Event 20 (Day 2)
Level 17 (Blinds 2,500/5,000/500)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 150
Chip Average: 245,000 (49 big blinds)
Chip Leader – Blake Bohn
Ray Qartomy
Justin Zaki
After another 11-hour day at the Main Event, the remaining 150 players are within shouting distance of the bubble, with 120 players cashing in this event.
A few players are in much better shape to cash than others.
The chip leader entering Day 3 will be Blake Bohn, who bagged 807,500 after putting a hurting on Table 11 over the final few levels of play. Bohn has more than $1.7 million in lifetime earnings, meaning he has had way more lucky than his beloved Minnesota Twins over the past decade.
Ray Qartomy finished the night in 2nd place with 623,000 – a testament to how far Bohn is ahead of the field. Qartomy also has more than $1.7 million in lifetime earnings, headlined by a $639,000 score for a 4th place finish at the 2013 Seminole Open Main Event.
3rd place belongs to Darren Elias, meaning that all three of the leaders have more than a million in lifetime earnings. Zaki has made just under $1.2 million in his 4-year career and is in great shape for another big cash with 618,000 chips.
Other notable stacks:
Darren Elias – 594,000
Mukul Pahuja – 562,000
Marshall White – 552,500
Stewart Newman – 514,000
Eric Cajelais – 442,500
Darlene Lee – 440,000
James Kohl – 390,500
Ryan Riess – 388,000
Anthony Zinno – 287,500
Kane Kalas – 286,000
Steve Dannenmann – 283,000
Dan Shak – 279,500
A full list of chip counts and table draws will be posted as soon as they are available.
Day 3 will begin at 12 noon tomorrow (Wednesday) with play scheduled to continue until just 27 players remain. They will begin the day at Level 17 (2,500/5,000) with levels increasing to 90 minutes each.
Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 170
Chip Average: 216,000 (54 big blinds)
Only 25 minutes remain in the final level of the night.
Players are still about 50 spots away from the money, so the bubble certainly won’t be busting tonight. However, it will be interesting to see which players are able to make a huge move here at the end of the night.
Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 170
Chip Average: 216,000 (54 big blinds)
Marc Duquette
What started out as a limp brigade on Table 15 turned into a shove fest in a hurry.
Three players limped before Marshall White raised to 32,000 from the small blind. Under the gun called and Marc Duquette re-raised all-in for another 106,000 on top sitting UTG+2.
Marshall painfully folded, and UTG thought for 2 minutes before making the call.
UTG: {10c}{10h} Duquette: {Jc}{Jh}
Flop: {Qh}{8s}{2h}
Turn: {Ac}
River: {5c}
Duquette’s jacks held up, and he more than doubled up to about 325,000. His opponent, however, was left with less than 50,000.
Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 175
Chip Average: 210,000 (53 big blinds)
Benny Bianco
At the beginning of the day, Benny Bianco was the chip leader by a wide margin. His 389,000 was 134,000 better than anyone else in the field, and now he’s right back where he started.
No, not as the overwhelming chip leader. He’s back to 389,000 chips.
Fortunately for Bianco, he’s one of the only players who will still be in great shape if his stack is no different at the end of the night than it was at the start of the day.
In a recent hand at Table 2, he led out for 9,000 pre-flop under the gun and got a call from UTG+2, UTG+3 and the button, bringing out a four-handed flop of {Jc}{9s}{3c}.
Bianco checked and allowed UTG+2 to bet 17,000. +3 called, button folded and Benny flat-called.
They saw the {10d} on the turn and everyone checked, bringing the {2d} on the river. Here, Bianco went into the well and pulled out 55,000 chips – enough to get the 2 remaining players in the hand to fold.
After stacking up his chips, he was just under 400,000.
Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 183
Chip Average: 200,000 (50 big blinds)
Darren Elias (Los Angeles, CA)
In a previous posts of big chip stacks in the room, Darren Elias was photographed sitting what can only be described as a giant wall of chips.
But after the recent color up break, his wall was decimated to just towers and stacks of blue and orange chips as the black ‘100 value’ chips were taken away from him.
Darren now has a new architectural plan, and he has some new chips to begin working on his new design after a recent hand in which he eliminated an opponent.
On a board of {10d}{6s}{Qs}{Qc}{3h} Elias bombed the river announcing all-in, putting the pressure on a shorter stacked opponent.
After tanking for over 3 minutes, the player eventually called, only to see Elias turn over {Qd}{10h} for a turned full house.
His opponent mucked and was eliminated, but, he will at least rest easy knowing that he donated his chips to a very good cause, Darren Elias’ new chip tower.
Elias is currently over the 600,000 chip mark and looks to be one of the leaders with just over an hour left to play.
Level 16 (Blinds 2,000/4,000/500)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 183
Chip Average: 200,000 (50 big blinds)
The players are on a quick color up break to run off the black 100 value chips, as they will no longer be needed and the bagging and counting of chips at the end of the level will be much easier to do with higher denomination chips.
Players will return to Level 16, the final level of Day 2 and with 183 players remaining, we still do not expect to hit the money during Day 2.
Meaning, that Day 3 will be a slight waste of time for some players returning only to bust before the money bubble tomorrow.
Level 15 (Blinds 1,500/3,000/400)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 200
Chip Average: 184,000 (61 big blinds)
Melad Marji (Atlantic City, NJ)
Melad Marji (Atlantic City, NJ) has used the last half hour or so to move above the chip average with one level remaining in Day 2 of the WPT BPO Championship.
The first big hand he played was when a player with close to 60,000 chips moved all-in and Marji called, holding {9c}{9h}.
His opponent held {Qd}{Jd} and the race was on.
The board came out {5c}{10c}{2d}{Qc}{8c} and Marji’s pair would turn into a flush and he’d scoop the pot.
Then on one of the last hands of the level, Marji was tangled with an unknown player and would call both a pre-flop and flop bet on a board of {kc}{8s}{4s}{10h}.
Marji made his move on the turn though, raising the action to 60,000 after his opponent led for 16,500.
After a two minute long tank, the unknown player folded and Marji would be taking down another pot and now sits just under the 200,000 chip mark, setting himself up with a good stack with just over an hour left in Day 2.
Level 15 (Blinds 1,500/3,000/400)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 190
Chip Average: 194,000 (65 big blinds)
Chris Collins
With less than 10 minutes remaining until the start of the final level of the night, Chris Collins scored a double up to jump ahead of the chip average.
From the button, Collins raised to 7,000 pre-flop and got a call from the small blind before big blind re-raised to 26,000. Collins made the call and small blind got out of the way.
Flop: {7c}{5c}{4c}
Big blind thought for a while before betting about 25,000. Collins immediately pushed all-in and big blind called.
Collins: {4d}{4h} (bottom set)
BB: {Ac}{Jd} (nut flush draw)
Turn: {2s}
River: {8d}
A club would have given big blind a flush, but a pair on the board would have given Collins a full house. Neither occurred, and Collins’ set held up. He chipped up to more than 200,000.
Level 15 (Blinds 1,500/3,000/400)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 200
Chip Average: 184,000 (61 big blinds)
Steve Dannenmann
A lot of the notables in these tournaments are players that the poker community knows, but the casual fan is pretty unaware of.
And then there’s Steve Dannenmann.
The first recorded cash in Dannenmann’s career was his 2nd-place finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event. He finished behind Joe Hachem (Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!) at the apex of interest in ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP, and was widely regarded as the most likable player at that final table.
He earned $4.25 million for that score and has flown pretty well under the radar ever since, earning $544,000 in the past nine years and failing to record a cash since July 2013.
But here he is in the final 200 players at the 2014 BPO Main Event, and he’s in better shape after a recent double up.
Sitting UTG+1 and facing a raise to 6,500 from UTG, Dannenmann pushed all-in for his final 46,200.
UTG tanked for a few minutes before making the call and showing {Kc}{Qd}. He was way, way behind Dannenmann’s {Kh}{Kd}
Board: {9c}{8h}{6d} / {2c} / {Jd}
UTG was drawing dead by the river, and Dannenmann is up to about 95,000 chips – just barely better than half the chip average.
Level 15 (Blinds 1,500/3,000/400)
Total Entries: 1,226
Players Remaining: 207
Chip Average: 178,000 (59 big blinds)
Uri Kadosh (Davie, FL)
Richard Munro, who was dubbed “The Machine” earlier today, has had some trouble since the return from dinner.
After coming back with just over 400,000 he is now down to 250,000, his lowest total since the beginning of Day 2, and he has Uri Kadosh (Davie, FL) to thank for taking a sizable portion of his stack in a recent hand.
On a board of {10c}{6d}{2h}{8s}, Uri checked to Munro, who bet out 55,000. Uri called and saw the {7h} come on the river, putting four cards to a straight on the board.
Uri thought for a moment and then checked, inducing an insta-check from Munro. Uri turned over {8h}{8c} for a turned set, and Munro shot out of his chair to see the hand.
Munro would look in disgust, muck and start to take inventory of his less than leading chip stack.
Uri would chip up to just over the 250,000 chip mark, his highest total all day.