Simas Karaliunas Seeks Second Bracelet on Final Day of $10,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em
The third and final day of Event #76: $10,000 Mystery Bounty No-Limit Hold'em (8-Handed) gets underway at 1 p.m. today at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas with nine players still in contention from the 965 entries who are all vying for the top prize of $1,018,933.
Tauan Naves leads the pack with 16,300,000 chips thanks to a double-up in the penultimate hand of Day 2 against Damarjai Davenport, who now sits second in the counts with exactly 10,000,000.
More last-minute action followed as in the final hand of the night, Matthew Lambrecht picked up pocket aces and doubled through Germany's Robert Heidorn, who had Big Slick.
Final Table Seat Draw & Chip Counts
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damarjai Davenport | United States | 10,000,000 | 40 |
| 2 | Tauan Naves | Brazil | 16,300,000 | 65 |
| 3 | William Jia | Australia | 2,125,000 | 9 |
| 4 | Simas Karaliunas | Lithuania | 6,875,000 | 28 |
| 5 | Matthew Lambrecht | United States | 9,900,000 | 40 |
| 6 | Vladimir Minko | Russian Federation | 7,475,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Robert Heidorn | Germany | 1,975,000 | 8 |
| 8 | Andrei Konopelko | Belarus | 1,775,000 | 7 |
| 9 | Eshaan Bhalla | United States | 1,675,000 | 7 |
Of the nine players remaining, seven different nationalities are represented with three players hailing from the United States and one each from Australia, Belarus, Lithuania, Germany, Russia, and Brazil. Once again the World Series of Poker (WSOP) proving itself to be a truly international affair and attracting the best players from all around the globe.
The odds are heavily stacked in favor of a new bracelet winner being crowned as the only remaining player in the field to have earned a gold strap is Simas Karaliunas. The Lithuanian player took down WSOP Online Event #11: No-Limit Hold'em Mystery Bounty earlier this series for a cool $122,716.
After Heidorn scooped up a lot of the remaining big bounties, pulling twelve consecutive prizes, there isn't much left in the bounty pool in relation to the prize pool. The largest bounty that remains is $25,000, with a $15,000 and $10,000 also waiting to be claimed.
Remaining Payouts & Bounties
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,018,933 |
| 2 | $678,707 |
| 3 | $478,247 |
| 4 | $341,963 |
| 5 | $248,174 |
| 6 | $182,846 |
| 7 | $136,792 |
| 8 | $103,942 |
| 9 | $80,238 |
| Bounty Prize | Remaining | Remaining Total |
|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | 1 | $25,000 |
| $15,000 | 1 | $15,000 |
| $10,000 | 1 | $10,000 |
| $5,000 | 6 | $30,000 |
| Total | 9 | $80,000 |
There are four players who have sub ten-big-blind stacks and may find it difficult to claim any more bounties with William Jia (2,125,000), Heidorn (1,975,000), Andrei Konopelko (1,775,000), and Eshaan Bhalla (1,675,000) all having a lot of work to do when play kicks off.
The action will get underway in the Horseshoe Event Center at 1 p.m. with blinds starting at Level 31 (125,000/250,000/250,000) and the average stack sitting at almost 6,500,000 — around 26 big blinds. There will be 15-minute breaks every three levels and a dinner break to be determined, if and when it's required.
Make sure to tune into PokerNews to keep up to date with the latest action from the felt and to see who can get their hands on the bracelet.