$400 Mystery Bounty
Day 1ij Completed
2024 Champions Club Winter Poker Open
$400 Mystery Bounty
Day: 1ij
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1ij
2024 Champions Club Winter Poker Open
Buy-in
$400
Prize Pool
$300,000
Entries
1,276
Level
31
Blinds
200,000 / 400,000
Ante
400,000
Entries
342
Players Left
42
Sanjeev Vora and Cord Garcia Lead Day 1ij of Mystery Bounty
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
It was another great day of poker here at Champions Club in Houston, Texas as flights 1i and 1j of Winter Poker Open Event #4: $400 Mystery Bounty are in the books. Both flights ended a little over the eight-hour mark with players from each flight in the money and advancing to Day 2.
Leading both flights is Houston regular Sanveev Vora who bagged up 622,000 in Day 1j. Behind him is another well-known local by the name of Cord Garcia who spun up a stack in the morning flight and managed to finish with 496,000. In third for the day is Jonathan Tamayo who bagged 464,000 withJeffrey Nowling (437,000) in fourth andBen Thomas (427,000) rounding out the top five. Crazy enough, after 10 starting flights, it is STILL Derek Normand of Day 1e with the top stack of 691,000. With only the turbo flight left to go tomorrow morning, it is more than likely that he will be the chip leader going into Day 2.
Day 1ij Top Ten Stacks
| Place | Player | Chip Count | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sanjeev Vora | 622,000 | Houston | TX |
| 2 | Cord Garcia | 496,000 | ||
| 3 | Jonathan Tamayo | 464,000 | Humble | TX |
| 4 | Jeffrey Nowling | 437,000 | Houston | TX |
| 5 | Ben Thomas | 427,000 | Las Vegas | NV |
| 6 | Lam Tran | 383,000 | ||
| 7 | William Newby | 376,000 | Richmond | TX |
| 8 | Jessica Richards | 347,000 | Spring | LA |
| 9 | Kamoru Yusuf | 334,000 | Humble | TX |
| 10 | David Valden | 327,000 | San Felipe | TX |
In the morning flight, Garcia took an early lead as he had the most chips going into the first break, and true to his form, that stack fluctuated quite a bit throughout the day, but eventually managed to be on the upswing when the day finished. Day 1i took longer to reach the final 20 players than its evening counterpart, but there were zero hands on the bubble as two players busted at the same time to end the day. As for Day 1j, the bubble was reached fairly quickly but the players played roughly 45 minutes during hand-for-hand, as the short stacks just kept doubling. The player that eventually burst the bubble was Nathan Gay, who was a dominant chipleader with over 400,000 at one point, but found the exit when his pocket sevens ran into the queens of Jared Stearns.
A couple of players that fired today who failed to bag included Christopher McCauley, Drake Kemper, Mark Pertgen, and Jason Fitzpatrick. For these players, there is only one remaining turbo flight tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. for a chance to find a bag.
With 1,220 total entries so far, the prize pool is well over the $300,000 guarantee and tomorrow’s flight is just an added bonus as at least another 100 entries are expected. As always, keep a bookmark on PokerNews as we will be here every step of the way until a champion is crowned on Monday.
End of Day Counts (full)
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
622,000
144,000
|
144,000 |
|
496,000
131,000
|
131,000 |
|
464,000
54,000
|
54,000 |
|
|
437,000 | |
|
427,000
187,000
|
187,000 |
|
|
383,000
53,000
|
53,000 |
|
|
376,000
196,000
|
196,000 |
|
347,000
172,000
|
172,000 |
|
|
334,000
136,000
|
136,000 |
|
|
327,000 | |
|
319,000 | |
|
316,000
131,000
|
131,000 |
|
||
|
300,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
|
287,000
-28,000
|
-28,000 |
|
|
285,000
-155,000
|
-155,000 |
|
|
280,000 | |
|
269,000
99,000
|
99,000 |
|
|
248,000
-107,000
|
-107,000 |
|
|
240,000 | |
|
228,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
|
225,000
-15,000
|
-15,000 |
|
|
214,000
-80,000
|
-80,000 |
|
|
214,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
|
212,000
182,000
|
182,000 |
|
|
209,000 | |
End of Day; Players Bag
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
With the elimination of Nathan Gay in 19th place, play has ended in Day 1j as the surviving 18 players have bagged up to return on Monday for Day 2.
A complete list of chip counts for both flights as well as a recap of the day will be released shortly so stay tuned!
Nathan Gay Eliminated as Bubble Bursts
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Level 15: Blinds 5k/10k/10k
After a full level on the bubble, Nathan Gay and Jared Stearns got all of the chips into the middle preflop, with Gay at risk.
Nathan Gay: 7♦7♣
Jared Stearns: Q♠Q♥
The board ran out A♥6♠2♠8♦2♦ for Stearn's queens to hold and Gay was eliminated as the bubble boy of Day 1j.
Malou Lowery Triples On Bubble
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
On a four-way flop of Q♠J♠8♦, action checked to the preflop raiser, Jonathan Tamayo who then bet 40,000. Jason Daly made the call and then Malou Lowery moved all in for 44,000 total. Tamayo and Daly both tossed out the additional 4,000 and went to the turn J♦, which they checked.
They also checked through the river 4♣. at which point Lowery flipped over 9♥10♥ for a flopped straight and she took down the substantial pot for a triple-up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
410,000 | |
|
|
215,000 | |
|
|
185,000 | |
|
|
||
Bubble Time!
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
The field has now been trimmed down to 19 players remaining, and with 18 bagging, the players are now on the money bubble and hand-for-hand play is now in effect.
Goldsmith Flops the Joint to Double
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Level 14: Blinds 4k/8k/8k
On a five-way flop of 10♦J♠7♣, the action checks to Sanjeev Vora who bets 8,000 into the pot of 50,000 and got two folds, but then Bryan Goldman moved all in for 39,000. The action folded back to Vora who reluctantly called to put him at risk and flipped over A♠K♥ for ace-high, but Goldman tabled 8♣9♥ for the nut straight.
Vora could still hit a queen to take it with a bigger straight, but the runout of 6♣A♦ was pure for Goldsmith and he was awarded the pot for the double.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
478,000
355,000
|
355,000 |
|
|
115,000
115,000
|
115,000 |
Big Stacks After Break
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
Level 13: Blinds 3k/6k/6k
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
440,000 | |
|
415,000 | |
|
|
293,000 | |
|
|
255,000 | |
|
|
240,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
230,000 | |
|
|
220,000
190,000
|
190,000 |
Color-Up Break
Level 15
: Blinds 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante
The remaining 26 players are now on a short 15-minute break and will return to action shortly. The purple 500-chips will also be raced off and colored up at this time.