Christopher Trang Bags Solid Lead on Flight 1a of $565 PLO
An impressive field of 1,193 entrants came into the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for Day 1a of Event #19: $565 Pot-Limit Omaha. Just 52 players survived the 18-level day to bag and advance onto Day 2.
Christopher Trang went on a tear on the final levels of the night to build from the 5,000 starting stack to end with a commanding chip lead boasting 402,000. The next closest was Peter Linton bagging 309,000.
Other notables who will also be advancing onto Day 2 include Ludovic Geilich (195,000), Nick Jivkov (122,000), Craig Varnell (90,000), and Vivian Saliba (73,000).
Ryan Laplante, who won this event in 2016, is aiming for a repeat and bagged a healthy stack of 180,000. One of the key hands for Laplante resulted in him eliminating Ionescu who at one time held the chip lead himself.
Laplante called a raise from Christopher Trang in middle position and John Gordon called on the button. Mircea Ionescu then announced a pot-sized raise out of the big blind, getting folds from Trang and Gordon. Laplante thought for a few moments before calling the 36,000. The two saw a jack-eight-six flop and Laplante bet the remaining 30,000 or so of Ionescu's stack. "I can't believe this. OK, I call," Ionescu said, putting the rest of his chips in the middle.
Laplante tabled jack-nine-eight-seven for two pair and a straight draw to Ionescu's jack-ten-nine-deuce for an inferior one pair but an open-ended straight draw. The turn brought a seven, making Ionescu's straight, but the river fell was an eight, filling up Laplante and Ionescu made his way to the payout cage.
A perk for players on either flight of Day 1 is the ability to make the money even if their journey comes to an end before the end of play. Of the 1,193 contestants, 179 would make the money, securing a min-cash of at least $833. Chris Ferguson, Barry Greenstein, Dan Heimiller, and Jeff Gross are a few of those to do so.
Registration for the second and final flight for this event has closed, drawing 1,225 more entries for a grand total of 2,418. Both flights will combine for Day 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the live updates from the rest of the $565 PLO and the whole of the 2018 World Series of Poker.