The players have just returned from their last break of the night. About 171 players remain from the 533 entries that began this flight and Pedro Rios is the chip leader with about 350,000. Players will bag and tag in about 50 minutes.
James Sutherland Wins Event 9 ($150 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Bounties)
Event 9 ($150 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Bounties) drew a field of 159 players. From the $150 buy-in, $70 went into the main prizepool while $50 went into the bounty prizepool. The top 15 places were paid with first place set at $3,559 and a min-cash paying $156.
When the field was down to four, the remaining players agreed to an even chop which paid each $1,968. It was ruled that the remainder of the level would be played, and the final standings would be determined by chip counts at the end of the level. With Lester Goldsmith’s elimination in fourth place, James Sutherland held more than half the chips in play. From there, Sutherland sat back while Ramy Boctor and David Suraci played several big pots against each other.
When time ran out, Sutherland still had just more than half the chips with 478,000 of the 954,000 in play. Suraci scored a double-up through Boctor on the last hand to secure second place.
Here are the final results:
1st: James Sutherland – $1,968
2nd: David Suraci – $1,968
3rd: Ramy Boctor – $1,968
4th: Lester Goldsmith – $1,968
5th: Stephen Christy – $707
6th: Gerald Mitchell – $551
7th: Christopher Lewis – $434
8th: Raul Robles – $323
9th: Muneer Ahmed – $223
10th: Steven Kleisath – $184
11th: Conrad Lau – $184
12th: James Padula – $184
13th: Christopher Carey – $156
14th: Joshua Che Elrich – $156
15th: Regina Hampton – $156
Event 8 ($240 Omaha 8): Final Table Photos
The final table for Event 8 ($240 Omaha 8 or Better) wrapped up earlier this evening after playing down to the final two players, who then chopped it. Here’s a look at the final tablists from that event.
Event 7: Notable Chip Counts
Level 8
Blinds: 300/600
Ante: 75
With 533 entries in the Day 1D flight, the field currently stands at 1,866 entries. With two more starting flights, the $1 million guarantee wil be easily smashed. 333 remain in the Day 1D flight.
Pedro Rios – 110,000
Corey Burbick – 94,000
Ylon Schwartz – 88,000
Jamie Rosen – 87,000
Steve Karp – 83,000
Benjamin Zamani – 68,000
Scott Baumstein – 65,000
Walid Maddah – 64,000
Tristan Wade – 60,000
Jeff Fielder – 55,000
Ian O’Hara – 53,000
Jerry Wong – 53,000
Alex Bolotin – 47,000
Justin Conley – 46,000
Zo Karim – 40,000
Tony Ruberto – 40,000
Roman Valerstein – 39,000
Adam Levy – 37,000
Abbey Daniels – 33,000
Rex Clinkscales – 32,000
Dwyte Pilgrim – 28,000
Joey Couden – 20,000
Lily Kiletto – 15,000
Danny Suied – 14,000
Barry Hutter – 11,000
Loni Harwood – 10,000
Among the players that appear to have busted are Cord Garcia, Joe Elpayaa, Andrew Watson, and Tommy Vedes.
Event 7: Notables in the Day 1D Field
Among the faces we have spotted so far include Darryll Fish, Adam Levy, Cord Garcia, Jerry Wong, Jamie Rosen, Tony Ruberto, Zo Karim, Danny Suied, Joe Elpayaa, Jeff Fielder, Andrew Watson, Ylon Schwartz, Sam Taylor, Loni Harwood, Roman Valerstein, Dwyte Pilgrim, Joey Couden, Tristan Wade, Scott Baumstein, Corey Burbick, Lily Kiletto, and Sheddy Siddiqui.
Cory Blum Wins Event 8 ($240 Omaha 8 or Better)
The final three players continued for a while in Event 8, with Aaron Salamon holding a strong lead most of the time.
Zhen Cai and Cory Blum were the short stacks, but Cai caught a bad turn after getting quartered by Salamon and was dangerously short. He got it all in on the next hand against Blum.
Zhen Cai: 
Cory Blum: 
The board came 
, and Blum turned the low and rivered a heart flush to win the pot and eliminate Cai in third place.
Zhen Cai – Out in 3rd Place ($2,625)
That pot helped even the stacks a bit between Cory Blum and Aaron Salamon, and Salamon was ready to make a deal. He was willing to chop the top two prizes evenly, and when Blum said he would only agree if he got the trophy and the title, Salamon consented.
Just like that, Event 8 (Omaha 8 or Better) had come to an end. Here are the official payouts for all 12 players who finished in the money:
1st: Cory Blum – $5,458
2nd: Aaron Salamon – $5,458
3rd: Zhen Cai – $2,625
4th: Robert Leff – $1,785
5th: Daniel Genachte – $1,418
6th: Robert Wachtel – $1,103
7th: Jonathan Gallin – $893
8th: Marla Crumpler – $683
9th: Ronald Brooks – $473
10th: Debbie Mitchell – $368
11th: Daniel Yanofski – $368
12th: Thomas Nasuti – $368
Event 7: Howard Mash and Chino Rheem Lead Day 1C Field
Three of the six Event 7 ($560 No-Limt Hold’em) starting flights are in the books. Friday’s Day 1C field drew 487 entries, 115 of which have punched their tickets to Day 2 on Sunday. The Day 1C chip leader, and now the overall chip leader, is Howard Mash with 398,400. David “Chino” Rheem was the only other player to bag more than 300,000 chips on Friday, finishing with 301,800 and he sits in second place overall.
Here are the top 10 chip counts from Day 1C:
1. Howard Mash – 398,400
2. Chino Rheem – 301,800
3. Neville Darrell – 276,200
4. Brayden Fritzshall – 275,000
5. Josh Palmer – 269,600
6. Blake Whittington – 235,800
7. Chris Jackson – 235,400
8. John DePersio – 211,500
9. Farid Jordan Dhaniani – 199,900
10. Bill Gazes – 197,200
Event 8: Aaron Salamon Takes a Big Lead
Here’s a quick update on Event 8 ($240 Omaha 8 or Better) with the blinds at 8,000-16,000, with limits at 16,000-32,000:
Seat 5. Cory Blum – 110,000 (3 BB)
Seat 6. Zhen Cai – 285,000 (8 BB)
Seat 7. Aaron Salamon – 485,000 (15 BB)
As you can see, Aaron Salamon has completely turned it around from where he was when it was four-handed and he was the critical short stack. Now it’s Cory Blum who is dangerously close to the felt.
Just as this update was about to post, Blum got it all in with 
against Zhen Cai’s 
.
The board completed to 
— Cai flopped a flush draw, but Blum flopped a king-high flush that held up to win the pot. Cai doubled up to 172,000.
As the blinds increase to 10,000-20,000 with limits of 20,000-40,000, here are the updated counts:
Seat 5. Cory Blum – 160,000 (4 BB)
Seat 6. Zhen Cai – 75,000 (2 BB)
Seat 7. Aaron Salamon – 610,000 (15 BB)
Event 8: Down to the Final Three
When we last reported on the final table of Event 8 ($240 Omaha 8 or Better), there were five players remaining.
But Daniel Genachte was eliminated in fifth place, and the final table was four-handed for a while.
Bob Leff and Aaron Salamon were the two short stacks, until Leff found himself all in during a three-way pot against the two big stacks.
The final board showed 
, and the players turned over their cards:
Zhen Cai: 
(A-3 for a low)
Cory Blum: 
(A-5 for a low)
Bob Leff: 
(Pair of jacks for the high)
It was a split pot, but since it was three ways, Leff was still able to pick up some much-needed chips.
At that point, the players took a break, and the blinds increased to 6,000-12,000, with limits of 12,000-24,000. Here were the updated counts:
Seat 1. Bob Leff – 122,000 (5 BB)
Seat 5. Cory Blum – 300,000 (12 BB)
Seat 6. Zhen Cai – 326,000 (13 BB)
Seat 7. Aaron Salamon – 51,000 (2 BB)
Salamon was the clear underdog, but he’s been able to scrap his way back a bit and hold on. Leff wouldn’t be as fortunate.
In his final hand, Leff got it all in with 
against the 
of Zhen Cai.
The board came 
, and Cai made an ace-high flush to win the pot. (There were no possible lows.) Bob Leff was eliminated in fourth place.
Salamon got down to below 40,000, but he doubled up twice to get back into the mix of things, and he’s no longer in critical chip condition.
As the blinds increase to 8,000-16,000 with limits of 16,000-32,000, these are the updated chip counts:
Seat 5. Cory Blum – 360,000 (11 BB)
Seat 6. Zhen Cai – 172,000 (5 BB)
Seat 7. Aaron Salamon – 310,000 (9 BB)
And the prizepool still in play:
1st: $6,926
2nd: $3,990
3rd: $2,625
4th: Bob Leff $1,785
5th: Daniel Genachte – $1,418
Event 7, Day 1C: Chipleaders at the Break
As they take their last break of the day in the third flight of Event 7 ($560 NLHE w/ $1 Million Guarantee), the field has shrunk down to 180 players from a starting field of 487.
The blinds are increasing to 1,000-2,000 with a 200 ante, and the average stack is about 67,500 (33 big blinds).
Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard with one hour left in today’s play:
1. Blake Whittington – 305,000 (152 bb)
2. Howard Mash – 275,000 (137 bb)
3. Neville Darrell – 232,000 (116 bb)
4. Eric Mishkin – 222,000 (111 bb)