WSOP 2021: Abhinav Iyer & Sriharsha Doddapaneni Bag Heaps on Day 1 of Event #79: Poker Hall of Fame Bounty NLHE

WSOP 2021: Abhinav Iyer & Sriharsha Doddapaneni Bag Heaps on Day 1 of Event #79: Poker Hall of Fame Bounty NLHE
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  • Attreyee Khasnabis November 18, 2021
  • 4 Minutes Read

With the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) on its last legs, chances for Team India to grab the elusive gold bracelet are quickly running out. Nevertheless, Abhinav Iyer seems to have taken it upon himself to keep the country’s bracelet hopes alive. After stellar runs in the Main Event (60th for $113,800) and the $10K Super Turbo Bounty (14th for $18,501), Iyer has managed to get another bracelet sweat going in Event #79: $1,979 Poker Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (Freezeout). He bagged the seventh most enormous stack (442,000 – 44 BBs) on Day 1 among 63 survivors.

Accompanying Iyer to Day 2 in the Poker Hall of Fame Bounty is another Indian player Sriharsha Doddapaneni (226,000 – 23 BBs), who bagged the 23rd most giant stack of the day.

Kunal Patni also participated in the event. The banker-turned-poker was among the bounty hunters and won a $10,000 bounty placed on the WSOP Master of Ceremonies Vince Vaughn to more than make up for his buy-in as he busted not long after that.

Philippines’ Marc Rivera (721,000) emerged as the end-of-Day 1 chip leader and headlines 63 survivors to Day 2.

Event #80: $3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha logged in a 496-entry field on Wednesday. Only 122 made the cut, with Ruslan Nazarenko (616,500) bagging the overnight chip lead.

Event #79: $1,979 Poker Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (Freezeout) – Day 1

The new addition at this year’s series, Event #79: $1,979 Poker Hall Of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (Freezeout), was an entertaining one, to say the least. The event format is such that players receive a bounty for eliminating any Poker Hall of Famer – the bounty amount is equivalent to the year in which the player was inducted to the PHoF. For example, Doyle Brunson was inducted in 1988. Therefore, eliminating him would earn the winning player a $1,988 bounty.

Day 1 played out 17 levels, each one 40 minutes long. Late registrations were closed after the dinner break, and the final number of entries stood tall at 469, creating a $172,499 prize pool. Marc Rivera bagged the end-of-day chip lead with a 721,000 stack and headlines 63 runners to Day 2. Jerry Wong was the only other player to bag 700,000.

Jerry Wong
Jerry Wong

 

There were eleven Poker Hall of Famer bounties that were in play. These included Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, the 2021 inductee Eli Elezra, Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, Barbara Enright, Linda Johnson, Tom McEvoy, Jack McClelland, Phil Hellmuth, and Lyle Berman, and an additional $10,000 bounty on actor Vince Vaughn. All of them were eliminated on Day 1.

At least three Indian players were reported in action – bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer, Sriharsha Doddapaneni, and Kunal Patni.

Given the phenomenal form that Abhinav Iyer (442,000 – 44 BBs) has been in throughout the series, it comes as no surprise that not only did he make it to Day 2, but he also bagged the seventh biggest stack of the day!

Abhinav Iyer
Abhinav Iyer

 

In fact, the Young Gun scored the last bounty before the final 20-minute break of the day commenced. He eliminated Poker Hall of Famer Jack McClelland to collect a $2,014 bounty. The hand in question saw McClelland’s going up against Iyer’s . The board sent McClelland packing.

Jack McClelland
Jack McClelland

 

Joining the former bracelet winner on Day 2 will be Sriharsha Doddapaneni. He, too, bagged an impressive stack of 226,000 – 23rd biggest stack – for Day 2. While his journey was not well documented in the live coverage, Doddapaneni managed to win some chips off the Day 1 chip leader Marc Rivera just before hand-to-hand play began.

Sriharsha Doddapaneni
Sriharsha Doddapaneni

 

Kunal Patni was the only one from the trio of Indians who couldn’t make it to Day 2. He won the $10,000 bounty on the WSOP Master of Ceremonies, renowned actor Vince Vaughn for consolation. Vaughn jammed preflop with and Patni looked him up with . If Vaughn was a 68% favorite to take down the pot, the flop changed the equation completely, with Patni hitting the top pair. The turn and river were of no help to Vaughn. Patni offered a consolatory, “Sorry.” To which Vaughn said, “No worries, good suck out. We’ll see you down the road.”

Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn

 

Even though Patni couldn’t make it to Day 2, busting Vaughn should go a long way in making him feel better.

Kunal Patni
Kunal Patni

 

Former bracelet winners Michael Gathy (202,000), Joao Vieira (75,000), and Yueqi Zhu (74,000) are some prominent players remaining.

The players will return for Day 2 on Thursday at 12 PM (local time).

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1

1. Marc Rivera – 721,000

2. Jerry Wong – 700,000

3. Payam Karami – 630,000

4. Eder Murata – 560,000

5. Laurent Polito – 486,000

6. Phil Scaletta – 462,000

7. Abhinav Iyer – 442,000

8. Sonia Shashikhina – 425,000

9. Michael Acevedo – 419,000

10. Christian Pham – 402,000

 

Event #80: 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha – Day 1

Event #80: $3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha drew 496 entries generating a $1,324,320 prize pool, and only 122 players survived through to Day 2.

Ruslan Nazarenko topped the day-end chip counts with his massive stack of 616,500. He is the runaway chip leader, with Chino Rheem (500,000) being the only player holding at least 500K in chips.

Ruslan Nazarenko
Ruslan Nazarenko

 

Anatolii Zyrin (280,500), Ali Imsirovic (268,500), David “ODB” Baker (155,000), Mike Matusow (140,500), and Brian Hastings (113,000) are some other noteworthy names who bagged up for Day 2.

Day 2 resumed at 2 PM (local time) on Thursday.

Top 10 Chip Counts at the End of Day 1

1. Ruslan Nazarenko – 616,500

2. Chino Rheem – 500,000

3. Maxx Coleman – 496,000

4. Steven Forman – 460,000

5. Michael Moncek – 445,500

6. James Mordue – 419,000

7. Joseph Haug – 358,500

8. Uri Reichenstein – 357,500

9. Michael Hudson – 334,500

10. Robert Emmerson – 316,500

 

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerNews, WSOP & PokerGO

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