$2,500 High Roller | August 2019 Colorado Poker Championship

08-28-2019 08:28 UTC-6

Welcome To the August 2019 Colorado Poker Championship $2,500 High Roller

HillKerby

Golden Gates Casino Black Hawk, Colorado

The August 2019 Colorado Poker Championship has reached its final day and will culminate with the $2,500 High Roller event.

Fourteen seats have been awarded to the tournament already. Two scheduled mega satellites to the event ran yesterday, awarding four seats between the two. In addition to those entries, the top 10 points finishers across the series have also been awarded seats. Here’s a look at the final standings of the points leader board.

Position	Player	Total Points
1	Nate Zoller	353
2	Erik Macias	350
3	Mitch Lekarczyk	263
4	Behrouz Keshtavar	259
5	Bobby Sanoubane	228
6	Mansour Alipourfard	215
7	Zach Gutierrez	188
8	Corey Zedo	175
9	Richard Dixon	173
10	William Yarosh	168

With the event being a one-day tournament, an early kickoff of 10 a.m. is on the docket. Players will receive an uptick in starting stacks from the rest of the series, getting 40,000 in chips to begin the day. Levels will last 40 minutes throughout the tournament until heads-up play is reached, at which point they will decrease to 30 minutes in length. There will be 10-minute breaks at the conclusion of every three levels with a 30-minute dinner break after Level 9.

PokerNews will be on hand all tournament long. Keep it here to see who comes out on top.

08-28-2019 10:58 UTC-6

Alipourfard Takes Early Chip Lead

HillKerby

Level 2 : 75/150, 0 ante

Mansour Alipourfard recently won a huge pot versus Nate Zoller where he flopped quads. Both of them turned a flush, though Alipourfard's four of a kind proved to shine through.

Alipourfard also just took down another pot that had about 2,800 on the turn with a board of . He was under the gun and threw out a bet of 2,000, only to get check-raised to 6,000 by Thomas Fuller out of the small blind.

Alipourfard three-bet to 19,000 and Fuller took about five seconds before folding face-up, believing that his flopped bottom set was no good.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mansour Alipourfard	68,700 28,700	28,700
Thomas Fuller	32,225 -7,775	-7,775
Nate Zoller	16,400 -23,600	-23,600

Tags: Mansour Alipourfard Nate Zoller Thomas Fuller

08-28-2019 11:10 UTC-6

Itoafa Raises the Flop

HillKerby

Level 2 : 75/150, 0 ante

There was 5,500 in the pot from preflop action as the four players with cards in front of them watched the dealer fan a flop of .

Wesley Palazzi checked from the small blind and Peter Graham bet 1,500 from the big blind. Stephen Zipprich was in the cutoff and called, putting action on Mike Itoafa, who was on the button. Itoafa grabbed several chips and then put them to the side, favoring a red T5,000 chip to throw into the pot instead as he announced a raise.

Palazzi quickly folded and action was on Graham, who went into the tank for about a minute. Eventually he folded and Zipprich followed suit, resulting in the pot being sent Itoafa's way.

Meanwhile, Bobby Opila has joined the action on Table 3 to bring the total number of players in the tournament to 18.

Player	Chips	Progress
Stephen Zipprich	55,600 15,900	15,900
Bobby Opila	40,000 40,000	40,000
Mike Itoafa	35,800 -3,700	-3,700
Wesley Palazzi	34,300 -5,700	-5,700
Peter Grahm	34,300 -6,600	-6,600

Tags: Mike Itoafa Peter Grahm Stephen Zipprich

08-28-2019 11:28 UTC-6

Quad Aces Blast Grahm's Cowboys

HillKerby

Level 2 : 75/150, 0 ante

Peter Grahm was on the button and raised to 500. Robert Opila three-bet him to 2,500 out of the big blind and Grahm thought for about 90 seconds before four-betting to 7,500. With action back on Opila, he thought for a few moments before going all in for what was effectively Grahm's last 17,000.

Grahm went back into the tank for about a minute before saying, "What are the odds?" After another 20 seconds, he announced a call.

"One hundred percent aces," said another player at the table as Opila tabled .

Graham saw the grim news as he turned over .

The flop fell .

"Oh my f*****g......" said Grahm as he found himself drawing dead on the flop, simply awaiting the last two cards to come before his elimination became official. The turn and river came and he got up from his seat, giving Opila a fist bump and congratulating him on a nice hand as he left the table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Bobby Opila	64,850 24,850	24,850
Peter Grahm	Busted

Tags: Peter Grahm Robert Opila

08-28-2019 12:52 UTC-6

Martinez Gets Value With Bullets

HillKerby

Level 4 : 100/200, 200 ante

Krzysztof Stybaniewicz raised to 900 from middle position and was three-bet to 2,700 by Anthony Martinez, who was in the big blind. Stybaniewicz called and the flop came . Martinez fired a continuation-bet of 4,000 into the middle and Stybaniewicz called.

Martinez continued on the turn , betting another 6,000. Stybaniewicz called. The river fell and Martinez fired a third barrel, putting out another 10,000. Stybaniewicz called once more.

Martinez tabled and Stybaniewicz mucked, taking down the pot with his pair of aces.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anthony Martinez	71,300 38,700	38,700
Krzysztof Stybaniewicz	14,900 -25,100	-25,100

Tags: Krzysztof Stybaniewicz Anthony Martinez

08-28-2019 14:41 UTC-6

Itoafa Doubles Through Palazzi

HillKerby

Level 7 : 300/600, 600 ante

There was around 32,000 in the pot on a board of and Mike Itoafa had checked from middle position to Wesley Palazzi in the hijack. Palazzi bet 19,000 and Iotafa check-raised all in for 39,000.

"I didn't get a snap call," said Itoafa as Palazzi spent some time in the tank. Eventually, he threw out the last 20,000 to call.

Mike Itoafa:
Wesley Palazzi:

Iotafa's jacks up were poised to earn him a double versus Palazzi's top pair, top kicker, as long as he could fade an ace to the redraw or a ten to a counterfeited two pair. The river fell to secure the double, with Iotafa thanking the dealer for not bringing a ten on the river.

"I knew an ace wasn't coming," said Rich Dixon in response to Iotafa, "but I thought for sure I was going to see a ten."

Iotafa stacked his chips, grateful that Dixon was incorrect.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mike Itoafa	113,800 42,200	42,200
Wesley Palazzi	11,300 -35,125	-35,125

Tags: Mike Itoafa Rich Dixon Wesley Palazzi

08-28-2019 15:25 UTC-6

Martinez Scores Double Knockout

HillKerby

Level 8 : 400/800, 800 ante

Danny Gonzales and Steve Wilkie were both seen no longer in their seats at Table 8 after being eliminated in a three-way all in pot.

According to an observer, the two of them got stacks in on the turn with Anthony Martinez on a board of .

Danny Gonzales:
Steve Wilkie:
Anthony Martinez:

Both Wilkie and Martinez hit trip queens on the turn but it had improved Gonzales' flopped set to a full house. Gonzales found himself one card away from tripling up to around 140,000 as long as he could fade a six, an eight, or an ace.

Unfortunately for Gonzales, Martinez had Barry Greenstein on his side as the river came to give him a higher full house, earning the double knockout and bringing his stack to around 189,000 in the process.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anthony Martinez	189,000 117,700	117,700
Danny Gonzales	Busted
Steve Wilkie	Busted

Tags: Anthony Martinez Barry Greenstein Danny Gonzales Steve Wilkie

08-28-2019 16:15 UTC-6

Peck Eliminated, Lekarczyk Doubles; Chip Counts from Table 6

HillKerby

Level 9 : 500/1,000, 1,000 ante

Austin Peck was all in from the hijack for 15,700 into a pot of around 18,000 on the turn against Zach Gutierrez, who was in the cutoff. The board read .

"I feel like you might have me outkicked," said Gutierrez while thinking about his decision. He then came to the conclusion of, "there's only one kicker out there that beats me," as he made the call.

Austin Peck:
Zach Gutierrez:

Gutierrez found himself having made the correct call, needing to fade Peck's outs to a flush and three of a kind. The river came and Peck tapped the table, congratulating Gutierrez on a nice hand as he got up and left the tournament area.

Moments later, Matt Livingston put Mitch Lekarczyk all in on the turn with a board of in a cutoff-versus-small blind situation and Lekarczyk was happy to call.

Matt Livingston:
Mitch Lekarczyk:

Livingston had flopped top pair and found himself with second pair and a flush draw when he put Lekarczyk in. He found himself up against Lekcarczyk's set of deuces, needing to hit a spade on the river to avoid having to pay off the double.

The river fell and Lekarczyk secured the double at Livingston's expense.

Player	Chips	Progress
Thomas Heine	113,000 76,400	76,400
Zach Gutierrez	82,900 42,900	42,900
Mitch Lekarczyk	49,200 -11,500	-11,500
William Yarosh	47,200 7,800	7,800
Matt Livingston	38,800 -10,800	-10,800
Dapo Ajayi	27,200 -12,800	-12,800
Corey Zedo	19,200 -44,900	-44,900
Austin Peck	Busted

Tags: Austin Peck Matt Livingston Mitch Lekarczyk Zach Gutierrez

08-28-2019 17:39 UTC-6

Zoller Eliminated by Martinez

HillKerby

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Nate Zoller, who recently chopped the CPC Main Event for a little over $60K, has just become the first post-dinner casualty of the tournament. According to the table, he shoved his last chips in from under the gun and action folded around to Anthony Martinez, who was the final stand out of the big blind. He didn't back down.

Nate Zoller:
Anthony Martinez:

The flop came to give Zoller four outs to Broadway. However, that was the closest he would get as the turn and river filled Martinez up to the nuts, sending Zoller to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Anthony Martinez	162,700 -16,900	-16,900
Nate Zoller	Busted

Tags: Anthony Martinez Nate Zoller

08-28-2019 18:52 UTC-6

Prize Pool Announced!

HillKerby

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

The official prize pool has been released. In total, 49 entries generated a prize pool of $115,150. The top five finishers will make it into the money, with the winner earning $40,300 for their efforts. A full breakdown of the prize pool is provided in the Payouts Tab.