Official Standings – End of Day One Last Name First Name Hometown Table Seat Chip Count David Fox NA 10 8 102,100 Lou Esposito Howard Beach, NY 12 4 102,100 Mike Browne Tampa, FL NA NA 96,000 Senovio Ramirez Mercedes, TX 14 8 88,900 Ed W. Jatho, Jr. Abita Springs, LA 14 4 81,600 Purvis Blake Montgomery, AL 13 7 80,600 Chuck Kelley Staunton, VA 16 1 80,200 Timothy Miles Tallahassee, FL 10 4 78,400 Marc Fratter Murphy, TX 10 5 75,400 Matt Stout Atlantic City, NJ 14 7 63,900 Gary Friedlander Bellaire, TX 15 6 59,900 Devin Jarreau Baton Rouge, LA 13 9 57,000 Jeff Tims Houston, TX 14 9 55,300 Chris Marsh NA NA 5 55,000 Anita Vasquez Houston, TX 10 3 54,500 Michael Cohen Houston, TX 12 9 49,100 Rob Quin NA 10 7 48,000 Drew Hart Brandon, FL 13 2 47,700 Daryll Fish Cape Coral, FL 16 9 46,800 Suju Abraham NA 9 4 45,600 Ryan Lenaghan Movile, AL 14 1 42,500 Lee Wilson Houston, TX 9 9 42,300 Beverly Cheney Granbury, TX 10 1 41,000 Kyle Molik Elgin, IL 12 6 40,000 Gabe Costner NA 10 2 38,900 Jon Nathan Atlanta, GA 10 6 37,800 David Babin Montz, LA 9 3 35,700 Jack Schanbacher Pittsburgh, PA 16 3 34,800 Jeff Coutroulis Tampa, FL 16 2 34,600 Gil Morgenstern Sao Paulo, Brazil NA NA 34,300 Philip Sparta Fairfax, VA NA NA 31,300 Fatolla Shahen Houston, TX 9 6 30,400 James Henson Lake Jackson, TX 14 6 28,300 Cory Albertson Houston, TX 11 9 28,000 Clint Schafer Baton Rouge, LA 11 5 27,300 Jonathan Little NA 11 3 27,300 Dana Diephouse Baton Rouge, LA NA NA 27,100 Soren Eriksen Denmark 12 8 26,200 Floyd Vanderford New Orleans, LA 11 7 25,700 Joe Cutler New York, NY 12 7 25,500 Glenn Hyde Atlanta, GA NA NA 25,300 Rick Drury NA 12 5 24,900 Jason Brice Houston, TX 15 5 24,500 Allen Kessler Philadelphia, PA 14 2 23,300 Ed Corrado NA 13 8 22,600 Charles Wright Houston, TX 9 7 22,200 Tom Sartori NA NA NA 21,500 Edward Sabat Los Angeles, CA 15 9 21,100 Joseph Brooks Egg Harbor, NJ 12 1 20,500 John Ryan Orlando, FL NA NA 20,100 Jim Pritchard Duluth, GA 13 1 19,000 Ali Akram NA NA NA 18,500 Eli Lizka McAllen, TX NA NA 17,300 NA NA 15 7 16,700 Ben Gordon Pensacola, FL NA NA 16,600 Tim Vance NA 13 4 16,200 Brian Cospolich New Orleans, LA 11 2 15,600 Nick Ceci Peachtree, GA NA NA 15,300 Derek Feldman Cocoa, FL 11 6 14,000 Herbie Montalbano New Orleans, LA NA NA 13,200 Robert Jones Houston, TX 11 8 12,700 Michael Andrews New York, NY NA NA 12,400 Matt Sterling Brownstown, IN 11 4 11,100 Boris Kravets Elizabeth, NJ 16 7 10,300 Jimmy Tran Las Vegas, NV NA NA 10,200 Doug Carli Alliance, OH 16 8 10,000 Paul Prudhomme New Orleans, LA NA NA 9,600 Matt Brady Upper Darby, PA 12 2 6,300 Collier Merrill Pensacola, FL 14 5 4,300

Final WSOP Circuit Event of the Season Begins at Harrah's New Orleans

David Fox and Lou Esposito are the Co-Chip Leaders at End of
Day One in Main Event Finale

New Orleans, LA - The final tournament of the 2007-2008 World Series of Poker Circuit season began today at the fifth annual Bayou Poker Challenge. This is the last tournament of the final stop on the nine-month schedule, which began last summer and visited 12 different poker destinations. The fourth season of the World Series of Poker Circuits was widely popular once again, attracting more than 30,000 entries nationwide. More than $25 million in prize money was awarded to winners.

The $5,000 buy-in Bayou championship event attracted 249 entries. The total prize pool amounts to $1,196,650. The top 27 finishers in this event will collect prize money. The tournament winner will receive $382,928 for first prize. The winner will also receive a WSOP Circuit gold ring and an entry into the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, which will take place in Las Vegas in July.

At the end of Day One, David Fox is the co-chip leader with 102,100 in his stack. Last year's champion, Lou Esposito also has an identical count with 102,100. There are only 69 players remaining.

The main event is being played at the Harrahs New Orleans Casino and Hotel. This year's tournament attracted several notable poker players, including former WSOP gold bracelet winners Josh Arieh, Steve Billirakis, T.J. Cloutier, and Bill Edler. Other famous players included Gavin Smith, Steve Dannenmann, Chris Bell, Allie Prescott, Allen Kessler, Young Phan, and Matthew Stout. Former Bayou Poker Challenge champions Lou Esposito, Peter Feldman, and Walter Chambers also participated. Also worth noting was the participation of WSOP Circuit "unofficial MVP," Doug Carli, from Alliance, Ohio. Carli has more cashes and final table appearances than any other player.

World-renowned chef and restaurateur Paul Prudhomme was in attendance and played in the main event. Prudhomme opened this year's tournament as the honorary emcee. The owner of K-Paul's restaurant in the famous French Quarter is a regular player inside the Harrahs New Orleans Poker Room. He was one of the survivors at the conclusion of play in Day One.

The championship event will be played over the next two days. On Day Two, the field will be reduced from 69 players down to the final nine. Then on Wednesday May 21st, the nine survivors will take their seats at the final table. Coverage of the final table will be shown at the official WSOP website (www.worldseriesofpoker) and will be carried by Bluff Media starting at 2 pm CST.

Payouts:

1 $382,928
2 210,610
3 107,699
4 83,766
5 71,799
6 59,833
7 47,866
8 35,900
9 23,933
10 14,360
11 14,360
12 14,360
13 11,967
14 11,967
15 11,967
16 9,573
17 9,573
18 9,573
19 7,180
20 7,180
21 7,180
22 7,180
23 7,180
24 7,180
25 7,180
26 7,180
27 7,180

Former Bayou Poker Challenge Champions:

2007 (winter) - Andy Philachack
2007 (spring) - Lou Esposito
2006 - Peter Feldman
2005 - Walter Chambers
2004 - Boulos Estafanous

-- by Nolan Dalla

2008 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s New Orleans