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WSOP Circuit 2009 - Council Bluffs Main Event
Friday, February 27, 2009 | Francis Lee
Sixty Seven players started out in this round of the World Series of Poker Circuit at Council Bluffs Iowa. Attendance was little down then normal but the main reason for this, is because the LA Classic was running at the same time. There was still a good turn out for some well known pro’s and a few WSOP bracelet winners in the field. The $5,000 buy in generated a total prize pool of $313,950 with just over 30% of that going to the winner.
After two days play the field had reduced to the final nine players. John McDonald had a great end to the second day, storming up the chip rankings and taking the chip lead into the final table, having won a few huge pots along the way. The rest of the final nine finished as follows on the official chip rankings leader board at the end of the day.
Final Table Chip Rankings
- 1st John McDonald $525000
- 2nd Dennis Meier Otto $387500
- 3rd Evan Panesis $203000
- 4th Ari Engel $92000
- 5th Jesse Hale $77000
- 6th Joaquin Sosa $60000
- 7th Jeff Banghart $52000
- 8th Jeffrey Daubs $30900
- 9th Jeff Bryan $27500
Jesse Hale made a good start on the very first hand when his pocket Aces held up against Jeff Daubs pocket Jacks taking his stack to over $100,000 on chips. Jeff Daub brief appearance on the final table earned him $9,419 in ninth place.
Short stacked Jeff Bryan was next to go when his All In raise was called by Jessie Hale, John McDonald and Dennis Meierotto. No body bet after the Flop came down 
but Meierotto came out firing after the Turn brought the 
Hale and McDonald quickly got out of the way. Bryan found he was drawing dead as his 
was up against 
and he left the table as the 
completed the board.
Jeff Banghart took seventh place when getting all his chips in with a straight and flush draw after the Turn. His luck was out as both missed leaving McDonald’s Ace high to take the pot. Shortly after Jesse Hale picked up another big pot when eliminating Ari Engel into 6th place. Engel All in pre Flop with 
found himself behind Hale with 
Hale paired his Ace on the Flop to which Engel could not recover. Engel collected $18,837 for finishing sixth.
It wasn’t long before we reached three handed play as both Hale and McDonald picked up more chips and another elimination each. First Hale picked up pocket Aces for the second time on the final table and found some action in Joaquin Sosa who was unlucky enough to have pocket Kings. The Aces held up leaving Sosa to collect $21,977 in fifth place. Not long after McDonald called Evan Panesis All in with pocket Three’s. This was good enough to take the pot as Panesis 
completely missed the board.
Three handed play lasted for a while until McDonald and Hale locked horns just after the dinner break. McDonald moved All in after the Flop came down 
and Hale quickly called and had him covered. McDonald tabled pocket Aces but found himself behind Hale, who had flopped two pair with 
The 
on the Turn gave Hale a full house leaving McDonald needing an Ace to stay in the tournament. This never came as the 
completed the board and the early chip leader was out in third place winning $34,535.
Hale took a commanding chip lead into the head up showdown against Meierotto and never let this slip, as he slowly chipped away at his chip stack. He finally took down the event hitting two pair on the River with as Meierotto’s paired Six was easily beaten. This win handed Hale the $113,020 in prize money, a seat to the $10,000 WSOP Circuit finale and of course the WSOP Circuit championship ring.
Final Standings
- 1st Jesse Hale $113,020
- 2nd Dennis Meierotto $62,790
- 3rd John McDonald $34,535
- 4th Evan Panesis $25,116
- 5th Joaquin Sosa $21,977
- 6th Ari Engel $18,837
- 7th Jeff Banghart $15,698
- 8th Jeff Bryan $12,558
- 9th Jeff Daubs $9,419
The next World Series of Poker Circuit event will take us to Caesars in Atlantic City from March 4-14. Check out our live poker tournament listings page for all the event details.
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