$1,450 Main Event Day 1a | 2021 Colorado Poker Championship

09-23-2021 20:40 UTC-7

Palumbo Over 400K

Hill Kerby

Level 13 : 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

Rocco Palumbo had chipped up to more than 350,000 before opening in middle position and calling a three-bet to 23,000 from Brian Leitch in the big blind. Leitch committed his remaining 40,000 on the flop and Palumbo called.

Brian Leitch:
Rocco Palumbo:

"That sucks," said Palumbo after seeing Leitch pip him. "I hit, too," he added as the turn brought one card between Leitch and a double. Unfortunately for Leitch, that final card came and proved to be the last card of his tournament.

"Just the way my night's gone," said Leitch with a smile after finding himself eliminated. Fourteen players now remain.

Player	Chips	Progress
Rocco Palumbo (CO)	428,000 198,500	198,500
Steve Wilkie	272,000 38,000	38,000
Ben Keeline	155,000 100,500	100,500
Svetlana Martie	30,000 87,000	87,000
Brian Leitch	Busted

Tags: Brian Leitch Rocco Palumbo

09-23-2021 20:28 UTC-7

Fortini Falls; Thieme Follows

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Hill Kerby

Level 13 : 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

Hand #1: Taylor Fortini found himself with crumbs after ceding a double to the pocket eights of Shannon Hudson and open-jammed his remaining chips on the button, receiving an isolation-raise from Lawrence Brink to give him a shot at a double.

Taylor Fortini:
Lawrence Brink:

Fortini was unable to find one of the three remaining sixes in the deck as the runout left Brink's jack kicker on top to earn him the pot and the knockout.

Hand #2: One hand later, Brian Thieme was seen vacating his seat at the very same table as Mike Wheeler was collecting the pot that did him in. Wheeler filled in the details, saying there was a limped pot preflop that saw come on board.

Thieme checked to Wheeler, who bet and saw Thieme check-jam. Wheeler called.

Brian Thieme:
Mike Wheeler:

"And I hit a flush on the river," said Wheeler, who now finds himself with a stack of 170,500.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mike Wheeler	170,500 56,000	56,000
Lawrence Brink	160,000 22,000	22,000
Shannon Hudson	75,000 35,000	35,000
Taylor Fortini	Busted
Brian Thieme	Busted

Tags: Brian Thieme Lawrence Brink Mike Wheeler Taylor Fortini

09-23-2021 20:17 UTC-7

Updated Counts from Break

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Hill Kerby

Level 13 : 2,000/3,000, 3,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Ben Keeline	255,500 14,500	14,500
Steve Wilkie	232,000 42,000	42,000
Rocco Palumbo (CO)	229,500 6,000	6,000
Chris Quackenbush	156,000 65,000	65,000
Matt Livingston	146,500 89,000	89,000
Roman Mai	141,000 86,500	86,500
Lawrence Brink	138,000 75,500	75,500
Donna Gadd	121,500 1,500	1,500
Svetlana Martie	117,000 57,500	57,500
Mike Wheeler	114,500 26,500	26,500
Barry Faecher	98,000 23,000	23,000
Brian Leitch	71,500 1,500	1,500
Chad Stoffel	70,000 82,000	82,000
Taylor Fortini	66,000 54,500	54,500
Brian Thieme	47,500 54,500	54,500
Michael Hinde	43,000 7,500	7,500
Shannon Hudson	40,000 40,000	40,000

Level: 13

Blinds: 2,000/3,000

Ante: 3,000

09-23-2021 20:02 UTC-7

Final Break of the Night

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Hill Kerby

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

The remaining 17 players are on their final 10-minute break of the night. Two more levels will be played upon returning unless 10 eliminations occur before that time.

Player	Chips	Progress
Sherman Wu	Busted

09-23-2021 19:59 UTC-7

Leitch Gets a Triple

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Hill Kerby

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Steve Wilkie open-limped under the gun and saw Sherman Wu follow suit in the hijack. as action folded around to Brian Leitch in the big blind.

"All right, let's do this!" said Leitch as he went all in for 23,000. Both Wilkie and Wu called and then checked the flop to bring the turn , where Wilkie reached for chips.

"Don't do it!" pleaded Wu unsuccessfully as Wilkie bet 20,000. Wu called and then action checked through the river to take the hand to showdown.

Brian Leitch:
Steve Wilkie:
Sherman Wu:

Leitch's ace was best and scored him the triple just before the final break of the night with Wilkie taking the side pot and leaving Wu with just a handful of blinds left in his stack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Wilkie	190,000 60,000	60,000
Brian Leitch	73,000 9,000	9,000
Sherman Wu	16,000 48,000	48,000

Tags: Brian Leitch Sherman Wu Steve Wilkie

09-23-2021 19:48 UTC-7

"How About Kings?!"

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Hill Kerby

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Donna Gadd opened to 10,000 on the button and Steve Wilkie three-bet to 30,000 in the big blind. Gadd quickly called.

"Wow! No Hesitation!" said Wilkie as the flop came . "Check," he added. Gadd quickly slid forward all of her chips.

"You hit that bloody queen, didn't you?!" Wilkie exclaimed. "Can I get a count?"

The dealer broke down Gadd's stack and totaled it to be 92,000 as Wilkie stood up to further ponder his decision.

"If you have ace-queen, I'm ahead. If you have pocket queens, I'm dead. Well, not dead - I put you on pocket queens before the flop, too!" continued Wilkie. "Would you do that with ace-queen? You might."

Eventually, Wilkie found a call: "Show me the queens!" he said as he tabled .

Gadd let out a roar of laughter, showing of her own: "How about Kings?!" she said, bringing about even more laughter from both players. The runout brought about the chop, with both players laughing their way through congratulating one another on a nice hand before chopping the pot.

Moments later, Wilkie was seen collecting the stack of Greg Geller with his ace-queen still displayed to beat Geller's king-jack and eliminate Geller from the tournament. Geller's elimination brings the field down to 18 players with two full tables remaining in play.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Wilkie	250,000 138,000	138,000
Donna Gadd	123,000 123,000	123,000
Scott Horvath	Busted
Sheng Liu	Busted
Thomas Fuller	Busted
Greg Geller	Busted

Tags: Donna Gadd Greg Geller Steve Wilkie

09-23-2021 19:36 UTC-7

Fortini Lays the Trap

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Hill Kerby

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

Taylor Fortini opened to 5,500 in the hijack and was called by Chris Quackenbush, who was on the button. The flop came and Fortini checked to Quackenbush, who bet 5,000. Fortini called.

The turn came and Fortini checked again. Quackenbush fired out another 11,000 and Fortini check-jammed for 46,500. Quackenbush announced a call.

Taylor Fortini:
Chris Quackenbush:

"Nice hand," ceded Quackenbush upon seeing his top pair was up against a set. The river made the hand official and the double was shipped Fortini's way.

Player	Chips	Progress
Taylor Fortini	120,500 120,500	120,500
Chris Quackenbush	91,000 54,500	54,500

Tags: Chris Quackenbush Taylor Fortini

09-23-2021 19:26 UTC-7

Sanoubane Leads CPC Points Leader Board Entering Main Event

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Hill Kerby

Level 12 : 1,500/2,500, 2,500 ante

The Bally's Black Hawk Colorado Poker Championship has been running since Wednesday, September 8 with 20 events having played to their completion prior to the $1,450 Main Event running all weekend. A series-long leader board is in effect and will award the top five finishers seats to the $3,000 High Roller Event on Wednesday, September 29, also set to be covered by PokerNews.

In addition to the High Roller seats, the outright winner of the points leader board will also earn $10,000 for a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event entry this upcoming November.

As of September 22, Bobby Sanoubane finds himself in pole position, barely ahead of Jason Welch. Stay tuned as the Main Event continues, as it will be sure to have implications when all is said and done.

Place	Player	Total Points
1	Bobby Sanoubane	353
2	Jason Welch	350
3	Sammy Aweida	273
4	Aaron Frei	223
5	Salim Wahdan	168
6	Dwane Collard	160
7	Mansour Alipourfard	150
8	Andrew Stevens	148
9	Josh Saltz	148
10	Christopher Brand	140
11	Dimitriose Andrianakos	135
12	Phil Gioia	125
13	Ross Lantzy	125
14	Al Hart	123
15	Andrew Miller	123
16	Jonathan McCray	123
17	Francesco Campanile	120

Tags: Bobby Sanoubane Jason Welch

Level: 12

Blinds: 1,500/2,500

Ante: 2,500