris bet 35K. From out of nowhere, Nick pushed all in for 98,800. Chris had no issue in calling. Chris showed the A 8 for two pair and Nick showed a stone cold bluff with a gut shot draw to the wheel. The 9 came on the river and Nick "Da Kid" Schulman loses his chance to take another title. He takes 4^th place for $74,495. At the tender age of 21, Nick is already one of the professions millionaires after taking the WPT by storm at Foxwoods and pocketing over 2million greenbacks. Nick is not only good at poker, but he wields a pretty mean pool cue too. He has attended college, but has been beefing up his bankroll over the years by playing pool.

	Nick Schulman at the final table

Chad Moore eked a few chips to increase his count by a few thousand.

	A little peek inside the "black curtain"

Looks like we have two very good players teetering on the edge of disaster. If Chad Moore and Nick Schulman dont find some cards to attack with, the blinds and antes are going to devour them.

Back to Chris, as he eliminates another. Chris raised UTG and John Spadavecchia bet the whole ball of wax from the big blind for 54,500. Chris, of course, called. John showed the A 7 and Chris big slick, the A K . The board brought the 5 2 4 5 K and with that, John Spadavecchia goes home in 5^th for $65,185.

	John Spadavecchia

This time John Juanda has the ax in his hand. From the cutoff he raised to 9K and Dan Tolly called him. The flop came the J 9 5 . Dan checked to John and John bet 15K at the pot. Dan came over the proverbial top and took it to 45K. John didn’t stop there, he came back for another to 105K and Dan pushed his remaining 49K into the middle. Dan showed the J T and John a one upper, the J Q . The turn was the K and the river another king, the K . John had the best kicker and it was golden. Dan Tolly kissed his chips good-bye and exited in 6^th place for $55,870.

	Dan Tolly

What a day for pocket eights. WARNING: If you see these cards, bail as fast as you can! Eric Panayiotou reaised to 11K from the cutoff position and Chris Reslock came’a raisin’ to all in from the big blind. Eric gave him his desired call. Eric showed the 8 8 and Chris the A 5 . Hmmmm….well, moving forward, the board brought the 9 A T 2 7 giving Chris yet another requested ace. The eights die again and we lose Eric Panayiotou to 7^th place for $46,560.

	Eric Panayiotou

Official Chip Count after break.

Blinds have increased to 1,500 / 3,000 with a 400 ante. There are 7 players remaining. The average stack should be 137,143.

Once again, Chris Reslock raised to 7K. Julien Studley pushed all his chips in for 13,100 on the button. Chris called. Chris showed the A 4 and Julien the 8 8 . The board was not kind to Julien as it immediately brought the ace for Chris with the A T 7 . An eight or running perfect perfect is Julien’s only hope. The turn came the Q and the river the J taking Julien Studley out in 8^th for $37,250.

	Julian Studley

Chris Reslock took it to 7K from the cutoff position. Dan Shak reraised from the button to 22K. Over to John Juanda, he came over the top to 40K. We lose Chris at this juncture and get a call from Dan. The flop was huge, the A K Q . John Juanda bet at the pot for 18K and Dan made the call, all in for 10,500. Dan showed the A Q and John a set of kings with the K K . Dan was in deep trouble needing a ten for a straight. The turn came the 5 and the river a good news bad news card, the A giving him three aces and John Juanda a full house. Dan Shak is out in 9^th for $27,395.

	Dan Shak

Mckey Appleman is first to go. John Spadavecchia raised to 6K and Mickey called him for the last of his chips from the button. He pitted his A 9 against the A J held by John. With the board bringing the J Q 5 , he was all but drawing dead. When the 7 hit the turn he knew it was all over. The 4 followed and we lose Mickey Appleman in 10^th place today .

	Mickey Appleman

With 1 hour, 19 minutes, and 45 seconds left in this level, we begin with blinds at 1K / 2K with a 300 ante. Eric Panayiotou has the button.

ESPN is working diligently at getting everything in order. Seems there are still a few glitches to be corrected. The players have arrived and are chomping at the bit to get the cards in the air. Family members have been seated and everyone is ready to get the ball rolling.....

Here we are on the final day of the WSOP Circuit Main Event. We began on Tuesday with 96 players, all with 10K in chips. Today we have 10 players averages 96K in chips. The day kicks off at 2:00 pm with these reamaining players.

Stats:

John has a long list of accomplishments dating back to 1988. These can be seen on the PokerPages.com site.

Chris was a taxi driver in Atlantic City and turned pro once he found he had a talent for the game. He has poker cashes dating back to 2000.

Dan and his wife Beth are know on the poker circuit. Dan has winnings recorded from 2004.

The list for John Juanda is a mile long. He has them going back to 1999 and is one of the coveted WSOP Main Event winners.

Chad Moore is another poker professional who has done quite well. He has at least 19 cashouts dating back through 2004.

Nick Schulman is one the newest poker professionals on the trail. He is only 21 years old and is the youngest winner of one of the WPT events. He also took home the biggest purse to date. He is going for his first WSOP Circuit win today.

Mickey has at least 38 big wins under his belt for his career however 2005 has not been the best for him.

Julien Studley has quite a number of cashouts over the years, none since 1996.

Eric Panayiotou has at least 11 money finishes between 1999 and 2003.