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The grind never really finishes at the super energetic corridors of the Rio All Hotel Suite & Casino that is hosting the world’s richest sporting event, the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP). And, with the WSOP on the edge of entering its third consecutive week, many important and hugely popular tournaments are currently underway, some of them close to the finish line.
Over past two days, Event 21 – $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘em Millionaire Maker kept the fire burning and it’s been a busy weekend for Indian players, many of who lined up to register for tournament. Team India’s foremost poker champ, Aditya Agarwal was one of the first to enter. Agarwal was in thick of action and was looking to make his third cash this year, however he busted after firing multiple bullets.
Meanwhile, four other Indians featured prominently in the starting flights of the tournament, and three of them, Kunal Patni (99,100), Raghav Bansal (40,300) and Anil Adiani (17,500) have survived through the gargantuan player field to reach the second day of the event.
Moving on to other events, only eight players remain in the Big Blind Ante $5,000 NLHE that will see a winner staking claim to the gold bracelet and the title on Tuesday. 16 players have survived in the $1,500 8-Game Mix which will now have its third day of consecutive run. Day 1 of the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Low Ball Draw got over on Monday and the 38 survivors will meet again to take the play further. Two more events-Marathon: $2,620 NLHE and $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 Or Better are scheduled to begin as is the second flight of PLO Giant: $365 Pot Limit Omaha event.
Event #20: Big Blind Antes $5,000 No Limit Hold ‘em
It couldn’t have become more challenging for Shawn Buchanan who has three runner-up place finishes in WSOP events dated back to 2010 and 2011 and numerous other WSOP runs but never a gold bracelet. As the Canadian player holds the top place in the leaderboard in the field of eight remaining players in the Big Blind Antes $5,000 No Limit Hold ‘em, he’s close, yet again, to fulfilling his long standing dream of wearing a WSOP gold bracelet on his wrist.
So when Buchanan who holds a stack of 2,580,000 meets players like Jeremy Wien (2,455,000), David Peters (1,925,000), Jake Schindler (1,825,000) and David Laka (1,655,000) on Tuesday, he’s going to have to keep up the tempo and the brilliant show he made on Monday, when he sent Arne Ruge, Ran Ilani and Patrick Truong out to the rail, in order to inch closer to the title.
A total of 518 players entered the event building a prize pool of $2,408,700 with the top prize being $537,710. Only 189 players including the late registration resumed play the day later.
The official final table was drawn after Truong got eliminated (9th for $34,862) in a hand played against Buchanan. Prior to him, Michael Gagliano (10th for $27,208), Asi Moshe (11th for $27,208), Jason Remshardt (12th for $27,208), Peter Neff (13th for $21,655), Chris Bolek (14th for $21,655), Kenneth Smaron (15th for $21,655), Jan Christoph Von Halle (16th for $17,583), Ross Schultz (17th for $17,583), Martin Mathis (18h for $17,583), Stephen Chidwick (19th for $14,572), Nick Pupillo (20th for $14,572), Ruge (23rd for $14,572), Ilani (22nd for $14,572) and Kristen Bicknell (24th for $14,572) got eliminated.
The table draw for Tuesday’s play will have Buchanan sitting on the left of Peters who has the third highest chips, with Laka directly to his left. Flanked by the two poker veterans, Buchanan has his work cut out for himself.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Shawn Buchanan – 2,580,000
2. Jeremy Wien – 2,455,000
3. David Peters – 1,925,000
4. Eric Blair – 1,825,000
5. David Laka – 1,655,000
6. John Amato – 1,005,000
7. Jake Schindler – 880,000
8. Richard Tuhrim – 625,000
It was a sight to see as thousands of players turned up to participate in the famous $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker event. On Monday, a total of 4,315 players registered on Flight Day 1B taking the overall participation to an impressive 7,361! The prize pool created in the tournament is no less, it stands at $9,937,350 and the event winner will take home the first place payday of $1,173,223 along with the WSOP bracelet!
Following the hectic rounds of play and eliminations that included Agarwal exiting out of the play in the early hours of Monday, 1,104 players have now advanced to Day 2, including three Indian players, Kunal Patni, Raghav Bansal and Anil Adiani.
Agarwal shared his journey on his twitter handle.
Playing event 21, Millionaire Maker. Currently with SS 7500 at 75-150(25) #wsop2018
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) June 9, 2018
Playing flight b of the MM, got in on time with SS 7500 at 25-50 #WSOP2018
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) June 10, 2018
Agarwal fired three bullets in the event and kept the grind on till early hours on Monday.
Onto bullet number 3 #WSOP2018
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) June 10, 2018
The $1,500 NLHE Millionaire Maker is an event that Agarwal has been participated and cashed over the past two consecutive years.
9600 coming back to 75-150 #WSOP2018
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) June 10, 2018
However, much to the chagrin of Agarwal’s many fans and followers, he was eliminated out before he could make it in the money. He will now be seen in the $3,000 NLHE 6-Handed scheduled to begin on June 13.
Busted both bullets, back to bed, next up 3k 6max after few days break #WSOP2018
— Aditya Agarwal (@AdiAgarwal_int) June 10, 2018
While Patni is leading the pack of Indian participants holding 99,100 chips in 130th place in the end of day chip counts, Bansal has reached the second day with 40,300 and is in 550th place. Adiani has 17,500 chips and is placed 937th in chips.
All three will be pitting their best moves on Tuesday. Bansal counts among the top Indian poker players in terms of earnings and achievements, with his best WSOP cash being 2015 when he finished ninth in the $2,500 NLHE to pocket $39,508.
Patni made deep runs in WSOP events in 2017 and finished 85th in the $5,000 NLHE. For Adiani, who has been visible in the Asian poker tournaments and at the domestic tourneys, this is his first WSOP grind.
Another Indian player, Paddolkar registered in the first starting flight of the event but couldn’t make it to Day 2.
All survivors are already in the money, guaranteed a minimum $2,249 and Andrea Buonocore remains at the top of the leaderboard with 209,900 chips. He’s followed by Jared Jaffee (171,900), Anthony Spinella (162,500), two-time WSOP Circuit Ring winner, Thomas Taylor (169,600), Walter Treccarichi (150,900), and former November Niner, Joseph Cheong (133,700).Shaun Deeb (18,200) also features in the top stack holders.
Among the other notables who have moved on to the next day of play are, Taylor Black (129,500), Georgios Vrakas (96,600), Marc Macdonnell (75,500), Bart Hanson (74,400), Rainer Kempe (49,500), Ryan Laplante (33,000), Aaron Massey (28,400), Allen Kessler (25,500) and Maria Lampropulos (12,000).
There were many prominent players however, who couldn’t make it further. These include, Vivian Saliba, Maurice Hawkins, Kitty Kuo, Kristen Bicknell, Adrian Mateos, Vlad Darie, Ari Engel, Dutch Boyd, Loren Klein, Matt Affleck, Martin Finger, Bryn Kenney, Kenny Hallaert, Brandon Cantu, Marcel Vonk, David Urban and Brandon Ageloff.
1. Andrea Brunocore – 209,900
2. Thanh Nguyen – 199,500
3. Artan Dedusha – 191,600
4. Jared Jaffee -171,900
5. Thomas Taylor – 169,600
6. Ryan Rivers – 169,000
7. David Eldridge – 165,000
8. Anthony Spinella – 162,500
9. Viktor Lavi – 159,200
10. Sorel Mizzi – 158,300
It looks like the $1,500 Eight Game Mix that saw an entry field of 481 players leading to a prize pool of $649,350 and has now led to a point when only 16 players remain in the fray, will see a battle of the biggies on Tuesday.
Poker champions like Per Hildebrand (278,000), David Bach (263,000),John Racener (226,500),John Racener (226,500), Anthony Zinno (198,000), Daniel Negreanu (126,000), Iori Yogo (97,500) and Mike Matusow (83,000) are returning to engage in the field, with Nicholas Seikin in control of the reins of the chip lead with 360,000.
On Monday, the money bubble burst when 73 players were still in play.Joseph Haddad was the bubble boy of the event. Negreanu had a tough day and was dangerously close to busting out right after the bubble but he pulled back after doubling up several times against his opponents. Valentin Vornicu was very active through the day but got busted out in a hand played against Hildebrand.
Notable players who made it into the money include, Matthew Mortensen (17th for $6,072), Paul Sokoloff (18th for $6,072), James Obst (20th for $4,844), Ben Yu (22nd for $4,844), Valentin Vornicu (23rd for $4,844), Dylan Linde (24th – $4,844), Fabrice Soulier (30th for $3,972),Scott Seiver (34th for $3,349), Vladimir Shchemelev (45th for $2,598), Ylon Schwartz (54th for $2,394), Jake Schwartz (57th for $2,277), Benny Glaser (64th for $2,277) and Amnon Filippi (71st for $2,238).
Maria Ho, Allen Kessler, Scott Bohlman, Ivo Donev, Svetlana Gromenkova, Jeff Madsen, Cliff Josephy, Jeff Lisandro and David “Bakes” Baker are among the players who were eliminated short of the money.
1. Nicholas Seiken – 360,000
2. Philip Long – 357,000
3. Jean Montury – 345,000
4. Nicholas Derke – 338,000
5. Per Hildebrand – 278,500
6. David Bach – 263,000
7. Robert Williamson III- 250,500
8. Devin Looney – 234,500
9. John Racener – 226,500
10. Anthony Zinno- 198,000
85 players entered the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship that began on Monday and after ten levels of play, the field of competition has now reduced to 38. Galen Hall who has emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 389,800 is followed by Benny Glaser (352,000), Timothy McDermott (304,800), Stephen Chidwick (222,800)and Dario Sammartino (212,500).
Other notables who have made it to the second day include, John Monnette also bagged (90,000) along with multiple bracelet-winners, John Hennigan (135,100), Billy Baxter (94,000), Erik Seidel (91,8000), Chris Ferguson (85,500) and Eli Elezra (51,400), Scott Seiver (142,600), Mike Wattel (135,500), Jean-Robert Bellande (100,800), German professional soccer player, Max Kruse (72,800), Darren Elias (70,600), Illya Trincher (42,200) and Shaun Deeb (30,100).
Deeb, Bellande, Mike Leah and Chris Ferguson entered the play late. Eric Kurtzman was the first player to bustout and Frank Kassela, Mark Weitzman, Calvin Anderson were among the others who got eliminated. Re-entry to the event will remain open till the start of the day on Tuesday.
1. Galen Hall – 389,800
2. Benny Glaser – 352,000
3. Stephen Chidwick – 222,800
4. Dario Sammartino – 212,500
5. Ray Dehkharghani – 203,900
6. Daniel Zack – 165,600
7. Scott Seiver – 142,600
8. John Hennigan – 135,100
9. Mike Wattel – 132,500
10. Paul Volpe – 128,300
Content & image courtesy: WSOP.com
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