Main Event
Day 1b Completed
Main Event
Day 1b Completed
Day 1b of the 2015 River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event from the WinStar World Casino was all about Cord Garcia. After an unsuccessful Day 1a on Friday, Garcia was back at it again on Saturday with another bullet. The second starting day turned out much more fruitful than the first, and Garcia went on to bag up the overall chip lead with an impressive 642,000.
Garcia was hot all day long, both with the cards he held and the way he played, everything always seemed to work out. But, he also had a few big obstacles thrown in his way as he made the push towards the finish line. One such instance came in Level 17 with the blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante.
After having worked his stack up over 400,000 at the time, Garcia was very much in the lead over the rest of the field. It was then that he clashed with Jeff Kester, though, and the confrontation cost Garcia half his stack to vault Kester into the top spot. Not to be deterred, Garcia stuck to his guns. He even ramped up the aggression a little bit from there, quickly getting back to 300,000, then 400,000, and then all of a sudden he was over 500,000. The next thing anyone knew, Garcia was over 600,000, and that's where he finished out the day.
The two closest to Garcia on the leaderboard from Day 1b were Mark Eddleman and John Song, both of whom bagged up 555,000 in chips. Other notables still remaining were Tommy Vedes (393,000), Michael Wang (307,000), the aforementioned Kester (302,000), Jose Montes (282,000), Chris Tryba (262,000), and David Nicholson (221,000).
One of the players who will need to fire again is the 2012 champion of this event, Aaron Massey. On the final hand of the night, Massey was eliminated by Eddleman after he got it all in with an overpaid, but lost out to Eddleman's runner-runner flush. Massey joined the likes of Ari Engel, Barry Hutter, Jake Schindler, Allen Kessler, TJ Cloutier, Joe Ebanks, Nicholas Palma, Marvin Rettenmaier, and Matt Stout on the rail.
Day 1c will be the third and final starting flight, kicking off on Sunday at 12 p.m. local time. You can expect to see another few hundred entries added to this event, and plenty of those players who have failed to advance from Day 1a or 1b will be back to try again. So far, there were 27 survivors from Day 1a and 42 from Day 1b for a total of 69 players advancing to Monday's Day 2.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for live coverage of this event as the quest to find the next champion continues on.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Cord Garcia |
642,000
12,000
|
12,000 |
Mark Eddleman |
555,000
245,000
|
245,000 |
John Song |
555,000
150,000
|
150,000 |
Jeff Heiberg |
445,000
243,000
|
243,000 |
Ivan Primera |
427,000
340,000
|
340,000 |
Tommy Vedes |
393,000
73,000
|
73,000 |
|
||
Michael Merz |
393,000
393,000
|
393,000 |
Scott Squyres |
356,000
139,000
|
139,000 |
Dean Baranowski |
324,000
84,000
|
84,000 |
Michael Wang |
307,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
|
||
Jeff Kester |
302,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
Jose Montes |
282,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
Philip Bosco |
271,000
271,000
|
271,000 |
Chris Tryba |
262,000
-80,000
|
-80,000 |
|
||
Brian Ray |
260,000
260,000
|
260,000 |
David Conway |
260,000
260,000
|
260,000 |
Lou Barlow |
252,000
4,000
|
4,000 |
Ben Lehman |
250,000
-65,000
|
-65,000 |
Ben Perez |
245,000
245,000
|
245,000 |
Christopher Staats |
236,000
236,000
|
236,000 |
David Nicholson |
221,000
71,000
|
71,000 |
Charles Witherspoon |
213,000
213,000
|
213,000 |
Tony Paydar |
207,000
207,000
|
207,000 |
Jay Bishop |
205,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
Erik Christensen | 203,000 |
With 42 players remaining, 10% of the starting field has been reached and that means play has ended for the night here on Day 1b. Stay tuned for end-of-day chip counts and a recap.
The flop was and Mark Eddleman checked to Aaron Massey, who bet 25,000. Then, in lightning-fast succession, Eddleman shoved all in and Massey called. Massey showed , and Eddleman showed the .
Massey couldn't fade the backdoor flush draw for Eddleman after the hit the turn and the hit the river.
At the same time, another player busted on another table to bring the field down to 42 and signal the end of the night.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mark Eddleman |
310,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
Aaron Massey | Busted |
Not only has Cord Garcia worked his way back into the chip lead, but the 2015 World Series of Poker $565 Colossus champion doesn't look like he is satisfied yet, as he keeps the pressure on his table with aggressive play. Garcia has worked his stack to over 600,000 in chips.
On a recent hand, Garcia raised from under the gun to 21,000. Jay Bishop called from the next seat, Jeff Kester called from the hijack seat, and everyone else folded.
The flop came down , and Garcia fired 28,000. Bishop and Kester folded, and Garcia won the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Cord Garcia |
630,000
160,000
|
160,000 |
Jeff Kester |
300,000
-65,000
|
-65,000 |
Jay Bishop |
215,000
77,000
|
77,000 |
Level: 19
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 1,000
The players are on a 15-minute break.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Cord Garcia |
470,000
-40,000
|
-40,000 |
John Song |
405,000
175,000
|
175,000 |
Tommy Vedes |
320,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
||
Michael Wang |
310,000
-20,000
|
-20,000 |
|
||
Kevin Eyster |
285,000
158,000
|
158,000 |
|
||
Mark Eddleman | 275,000 | |
Ryan Misilits
|
190,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
Jake Haller |
183,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
David Nicholson |
150,000
-165,000
|
-165,000 |
Ben Lehman raised to 12,000 from the hijack seat. Mark Eddleman called from the cutoff seat, and then Dwyte Pilgrim shoved all in for his last 100,000 from the big blind. Lehman folded, but Eddleman called with pocket eights — . Pilgrim turned over the . The board ran out , and that was the end for Pilgrim's Day 1b run.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mark Eddleman |
275,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
Dwyte Pilgrim | Busted | |
|