Welcome to the ARIA Resort & Casino, and the 2018 Poker Masters for Day 2 of Event #7: $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event.
Six events have been won and run and the second annual Poker Masters, and so far David Peters, Brandon Adams, Keith Lehr, Isaac Haxton, and Ali Imsirovic have all collected titles. For Imsirovic, he won back-to-back events winning the $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em and the $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em to pocket a combined $1.2 million in earnings along with rocketing to the top of the leaderboard rankings for the Poker Masters Purple Jacket.
Unlike the inaugural running of the Poker Masters where the Purple Jacket was decided using total earnings, the 2018 Poker Masters will use the High Roller of the Year scoring system to award the coveted Poker Masters Purple Jacket. Players are awarded points for their in-the-money finish, and currently there are only five players in contention to claim the Purple Jacket due to some outstanding performances so far this series. Here are the current standings heading into the Main Event:
2018 Poker Masters Purple Jacket Rankings:
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|
| 1st | Ali Imsirovic | 660 |
| 2nd | Brandon Adams | 510 |
| 3rd | Isaac Haxton | 480 |
| 4th | Jake Schindler | 390 |
| 5th | Ben Yu | 360 |
Points available: 350 (1st), 245 (2nd), 175 (3rd), 140 (4th), 105 (5th), 70 (6th+).
Day 1 of the $100,000 buy-in Main Event kicked off in the PokerGO Studio on Thursday with 15 players taking a seat. Registration was originally planned to be open for the first ten levels, and until play started on Day 2, but when the likes of Brandon Adams, Dan Smith, Jason Koon, Brian Rast, Matthias Eibinger, and Keith Tilston all found themselves on the rail, the tournament was brought to a screeching halt.
Tournament Director Paul Campbell paused the tournament mid-way through level five to have a lengthy discussion with the remaining nine players. To protect the integrity of the tournament and the players who were currently still remaining, the decision was made to end Day 1 at the completion of the level, and have registration end at the commencement of play on Day 2 (through five levels instead of the original ten). Players still had the opportunity to enter for the first time, or re-enter for those already eliminated, and between ARIA Poker and PokerGO staff, along with the players, this was deemed the fairest decision.
Isaac Haxton would be eliminated on one of the last hands of the day, and eight players would survive into Day 2. David Peters held the chip lead with 620,500, but he was closely followed by Justin Bonomo (495,000), Seth Davies (466,500), Rainer Kempe (464,000), and Imsirovic (422,500). Christoph Vogelsang, Nick Petrangelo, and Dominik Nitsche round out the final players who sit with a below average chip stack.
A decent number of players are expected to take advantage of Day 2 registration with the seven eliminated players most likely to re-enter, while the likes of Schindler, Cary Katz, Bryn Kenney, Koray Aldemir, and Sam Soverel near certainties to enter. It is also believed that US Poker Open Champion Stephen Chidwick was en-route to Las Vegas following some passport issues throughout the week.
Like in previous events, each player will have three 30-second time extension chips worth 60 seconds, and there is a 30-second shot clock. Players will start with 200,000 in chips and levels will last 60 minutes with a 10-minute break every two levels. As a reminder, registration is open till 1 p.m. (PDT) and will close once the ARIA Poker staff begin drawing for seats with play expected to begin at 1 p.m. (PDT).
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be providing continuous live updates from the PokerGO Studio of all the Event #7: $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event action. So stay tuned right here to PokerNews.com to see who claim the 2018 Poker Masters Purple Jacket!
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