Jesse Sylvia came into the day looking to duplicate the deep run he had in 2012 when he finished as the runner-up in the WSOP Main Event for $ 5,295,149. The day started off strong for Sylvia as he chipped up nicely through the first couple levels.
Since dinner break, however, Sylvia has lost parts of his stack in various pots and was down to around 35,000 chips. Then, he got involved in a preflop raising war with one of his opponents, and once they were all in, the cards were tabled.
Sylvia showed but was behind his opponent's . Unfortunately for Sylvia, he wasn't able to hit a queen, and his Main Event ended partway through Day 1b.
Luc Greenwood was in the big blind and checked on a board showing . There was about 25,000 in the pot, and Greenwood's opponent bet 3,500. Greenwood thought awhile and called. Both players checked the river, and Greenwood turned over . His opponent couldn't beat it.
With a substantial pot of approximately 30,000 chips already in the middle and the board reading , action checked to Erick Lindgren in the cutoff, and he bet 7,000. The button called, and a player in middle position folded.
The river brought the , and Lindgren announced a bet of 8,000. His opponent shoved for 15,450, which represented over half of Lindgren's remaining chips, and he went into the tank for just under a minute.
"Do you have four jacks? Oh god...," Lindgren said before he trailed off.
Eventually, he called, and his opponent tabled for queens full of jacks. Lindgren showed the as he dejectedly sent his cards into the muck.
Dutchman Rachid Ben Cherif has become one of the first players in this tournament to surpass the 200,000-chip mark.
In the most recent hand, Ben Cherif raised to 1,100 on the button, and Roman Valerstein defended his big blind.
The flop was , and Valerstein check-called a bet of 700 from Ben Cherif. On the turn, Valerstein checked, and Ben Cherif bet 1,800. Valerstein check-raised to 6,050, and Ben Cherif called. The river was the , and Valerstein bet 5,000. Ben Cherif tanked for over two minutes before putting in a sizable raise to 31.000. Valerstein gave it around ten seconds of thought before calling.
Ben Cherif tabled for a full house, and Valerstein mucked his hand.
With that large pot, Ben Cherif soared to 203,000. The Dutchman is looking to improve on his deep run in 2014, when he finished 53rd place for $151,063.
After grinding through four levels today, Jordan Young has finally gotten himself above the initial starting stack of 50,000. Young had a tough start to the day and was down to around 20,000 chips.
In a recent pot, Young raised to 800 and then called a re-raise to 2,000 from his opponent. The flop came , and both players checked to the on the turn. Young's opponent bet 1,500, and Young called. The river was the , and the action was checked to Young. He bet 7,900, and his opponent called.
Young tabled , and that was good enough to earn him the pot.
Ivo Donev came close to a second bracelet with a fourth-place finish in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. However, his hot run didn't carry over to the WSOP Main Event, as he just went bust after grinding a short stack for a bit.
Donev put his last 6,000 or so in on the button with and was put at risk by a player holding in the blinds. The board ran out , keeping the sixes best to eliminate Donev.
The player under the gun raised to 925 and got calls from both the player in the small blind and Jamie Gold, in the big blind.
The flop came , and all three players checked to the on the turn. Action checked around again, and the dealer put out the on the river. The small blind checked, and Gold bet 2,000. The under-the-gun player thought for a moment and eventually called. The small blind quickly called, also.
"I have a straight", said Gold, tabling . Both of his opponents mucked, and Gold raked in the pot. He had apparently lost a big pot earlier, but he has rebuilt to half the starting stack now.
Gold has been fairly quiet on the tournament scene of late, with just one cash in 2016 and none in 2017 so far. Despite his lone cash in 2016, it was certainly a good one. He finished as the runner-up in the 2016 WSOP $1,675 Circuit Main Event at The Bicycle Casino for $139,820, losing to Antonio Esfandiari in an epic battle heads-up.
Of Gold's $12,586,358 in lifetime earnings, $12 million of that came from his 2006 WSOP Main Event win, defeating Paul Wasicka for the title. That win earned him the lion's share of in the largest live poker tournament prize pool in history, totaling $82,512,162, with 8,773 unique entries at $10,000 a piece.
Keep following along as Gold continues to progress toward what would be another major title 11 years after his last.