Main Event
Day 2 Completed
Main Event
Day 2 Completed
The GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions (GDAM) continued on Thursday and after a huge day of poker eight players had guaranteed themselves HK$6,000,000 (US$774,193) and Rono Lo had become the third largest “bubble boy” in history.
It is Sorel Mizzi who leads the GDAM final table and is therefore in the best shape to make a run at the HK$34,600,000 (US$4,464,516) first-place prize.
However, with not too many big blinds in play and tough players such as Isaac Haxton, Jeff Rossiter, Niklas Heinecker, Pratyush Buddiga and Igor Kurganov still in contention, the GDAM champion could be any of the eight remaining players.
Check out the official GDAM final table in the live reporting blog below.
Beginning at 3.00 p.m. local time, Day 2 of the GDAM Main Event saw 51 players all hoping to make it to the final table. Some of the players who weren’t able to do that include Philip Gruissem, Fabian Quoss, Joseph Cheong, John Juanda, Greg Merson, Gus Hansen, Mike McDonald and Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand Grospellier and Jonathan Duhamel.
For much of the day it was PokerStars Team Online Isaac Haxton who held the chip lead as he was eliminating players seemingly every few hands. One of the players Haxton sent to the rail was Dan Smith. It was preflop raising war that saw all the chips get in the middle, with Smith running his into the
of Haxton. The board ran out
and with that Smith was sent home and Haxton was the first player to find himself with an eight-figure chip stack.
One by one the players hit the rail and by the time ten players remained, the blinds were so large in comparison to the player’s stacks that every hand was a decision for a player’s tournament life. At this point the plan was to eliminate one more player before moving to an “unofficial” live streamed final table. Unfortunately for Nick Wong it was he who would finish as the 10th place finisher, which isn’t worth a whole lot.
Wong got all his chips in prefllop holding and had to come up against Aussie Jeff Rossiter’s
. The board ran out
and just like that Wong, who took down the GDAM Warm-Up on Tuesday, was sent home and we were on the bubble.
Only one player would feel more devastation than Wong and that was Rono Lo. Heading into the unofficial final table Lo had the second smallest stack with just over 7 million in chips. However, with the blinds at 500,000-1,000,000, Lo quickly found himself left with just over one big blind when he moved all in holding . It was the worst possible outcome for Lo when Pratyush Buddiga woke up with
, which he promptly re-shoved from the button. The rest of the table was out of the way and the
board meant that the GDAM final table was set. Check out the payout structure below to refresh yourselves with what the remaining eight are playing for.
GDAM Final Table Payouts
Place | Prize (HKD) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|
1 | $34,600,000 | $4,464,516 |
2 | $24,500,000 | $3,161,290 |
3 | $16,100,000 | $2,077,419 |
4 | $12,525,000 | $1,616,129 |
5 | $10,200,000 | $1,316,129 |
6 | $8,300,000 | $1,070,967 |
7 | $7,150,000 | $922,580 |
8 | $6,000,000 | $774,193 |
The final table will take place at 3.00 p.m. local time (12.00 a.m. PDT) tomorrow and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will once again be at the felt bringing you all the action, while the final table will also feature a live stream. Join us then!
Seat | Player | Chips |
---|---|---|
1 | Igor Kurganov | 18,400,000 |
2 | Pratyush Budigga | 13,075,000 |
3 | Jeff Rossiter | 12,825,000 |
4 | Anson Tsang | 5,750,000 |
5 | Sorel Mizzi | 28,300,000 |
6 | Niklas Heinecker | 15,275,000 |
7 | Isaac Haxton | 7,075,000 |
8 | Zheng Tang | 24,300,000 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
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28,300,000 | 6,600,000 |
|
||
|
24,300,000 | 4,300,000 |
|
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18,400,000 | 4,400,000 |
|
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15,275,000 | -4,600,000 |
|
||
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13,075,000 | -1,025,000 |
|
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12,825,000 | -2,100,000 |
|
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7,075,000 | 1,075,000 |
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5,750,000 | -1,250,000 |
|
Rono Lo has just become the third largest bubble boy in history (following the 2012 Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge and the Big One for One Drop last year).
Lo's final hand saw him move all in for his last 1,075,000 from the cutoff. The action moved to Pratyush Buddiga on the button and he got all his chips in. The small blind and big blind folded and the two players turned their hands over.
Buddiga:
Lo:
Unfortunately for Lo he had ran into the pocket aces of Buddiga and when the board was spread on the felt, it was all over in 9th place.
We are now down to our GDAM Main Event final table of eight! All the remaining players are guaranteed HK$6,000,000 bubble (US$774,193) and will come back tomorrow to fight it for the title, all the glory and a massive HK$34,600,000 (US$4,464,516) .
Stay tuned for the full final table seating draw, along with a wrap-up of the day's action.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
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Busted | |
|
The action folded around to Niklas Heinecker on the button and he moved all in for 13,375,000. Isaac Haxton folded his small blind and Zheng Tang went deep into the tank. It looked like Tang was trying to get some sort of sign out of one of his chips and apparently found an answer when he eventually folded. Heinecker showed an .
Folded around to Anson Tsang in the cutoff and he would shove for 2,975,000. The action then quickly moved to Isaac Haxton in the big blind and he went deep into thought. You could almost see the poker wizard crunching numbers in his mind. It was only a couple more big blinds to call, but it represented a large portion of his stack and with such a big bubble, he needed to do the math.
Eventually Haxton opted to make the call and Tsang was at risk.
Haxton:
Tsang:
Haxton would have been happy to see he was in a race situation, but when the board was spread on the felt, Tsang had scooped up the pot and made the double.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
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7,000,000 | 1,625,000 |
|
||
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6,000,000 | -4,150,000 |
Two somewhat interesting hands have just occurred.
Firstly, when the action folded around to Jeff Rossiter in the small blind, he would move all in. His opponent was Anson Tsang in the big blind and Rossiter had him covered. Tsang opted to fold.
Then, Nick Heinecker opened to 2 million from under the gun. Heinecker was then three-bet to 5 million from Zheng Tang. Back on Heinecker and he would fold his hand. Tang then tabled face up.
Rono Lo is the short stack. The play recently folded to him and he opened it up to 2 million from the cutoff, leaving himself with around 5 million behind. Igor Kurganov was on the button and moved all in. The blinds folded and it was back on Lo, who opted to let his cards go.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
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14,000,000 | 2,700,000 |
|
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5,000,000 | -2,575,000 |
|
The last two hands saw Igor Kurganov receive a walk and then he moved all in when the action folded around to him in the small blind. Pratyush Buddiga was in the big blind and folded. Kurganov added a few much-needed chips to his stack.
The second hand of the unofficial final table saw the action fold around to Isaac Haxton on the button and he would move all in. Zheng Tang, on his direct left, asked for a count. Haxton’s stack came in at 9,450,000 – which prompted Tang to lean back in his chair and take a drink of water. Eventually Tang folded, the blinds got out of the way and the dealer readied the next hand.