Four Marylanders survive first day of poker championship

They're playing the championship event of the World Series of Poker Circuit event at Caesars Atlantic City now and I noticed that a handful of Maryland players (four) survived yesterday's first day. The winner is scheduled to pocket more than $430,000 and gets a seat in the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas this summer.

Only 73 players remained from the starting field of 277. The buy-in was $4,900 and the tournament ends tomorrow.

A player of interest on the tournament report is Tiffany Williamson, whose hometown is listed as Columbia, Md. I'm trying to find out from tournament officials whether this is the Tiffany Williamson who finished 15th in the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas in 2005. That Tiffany Williamson was a lawyer living in London at the time but I recall she had family living in Columbia. She won $400,000 back then and her finish remains one of the highest ever for a woman in the Main Event. As a result, she got considerable TV time on ESPN. The Williamson who is in the current tournament was 23rd at the end of the first day with about 100,000 chips. The leader was a Tampa man with 250,000 chips so the tournament still remains wide open. In second place was Hevad Khan, who is a constant presence on ESPN re-runs of the 2007 Main Event because of his screaming antics.

The highest placed Marylander after the first day was Steven Cho (sixth with 139,200 chips) from Derwood, near Rockville. The other two Marylanders were Joyce Rulapaugh of Broomes Island (55,700 ) and Jesse Yaginuma of Silver Spring (47,500).

News Added: 15 March, 2008

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