Hundreds of poker enthusiasts have gathered at Harrah’s New Orleans casino for the final stop of the 2017/2018 WSOP Circuit taking place this week. One of the most exciting events during the festival, the $2,200 High Roller, launched Thursday, promising top players a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. The final and, certainly, the most anticipated tournament of the series kicks off today – this is the $750K GTD Main Event which will crown its winner Monday, May 21.

Attracting 128 high-stakes poker pros, the $2,200 No-limit Hold’em High Roller generated a total prize pool of $256,000. Registration closed with the start of level 13 on Day 1 of the tournament and eliminations quickly followed, cutting the field in half. After entries were calculated, organizers announced that only the 16 finalists would receive money for their finishes, while the first place in the event would come with a prize of $71,680. Along with the cash, the champion will also take a WSOP Circuit Ring. The minimum cash given to players would be $3,502. By the end of Level 15, only 18 entrants remained for Day 2 of the High Roller tournament.

Day 1 chip leader, David “Barth” Melius, would return to the tables as one of the final 18 players on Friday with a stack of 455,000. The leaderboard continues with Robert Hankins and Peter Viantonio, each holding 377,500 in chips, B.J. McBrayer (272,000), and Michael Horchoff (199,500). Among the 18 survivors of Day 1 are also Maurice Hawkins (112,500), Nadya Magnus (83,400), Alex Rocha (69,000), Marshall White (62,500), and Mark Dube (47,500).

Other notables could not make to the second day of the tournament, nor did they come close to the money. These were nine-time WSOP ring winner Ari Engel, as well as two players who already claimed victory at previous events at Harrah’s New Orleans series, Valentin Vornicu and Abraham Araya.

The current season of the WSOP Circuit comes to an end with Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans chosen as its host venue. The festival has nine tournaments and two side events, namely the $250 Ladies Event No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry taken down by Cyntia Compton and the $250 Seniors Event No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry won by Scott Roberts. The NLH High Roller is the 8th event of the series, while the next tournament is the final one for this season, the $750K GTD Main Event.

It starts Friday morning at 11.00 a.m. local time and has an entry fee of $1,675. Players will be able to enter during the two starting days and re-enter one time while registration is open until the start of Level 13 on Sunday. They will start Day 1A on Friday with 20,000 in chips during 40-minute levels. Last year, the tournament attracted 758 entrants who contributed to the total prize pool of $1,137,000. After several days of poker action, Jason Baldridge emerged victorious and took home the first-place prize of $227,412.

Several other events ended Thursday, one of which was the single-day $365 No-Limit Hold’em Single Re-Entry tournament. It was won by Terry Melancon who banked a cash prize of $13,556. The NLH MONSTER STACK Re-Entry event also crowned a champion – it was Raymond Curran who defeated the impressive field of 707 entrants and claimed the title for $43,479.

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