Hand #65: Dario Sammartino limped in from the small blind and Kevin Maahs checked his option from the big blind. On the flop, Sammartino bet 1,200,000 and Maahs made the call to see the turn. Sammartino now bet 4,000,000 and Maahs reluctantly folded.
Hand #64: Kevin Maahs raised to 2.6 million under the gun. Alex Livingston called on the button, Hossein Ensan came along in the small blind and Dario Sammartino made it four ways to .
Action checked to Livingston and he bet 5.5 million. Ensan raised to 12.3 million. The squeezed players folded and Livingston called, bringing a . Ensan barreled small for 10 million and Livingston didn't need long before giving it up.
The Star Sydney Champs returns to Sydney, Australia, with an expanded schedule promising 25 days of world-class poker.
Headlining the series is the A$3,000 ($2,800 + $200) Main Event with an impressive A$1.5 Million GTD! The series also includes an additional 16 side events, including brand new events Crazy Pineapple and The Sydney Champs NLH Cup. There’s something for everyone, with events ranging from A$330 ($300+$30) to the A$20,000 ($19,000 + $1,000) High Rollers, set to attract the southern hemisphere’s poker elite.
The Star Sydney Champs runs from 11 July to 5 August 2019.
Hand #60: Alex Livingston opened the action with a raise to 2,800,000 from the cutoff and Hossein Ensan three-bet to 6,600,000 on the button. Livingston called and they headed to the flop, which the Canadian checked. Ensan continued for 5,000,000 and Livingston folded.
Hand #61: Ensan min-raised to 2,400,000 from the cutoff and fellow big stack Garry Gates in the big blind called. The flop brought and Gates checked over to Ensan, who bet 2,900,000 and won the pot.
Hand #57: Hossein Ensan raised to 2.5 million first to act. Alex Livingston defended the big blind and flopped. Livingston check-folded to a bet of 3 million.
Hand #58: Garry Gates made it 2.5 million on the button. Livingston three-bet to 8.8 million. The big blind folded and Gates gave it up.
Hand #59: Ensan raised to 3.3 million in the small blind with Dario Sammartino in the big. The short-stacked Italian player shoved all in for 21.9 million and Ensan quickly called with .
Sammartino had overcards with . The Italian crowd was delighted with the in the window, followed by . The turn further improved Sammartino and the ensured he'd double up.
123md
Hossein Ensan has yet to surrender his chip lead
The 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event final table continues on Monday evening with five players remaining from the second largest Main Event field ever of 8,569 entrants.
Hossein Ensan remains chip leader, Garry Gates is still in second place and between the two they hold almost 75% of the chips in play. They have combined to win 22 of the 56 hands played at the final table thus far and after accounting for three of the four eliminations, a heads-up clash between the two may look more and more likely. Still, their competitors, while shorter stacked, won't go down without a fight.
There is 28:08 remaining in Level 38 (600,000/1,200,000, with a 1,200,000-big blind ante).
"It's a crazy dynamic," Gates said after play concluded last night. "I'm staring at the chip counts now and to think Hossein and I have what we have, the bottom three guys are kind of strapped in that way."
Those three shorter stacks belong to Kevin Maahs, Alex Livingston and Dario Sammartino.PokerNews caught up with Sammartino, who is the shortest stack of the bunch, after play concluded Sunday night and he won't be folding to a fifth-place finish.
"Tomorrow, I have nothing to lose," Sammartino said
For the five remaining players, here were their respective paths to this point and also their final table chip graph.
Day
Hossein Ensan
Garry Gates
Kevin Maahs
Alex Livingston
Dario Sammartino
1
180,000
57,800
Day 2ab entry
159,000
121,000
2
209,000
283,300
262,100
360,600
522,700
3
336,000
348,000
123,000
681,000
552,000
4
3,250,000
1,085,000
2,596,000
660,000
2,302,000
5
7,100,000
4,990,000
7,630,000
3,935,000
860,000
6
34,500,000
25,025,000
19,550,000
2,800,000
19,850,000
7
177,000,000
99,300,000
43,000,000
37,800,000
33,400,000
8
207,700,000
171,700,000
66,500,000
45,800,000
23,100,000
2019 WSOP Main Event final table course (y-axis: chip count, x-axis: hands on Day 8)
The plan for tonight is subject to change based on how things progress. If heads-up play is reached, play will absolutely be halted. If the action lasts for a while, then there is a chance that they could bag up with three players still in the mix.
Here's what's at stake for the remaining players:
Results and Remaining Payouts
Place
Winner
Country
Prize (USD)
1st
$10,000,000
2nd
$6,000,000
3rd
$4,000,000
4th
$3,000,000
5th
$2,200,000
6th
Zhen Cai
United States
$1,850,000
7th
Nick Marchington
United Kingdom
$1,525,000
8th
Timothy Su
United States
$1,250,000
9th
Milos Skrbic
Serbia
$1,000,000
The cards should be in the air at about 6:30 p.m. local time. The action will be televised and streamed on a 30-minute delay on ESPN and PokerGO, respectively (check local listings for non-ESPN and non-ESPN-affiliated regions).
As always, the PokerNews live reporting team will on hand providing hand-for-hand coverage of the action.
flop, Sammartino bet 1,200,000 and Maahs made the call to see the 
turn. Sammartino now bet 4,000,000 and Maahs reluctantly folded.
. 
. Ensan barreled small for 10 million and Livingston didn't need long before giving it up.
board where Livingston bet 3,500,000. Sammartino folded.
, Ensan checked, Gates continued for 3,100,000, Ensan check-raised to 9,500,000 and Gates called.
, Ensan bet 21,900,000 and Gates folded.
flop, which the Canadian checked. Ensan continued for 5,000,000 and Livingston folded.
and Gates checked over to Ensan, who bet 2,900,000 and won the pot.
flopped. Livingston check-folded to a bet of 3 million.
.
in the window, followed by 
. The 
ensured he'd double up.
