$1,700 Main Event
Day 1b Started
2019 World Series of Poker Circuit Cherokee
$1,700 Main Event
Day: 1b
Day 1b of the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort Main Event is set to begin today in what is expected to be a gargantuan field of action.
Day 1a drew 381 entries and reached the 16% mark when 60 players remained after 23 minutes into level 16. Four players bagged north of 400,000, with Michael McKinney leading the fray with a stack of 480,000 and Maurice Hawkins right behind him with 440,000. The average stack at the end of the day was 190,500, so players in Day 1b have an idea of what they are shooting for today.
Just like Day 1a, play begins at 11 a.m. Day 1 will consist of 16 levels of play, which are 40 minutes in length for the first 15 levels of play with level 16 being 60 minutes. If the field is reduced to 16% remaining before the completion of 16 levels, play will end at that moment. Fifteen-minute breaks will be every three levels (two hours) with an hour dinner break after level 9 (roughly 5:30 p.m.).
The $1,700 buy in will give each player a 30,000 chip stack and one re-entry is allowed per flight.
PokerNews will be on hand to provide full coverage of the Main Event from start to finish.
Level: 1
Blinds: 100/100
Ante: 0
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
Cards are in the air as Day 1b of the Cherokee Main Event is now underway as the tournament clock shows 170 entries at the start of play.
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
Several familiar faces are on the felt battling early on Day 1b, including many who are taking another shot after failing to bag yesterday.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
||
Level 1
: 100/100, 0 ante
PokerNews is in town to live report the Main Event here at the World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s Cherokee, but that is just one of the gold ring events that will have played out by the end of the series.
In Event #6: $600 Pot-Limit Omaha, 287 entries accounted for a $147,805 prize pool. That was distributed to the top 44 players including Robert Keeling (10th - $2,250) Will Berry (14th - $1,855), Blake Whittington (27th - $1,056), Leif Force (31st - $909), Mark Biem (41st - $858), and Dorian Grant (43rd - $858).
In the end, 40-year-old recreational player Joey Fabre of Florence, Kentucky came out on top to win $33,387 and his first gold ring.
“I play Hold’em and PLO – tournaments and cash. My first time playing (pot-limit Omaha) I won, so I just played it a little bit here and there,” said Fabre, who in 2018 finished 72nd in the WSOP Main Event for $108,745.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joey Fabre | Florence, Kentucky | $33,837 |
| 2 | Mark Guthridge | Boardman, Ohio | $20,916 |
| 3 | Mark Mcgarity | Stanfield, North Carolina | $14,853 |
| 4 | Bobby Payne | Dublin, Virginia | $10,734 |
| 5 | Eric Ng | Greensboro, North Carolina | $7,897 |
| 6 | William Mcmahan | Strawberry Plains, Tennessee | $5,916 |
| 7 | Donald Godsey | Kingsport, Tennessee | $4,515 |
| 8 | Chase Smith | Savannah, Tennessee | $3,511 |
| 9 | Robert Harwell | Williamson, Georgia | $2,783 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/100
Ante: 100
Level 2
: 100/100, 100 ante
The board had run out 
. Ryan Jones made a bet of 1,200 over to his opponent who thought for a few moments and called.
Jones rolled over the 
which was good enough as his opponent shook his head and showed the 
indicating that he had been out-kicked.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,000
6,000
|
6,000 |
Level 2
: 100/100, 100 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
||
|
30,000
30,000
|
30,000 |
Level 2
: 100/100, 100 ante
The board read 
a sizable pot was already in the middle. Robert James collected some chips and fired a bet of 12,000.
His opponent thought it over for a while but eventually had to relent to the large bet to give James the decent pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
38,000 |