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It was another action-packed day at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP), as several tournaments progressed towards completion.
Event#24: $2,620 THE MARATHON No Limit Hold ‘em has come to the final stages and will resume for Day 5 with nine finalists. Headlining the final table is former Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, who will return on the final day with the second biggest stack. Event #27: $10,000 HORSE is another event on the verge of conclusion and will resume with heads-up play between John Hennigan and David ‘Bakes’ Baker.
Running alongside were Event #28: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed and Event #29: $1,500 Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw, where both events wrapped up their respective Day 2’s.
On the other hand, Event #30: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha had a spectacular start with numerous poker biggies jumping in on the action. Following the eliminations of over 600 players, only 130 remain to battle it out for Day 2.
Meanwhile, Event #31: $1,500 Seven Card Stud kicked off with 310 entries and Day 1 play concluded with 82 players moving on to Day 2.
The final nine survivors remain in the THE MARATHON – $2,620 No Limit Hold ‘em that has by now, run through four days of play featuring the participation of 1,637 entries who created a massive $3,860,046 prize pool.
With Mark Sleet on the top of the leaderboard with a stack of 7,725,000, and poker prominents like former WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson who’s second in lead with 7,345,000, Bart Lybaert (7,155,000), Mike Addamo (6,165,000), Taylor Paur (4,815,000), Cate Hall (1,175,000) and Anton Morgenstern (1,800,000), it’s going to be one intense, high action final table.
For most part of the day it was Jacobson who went on winning one pot after the other. At one point, he built a stack of 811,000 but then he dropped a few pots and this is where Sleet took over the lead from him.
One of the highlights of the day was a hand where Jacobson eliminated Javier Fernandez (28th for $16,340) with his aces against the latter’s ace-king. He then went on to eliminate Mike Azzaro (22nd for $19,997) with an ace-queen on a queen-high flop against Azzaro’s ace-king. Between these two pots, Jacobson added 4 Million in chips to his stack.
The final table was announced after Sameer Aljanedi (10th for $39,449) busted out in a hand against Lybaert. Before him, Jonas Mackoff (11th for $39,449), Joseph Pietrafesa (12th for $39,449), Bryden Baxter (13th for $31,076) and Hugo Alfaro (14th for $31,076) were all eliminated.
Some of the notable eliminations who managed to make it in the money included Sanjay Dulabh (19th for $19,997), Salvatore DiCarlo (20th for $19,997), Faraz Jaka (35th for $16,340), Matt Affleck (44th for $13,520), Scotty Nuygen (46th for $11,329), Lee Markholt (48th for $11,329), Martin Staszko (49th for $11,329), Joe Elpayaa (57th for $9,616), and Chris Moorman (60th for $9,616).
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Mark Sleet – 7,725,000
2. Martin Jacobson – 7,345,000
3. Bart Lybaert – 7,155,000
4. Michael Addamo – 6,165,000
5. Ihar Soika – 4,990,000
6. Taylor Paur – 4,815,000
7. Anton Morgenstern – 1,800,000
8. Ying Chan – 1,725,000
9. Cate Hall – 1,175,000
Another classic WSOP tournament that has drawn many to its fold every summer, the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship that began with an initial player field of 166 has been whittled down to the final two players! Yes and it’s going to be a battle between four-time bracelet winner John Hennigan and two-time bracelet champ David ‘Bakes’ Baker for the gold bracelet, and the first place prize of $414,692.
Of the two, Hennigan is commanding a massive chip lead, with 6,675,000 while Baker has 1,630,000. Baker will have to plough his way up to the title to match up and win over the enormous gap in the stacks that Hennigan has built.
Earlier, Lee Salem got eliminated in the third place and exited the play after pocketing $179,216. Prior to him, Iraj Parvizi (4th for $127,724), Randy Ohel (5th for $92,808), Albert Daher (6th for $68,783), Daniel Zack (7th for $52,016), Michael Noori (8th place for $40,155), Robert Campbell (9th for $31,656) and Jake Schwartz (10th for $31,656) were all eliminated.
Event #28: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed
On the Day 2 of Event #28: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed, 186 players returned with Christian Rudolph leading as chip leader (210,000), along with Federico Petruzzelli (209,000) and Richard Kaplan (178,500) close behind.
But it was Ben Palmer who stole the show through the course of the day. By the end of the Day 2, he had built up a stack of 1,595,000 without getting involved in many big pots. Yorane Kerignard (1,219,000), Darren Rabinowitz (939,000), Enio Bozzano (900,000) and Florian Duta (792,000) are however not far behind in chip counts.
With 163 players hitting the rails through the course of the day, several notable names bid farewell to the felts including Olivier Busquet (26th for $13,132), Erik Seidel (29th for $13,132), Cliff Josephy (34th for $10,703), Jeremy Ausmus (39th for $8,902), Mike Watson (49th for $6,555), Manig Loeser (52nd for $6,555) and Sergio Aido (54th for $6,555), along with former WSOP Main Event winners Greg Merson (64th for $5,809) and Ryan Riess (65th for $5,809).
23 players will start off proceedings on Day 3.
A surprise elimination of the day was Italy’s Petruzzellia, who started second in chips but was sent packing even before he could reach the money bubble. David Mock was the bubble boy of the event.
The play for the day ended after Eric Baldwin (22nd for $16,435) and Wayne Harmon (21st for $16,435) were eliminated. Baldwin opened with 20,000 from hijack holding while Luiz Duarte 3-bet to 70,000 from big blind with pocket queens. The board ran improving Duarte’s hand to three-of-a-kind and sending Baldwin to the rails.
Harmon tank-called from under-the-gun a bet of 74,000 made by Eno Bozzano from cutoff but the former lost the pot as the rundown gave Bozzano a pair of jacks.
1. Ben Palmer – 1,595,000
2. Yorane Kerignard – 1,219,000
3. Darren Rabinowitz – 939,000
4. Enio Bozzano – 900,000
5. Florian Duta – 792,000
6. Anatoly Filatov – 751,000
7. Ana Marquez – 682,000
8. Luiz Duarte – 665,000
9. Jason Mercier – 587,000
10. James Mackey – 559,000
After 81 players were sent packing, only seven players remain at the end of Day 2 and the unofficial final table is set. Hanh Tran spearheaded the chip counts with 633,000, followed by Cody Wagner (538,000) and Brian Hastings (528,000).
With only 54 places assured a payday, many poker pros and past bracelet winners did not make it till the money bubble including Philip Long, Andrey Zhigalov, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Scott Clements, Bryce Yockey and Calvin Anderson. Randolph Jensen was the bubble boy who exited at 55th place.
Other notable eliminations included Phillip Hui (11th for $5,953), David “The Dragon” Pham (12th for $5,953), Daniel Ospina (17th for $4,680), Shaun Deeb (19th for $3,799), Jon Turner (39th for $2,485), David “ODB” Baker (40th for $2,485), Allen Kessler (49th for $2,243) and Yueqi Zhu (50th for $2,243).
Jeremy Heartberg (8th for $10,555), Chris Vitch (9th for $7,809) and Frank Kassela (10th for $7,809) were the last three players to be busted on Day 2, setting up the unofficial seven-handed final table.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Hanh Tran – 633,000
2. Cody Wagner – 538,000
3. Brian Hastings – 528,000
4. David Prociak – 287,000
5. Oscar Johansson – 256,000
6. Jared Bleznick – 236,000
7. Yong Wang – 198,000
With a starting count of 799 entries, only 130 survivors made it to the end of Day 1 in Event #30: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha. Playing for a top prize of $217,123 and a WSOP gold bracelet, 669 entrants were relegated to the rails on the opening day.
Out of the 130 that survived, Michael Heritsch build the biggest stack of 141,000. Frank Williams (128,100) and Aaron Anderson (123,700) round out the top three stacks.
Jesse Sylvia, the 2012 WSOP Main Event runner-up, started to win pot after pot through the middle stages of the day to finally bag 92,800 in chips at the end of Day 1.
Many other top guns were seen in action at the event including Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Barny Boatman, Alex Foxen, Craig Varnell and Connor Drinan.
With 10 levels of play gone and 10 more still to come tomorrow, things seem to be heating up.
1. Michael Heritsch – 141,000
2. Frank Williams – 128,100
3. Aaron Henderson – 123,700
4. Mike Shin – 121,600
5. Pim van Holsteyn – 118,800
6. Farid Jattin – 111,300
7. James Gilbert – 107,900
8. Colin York – 107,000
9. Phillip Riley – 100,000
10. Ryan Bambrick – 99,800
Event #31: $1,500 Seven Card Studkicked off on June 14, pulling in participation from 310 runners that helped create a $418,500 prize pool. Now, after the day’s play, 82 players remain in contention for the title. 47 of them will be guaranteed a payday of $2,250, and the player to bag the gold bracelet will take home $105,629.
Farhad Mobassery is currently in pole position with his stack of 80,800. Ron Brown (79,300) and Jeff Lisandro (70,200) round up the top three stacks.
Notables who failed to bag chips for the next day include Lawrence Berg, Matt Grapenthien, Calvin Anderson, Yuval Bronshtein, David Bach, Mike Leah, Humberto Brenes, Barry Greenstein, Max Pescatori, and Richard Ashby.
1. Farhad Mobassery – 80,800
2. Ron Brown – 79,300
3. Jeff Liandro – 70,200
4. Mark Radoja – 65,500
5. Stephen Rivers -61,200
6. Scott Cole – 58,000
7. Sandeep Vasudevan – 53,700
8. Gerard Rechnitzer – 51,500
9. Julien Martini – 50,900
10. Chris Ferguson -48,500
Content & image courtesy WSOP.com.
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