WSOP Circuit and Borgata Events Begin, WhoJedi Leaves Poker

WSOPC Choctaw Underway in Oklahoma

The first World Series of Poker Circuit series of 2014 got underway at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma, on January 9.

Event 1 was a $365 NLHE tournament with 533 entrants and a $159,900 prize pool. Sean Stevens won the tournament for $34,380. Event 2 was a $365 PLO event with 254 players and a $76,200 prize pool, out of which Christopher Benoy won $18,667 for his victory.

Event 3 was a $365 NLHE with four starting flights and reentries allowed. There were 2,867 entries for it, resulting in an $860,100 prize pool. Christopher Bowen emerged victorious for $122,567 in that tournament.

Event 4 was a $365 NLHE with Jacob Mcfarland winning $31,159, and Event 5 was the same tournament but found Ryan Van Sanford in the winner’s circle with $20,732.

Borgata Winter Poker Open Begins

The Borgata Winter Poker Open is a big draw in Atlantic City, and action kicked off on January 14 with the $560 Big Stack NLHE reentry tournament. There will be three starting flights and a $2 million guarantee for the prize pool.

After Day 1A of Event 1, the results were solid. There were 1,212 entries for the day, though only 212 players made it through with chips. Torrey Korsog was atop the leaderboard with 372K, and for that chipleader status, he won $2,000.

There will be 23 tournaments in total, with the main attraction set as the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event from January 26-31. There will be a $3 million guarantee for the $3,500 buy-in reentry event.

Jay Newnum Leaves Poker Reporting

Longtime poker reporter and player Jay Newnum, known to many as “WhoJedi,” revealed today that he is leaving the poker industry. He posted a statement on his website: “It seems for the best that I step away from the poker world indefinitely.” He then added, “I’ll still be rooting for the industry to continue to grow, expand, and improve, in all the ways that we know it can.”

The news comes nearly a week after the Foxwoods dealer union president (Billy Shea) released a statement to fellow dealers regarding Newnum. As the reporter was covering a December poker tournament series at Foxwoods, he was arrested and charged with fifth degree larceny in a theft of dealer tips. He was granted “accelerated pretrial rehabilitation” for the amount, which was less than $1,000, and the case was closed and not made public. Two other thefts were also being investigated from the time period of the Foxwoods December Mega Stacks Series.

Newnum only addressed the incident in his statement to say that he agreed not to discuss anything about the case with anyone. He then asked that people respect Shea for revealing the information and holds no ill will against him for doing so.