Koon Claims Final Table Chip Lead in Event #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
The final table of Event #70: $25,000 NLH POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP has been set after a lengthy bubble with Jason Koon claiming the chip lead with 7,863,055 in chips. This prominent event offered players a gargantuan guarantee of $10,000,000 and attracted 407 entries by the end of the registration period.
Koon is no stranger to the high buy-in tournament fields with over $31 million in live cashes according to The Hendon Mob and a plethora of online tournament wins. Koon started climbing up to the top of the counts and got there when there were only ten tables left and never really looked back.
Koon is joined on the final table by many more familiar names and faces like Shankar "Saquon" Pillai, Christian Rudolph, Aram "Pusha T" Zobian, Chris Hunichen, Aleksejs Ponakovs, Aliaksei "BladeRunner1" Boika, Paulis "ChickenBBQ" Plausinaitis, and Brunno Botteon.
The Final Nine Players at a Glance
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jason Koon | United States | 7,863,055 | 39 |
| 2 | Shankar "Saquon" Pillai | United States | 6,875,234 | 34 |
| 3 | Christian Rudolph | Germany | 5,544,188 | 28 |
| 4 | Aram "Pusha T" Zobian | United States | 4,405,440 | 22 |
| 5 | Chris Hunichen | United States | 4,175,274 | 21 |
| 6 | Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | 3,883,951 | 19 |
| 7 | Aliaksei "BladeRunner1" Boika | Belarus | 3,297,276 | 16 |
| 8 | Paulius "ChickenBBQ" Plausinaitis | Lithuania | 2,905,555 | 15 |
| 9 | Brunno Botteon | Brazil | 1,750,027 | 9 |
From the Start to the Bubble
The tournament kicked off as expected but shortly after the start, some technical difficulties caused for all tournaments to pause their action with the cards to start flying again just after the first scheduled break of the day. By the time the registration period closed, there were 171 players left to battle it out for a spot in the top 55 as those spots would get paid at least $57,592.
It would take just over 2.5 hours before it was time for the bubble with 57 players left in the field. Dan Smith busted to Pillai when he called the shove of the latter with sixes. Pillai held ace-ten and found another ace on the flop to connect with. The bubble would end up lasting fifteen minutes as Michael Addamo three-bet shoved with ace-jack and was called by Ponakovs who held ace-king. The king-kicker came into play to burst the bubble.
Outbreak of Eliminations
After the bubble burst, the gust of eliminations started flying in. Within 50 minutes, 33 players busted with the bracelet winners like Davidi Kitai James Chen, Thai Ha, Kartik "Mandovi" Ved, David Peters, and Hun Wei Lee as some of the more notable names to leave the tournament.
Another 30 minutes later, the field had been reduced to the final two tables with Chris "nelanio" Ferguson, Jake Schindler, Stephen Chidwick, and Thomas Muehloecker all falling.
Battle for a Spot at the Final Table
Alexandru "Bot Marley" Papazian, Scott Seiver, Michel "CrossfireX" Dattani, Song "xuesong" Xue, "AntreVolt", and John "Hamburger!" Thrower all busted in quick succession to get the tournament down to the final table bubble.
That bubble ended up lasting forty minutes and even though Jack Salter doubled up once, in the end, his three-bet put him effectively all-in as he kept enough chips behind to pay one small blind. He made the call for the remainder with pocket eights, when Pillai put him at risk. Pillai held ace-jack and flopped top pair and even improved to trips on the river for a prettier picture.
When the players return on Saturday, August 29 at 6 p.m. UTC, they will battle it out for the top prize of $1,800,290 while they have already secured at least $154,416. They will resume play on Level 37 which features a small blind of 100,000, a big blind of 200,000, and a running ante of 25,000. The blinds will increase after every 30 hands.
This is what they are all still competing for:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,800,290 |
| 2 | $1,332,097 |
| 3 | $979,138 |
| 4 | $719,700 |
| 5 | $529,005 |
| 6 | $388,837 |
| 7 | $285,808 |
| 8 | $210,079 |
| 9 | $154,416 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back again for the final table action so make sure to come back to see who will take this tournament down and add the coveted WSOP bracelet to their collection in addition to the first-place prize that comes with it and the WSOP Europe package here on GGPoker.