Main Event
Day 1b Completed
Main Event
Day 1b Completed
Day 1b of the HPT St. Louis is now in the books. After 280 entries and 15 levels of play, 53 are moving on and joining the 28 players that advanced from Day 1a.
They are all chasing Josh Mullins, who bagged the biggest stack on Day 1b and the second-biggest stack overall heading into Day 2. He doubled up early in Level 1 and never looked back, steadily building his stack throughout the day, which included a couple of monster pots.
The field had many of its usual familiar faces in Craig Casino, Dennis Phillips, Mike Rieck, John Richards, Paul Bianchi, Allen Kessler and two-time HPT champion Nick Davidson, to name a few. The ladies number was small but well-represented by the likes of Carolyn Adams, Mary Struges, Kathleen McNeal, Helen Denton and Barbara Hunsel.
Those were just a few of the players who came to take their shot, some more than once, at the $646,020 prize pool. The top 45 players will get paid, with a min-cash worth $3,553, but most, if not all, players have their sights set on the HPT final table and the $148,587 first-place prize.
Like yesterday, today saw no shortage of action, which included early coolers and three-way all-ins. Mullins doubled early in Level 1 after his aces held against the kings of another player all in preflop. In another early hand, Mike Rieck went from worst to first with a rivered straight after a three-way all-in on the flop.
Along with Mullins, Shawn Roberts (408,000), Tim Burden (340,000), Helen Denton (337,000) and H.B. Sablotny (329,000) rounded out the top five in chip stacks.
Other notables moving on to Day 2 include Kou Vang (250,000), Ryan Tepen (173,000), Keith Heine (140,000), Rieck (125,000) and Tim Vance (112,000) .
Some notable players to fall short of advancing include Dennis Phillips, Craig Casino, two-time HPT prelim winner Craig Welko, Jason Ramos, John Richards, Jeff Fielder, and two-time HPT champion Nick Davidson, who went out late in the day after losing a flip with sevens against the ace-king of Shawn Roberts after Roberts spiked a river king.
The 81 remaining players return tomorrow at 11 a.m. local time and will play down to the final nine players, who will all be part of the Monday's final table, which is set to air on television at a later date.
Please be sure to follow the PokerNews Live Reporting team as we once again bring you updates on the all the action as it happens.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Josh Mullins | 532,000 | 143,000 |
Shawn Roberts | 408,000 | 178,000 |
Tim Burden | 340,000 | 70,000 |
Helen Denton | 337,000 | 225,000 |
HB Sablotny | 329,000 | 329,000 |
Bill Byrnes | 277,000 | 277,000 |
Kou Vang | 250,000 | 150,000 |
Jason Darland | 232,000 | 17,000 |
Brad Johnson | 208,000 | 208,000 |
Grant Bridwell | 200,000 | -45,000 |
Greg Wood | 196,000 | 196,000 |
Rick Blythe | 193,000 | 193,000 |
Steven Graham | 192,000 | 192,000 |
John Hughes | 185,000 | 185,000 |
Josh Shmerl | 174,000 | 61,000 |
Bryan White | 167,000 | 117,000 |
Andy Echele | 162,000 | 162,000 |
Larry Conners | 153,000 | 113,000 |
Steve Sheldon
|
152,000 | 152,000 |
Matt Dougherty | 151,000 | 151,000 |
Brian Nguyen | 147,000 | 147,000 |
Frank Mondello
|
144,000 | 114,000 |
Lance Hendricks | 144,000 | 144,000 |
Stephen Green | 143,000 | 123,000 |
Doug Holland | 140,000 | -30,000 |
The tournament staff just announced the remaining players will play six more hands before bagging and tagging for the night. Stay tuned for a list of survivors with chip counts, a recap of the Day 1b action, and the Day 2 seat draw.
Action folded around to Steve Dill in the cutoff who moved all in for 40,000. He was called by the player on the button who had less chips.
Button:
Dill:
The flop of put Dill in the lead with a pair of aces.
The turn and river finished the board and Dill sent his opponent packing,
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Steve Dill
|
80,000 | 80,000 |
After the player in the cutoff raised to 10,000, Phil Youngclaus three-bet jammed for 62,500 from the small blind. The cutoff thought for about a minute and then dropped in a call.
Youngclaus:
Cutoff:
Youngclaus had the better pocket pair and it held when the board ran out .
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Phil Youngclaus | 130,000 |
Hyun Lee raised UTG +1 to 7,000. Action folded to Kou Vang in middle position who three-bet to 22,000. Lee four-bet all in for 96,000 and Vang called.
Lee:
Vang:
Lee's rockets held after the board ran out doubling up Lee.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Hyun Lee | 180,000 | 180,000 |
Kou Vang | 100,000 | -140,000 |
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
Action folded around to Josh Mullins in middle position, and he raised to 11,500, got a call from the player in the hijack, and the two players went heads up to the flop.
After Mullins checked the flop, the hijack-player shoved all in.
Mullins went into the tank for about a full minute before he made the call, tabling , which was ahead of the hijack-player's .
The turn and river were of no help to the hijack-player, and Mullins remained one of the big stacks in the room.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Josh Mullins | 389,000 | 95,500 |
Jason Darland raised to 13,000 from the cutoff. The player in the small blind called.
The flop was checked by the small blind and Darland fired 13,000, his opponent called.
The on the turn was checked to Darland who bet 22,000. His opponent called.
Darland moved all in for 86,500 after his opponent checked the river, making his opponent fold.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Jason Darland | 215,000 | 65,000 |