$3,500 Main Event Day 2 | 2023 BetMGM Poker Championship

06-11-2023 15:35 UTC-7

Scary Board for Pocket Kings

Kirk Brown

Level 14 : Blinds 3,000/5,000, 5,000 ante

Connor Rash opened to 8,000 from the button but then Ivan Galinec put in a rather large three-bet to 42,000 and Rash made the call.

When the flop came out 8♥Q♣10♠ Galinec continued for 50,000 and Rash called once again to see the 9♥ appear on the turn.

The players then decided to check through to the river A♣ where they checked once again. Galinec then showed K♠K♥ which was apparently good as Rash quickly folded to award him the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ivan Galinec	405,000 88,000	88,000
Connor Rash	215,000 165,000	165,000

Level: 14

Blinds: 3,000/5,000

Ante: 5,000

06-11-2023 15:25 UTC-7

Wang and Waigel Exchange Pots

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Calum Grant

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Ezequiel Waigel, who was super short earlier, had managed to boost his stack to around the 275,000 mark, and he put some of those newly founds chips to use by opening to 9,000 from middle position. Josue Aguirre called on the button before chip leader Jing Wang three-bet to 56,000 from the big blind. Waigel called while Aguirre returned his cards to the dealer.

Wang continued for 40,000 on the A♥4♥2♠ flop and Waigel called, leaving around 175,000 behind. Wang then quickly bet 200,000 on the J♦ turn to put his opponent all in.

Waigel puffed out his cheeks several times over the next few moments and was clearly stuck on what to do. He eventually folded, and Wang extended his chip lead.

Waigel opened to 9,000 again the following hand and was called by Wang from the small blind.

The J♥8♠3♥ flop checked through to the 6♠ turn. Wang led for 7,000 but folded when Waigel made it 28,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jing Wang	790,000 122,500	122,500

Josue Aguirre	360,000 221,500	221,500
Ezequiel Waigel	198,000 186,500	186,500

Tags: Ezequiel Waigel Jing Wang Josue Aguirre

06-11-2023 15:18 UTC-7

Big Stacks and Notables

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Kirk Brown

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Anuj Agarwal	735,000 281,500	281,500

Michael Stashin	720,000 466,000	466,000
Ben Palmer	600,000 510,000	510,000

Ronald Sullivan	447,000 399,000	399,000
Chance Kornuth	345,000 152,000	152,000

Stephen Song	335,000 49,500	49,500

Eric Yanovsky	265,000 51,000	51,000
Yue Liu	258,000 127,000	127,000
Jonathan Jaffe	230,000 16,500	16,500

Will Givens	140,000 60,000	60,000

Kyriakos Papadopoulos	92,000 18,000	18,000

Jesse Lonis	88,000 27,000	27,000

Jason Kipnis	60,000 20,000	20,000

06-11-2023 15:10 UTC-7

Nikitin Puts Jacobson in the Blender

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Calum Grant

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

The under-the-gun player limped in before Anatoly Nikitin raised to 15,000 from middle position. Martin Jacobson called from the hijack and the limper also called.

Nikitin continued for 20,000 on the 8♦2♥2♣ flop and only Jacobson called. Nikitin then check-raised to 75,000 after Jacobson bet 25,000 on the 6♦ turn. The 2014 WSOP Main Event champion called.

Nikitin then jammed as the big stack on the 7♠ river which put Jacobson into the tank. He had around 150,000 behind and thought over the spot for some time.

Jacobson ended up conceding the pot and Nikitin crossed the 500,000 mark.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anatoly Nikitin	540,000 279,500	279,500
Martin Jacobson	150,000 61,500	61,500

Tags: Anatoly Nikitin Martin Jacobsopn

06-11-2023 14:53 UTC-7

Elias Picks Up Momentum

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Calum Grant

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Adrian Buckley opened to 8,000 before Darren Elias defended his big blind from middle position.

Elias check-raised to 16,000 after Buckley made a continuation bet on the K♦K♥3♣ flop. Buckley called.

Elias fired another 18,000 into the middle on the 4♣ turn and Buckley folded after some brief thinking.

The next hand, Anthony Bellino jammed for 33,000 from the cutoff and Elias called from the small blind.

Anthony Bellino: J♠3♠
Darren Elias: A♣5♠

Bellino's jam was mistimed and he was still behind following the Q♠Q♣2♦ flop. Elias locked up the hand on the A♥ turn and the 8♥ completed the board.

Player	Chips	Progress
Josef Gulas Jr	300,000 110,500	110,500

Darren Elias	220,000 88,500	88,500

Adrian Buckley	185,000 73,000	73,000

Jason Kipnis	80,000 59,500	59,500

Will Givens	80,000 75,500	75,500

Anthony Bellino	Busted

Tags: Adrian Buckley Anthony Bellino Darren Elias

06-11-2023 14:46 UTC-7

Martinez Fires All Three Streets

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Kirk Brown

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Raul Martinez opened to 8,000 under-the-gun and action folded around to the small blind who made the call but then Pratik Mehta in the big blind three-bet to 25,000.

Martinez made the call while the small blind got out of the way and the two players went heads-up to flop of J♣7♦10♠.

Mehta checked to Martinez who thought for a bit before putting out a continuation-bet of 13,000, which Mehta called.

On the turn 9♣, Martinez bet again, this time for 37,000, and Mehta check-called once more to see the 5♠ appear on the river.

Mehta quickly checked for a third time and Martinez went into the tank and counted his chips before firing a bet of 58,000. Mehta then promptly surrendered his hand to award Martinez the substantial pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Raul Martinez	265,000 114,000	114,000
Pratik Mehta	112,000 4,500	4,500

Tags: Pratik Mehta Raul Martinez

06-11-2023 14:45 UTC-7

Aces for Elias

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Frank Visser

Level 13 : 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Slow start but then coolered @TheJK_Kid AA v AK to double. Revenge for sweeping the Red Sox in playoffs back in the… https://t.co/6R0jKqqzgr
— BetMGM Poker (@BetMGMPoker)

06-11-2023 14:41 UTC-7

Adineya Pairs Up to Double; Defending Champion Weissman Eliminated

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Calum Grant

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Jesse Lonis opened to 9,000 from the cutoff and called when Martins Adeniya moved all in for 30,500 from the button.

Martins Adeniya: K♥Q♥
Jesse Lonis: A♦3x

Lonis was ahead, but Adeniya paired up on the Q♣10♥10♣ flop to take the lead. The 9♠ turn and 6♣ river were bricks, and the Englishman took in the pot.

Lonis now occupies the seat that once accommodated defending champion Joey Weissman. The latter came into the day with a short stack and could not spin it up into another deep run.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jesse Lonis	115,000 32,500	32,500

Martins Adeniya	71,000 48,000	48,000
Joey Weissman	Busted

Tags: Jesse Lonis Martins Adeniya Joey Weissman

06-11-2023 14:36 UTC-7

Ibanez Cracks Aces to Down Kuznetsov

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Calum Grant

Level 13 : Blinds 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante

Nikita Kuznetsov opened to 9,000 from the hijack before Johann Ibanez made it 32,000 from the button. Kuznetsov put in the four-bet to 72,000, leaving around 200,000. He then snap-called when his opponent jammed for around 300,000.

Nikita Kuznetsov: A♦A♣
Johann Ibanez: Q♣Q♥

Kuznetsov was on course to scoop in the massive pot, but he was immediately drawing to two immediate outs after Ibanez made a full house on the Q♠8♠8♦ flop. The 9♥ turn changed nothing and the 8♥ river confirmed the bad beat and Kuznetsov's departure.

Player	Chips	Progress
Johann Ibanez	590,000 482,000	482,000
Nikita Kuznetsov	Busted

Tags: Johann Ibanez Nikita Kuznetsov