Four grueling Day 1 flights are in the books and it's time for everyone who made it through to combine for a chance at some serious money. It's time for Day 2 of iNinja World Championship, which takes place at Planet Hollywood and will see 211 players out of 1,140 return for a chance at the $250,000 guaranteed prize pool that has ballooned to around $400,000.
Official payout numbers should be available almost immediately at the start of Day 2 play, and the money bubble should be hit pretty early in the day.
Matt Lushin will be coming in with the most chips at 439,000, trailed by Jeremy Kerbel (418,500), Jeff Sluzinski (346,000), and Praveen Lokam (315,000). Some others to watch for include Jason Smith (223,500), Michael Sanders (190,000), Matt Reed (161,000), Ryan Phan (160,500), and iNinja Pros Aaron Johnson (137,000), John Reading (136,500), and Vlad Revniaga (131,000).
Things get underway in Level 16 (2,000/4,000/500) and go until a winner is determined according to the schedule, but that may prove to be impossible with such a large field.
John Reading was in the big blind and check-raised a bet from the player on the button to about 45,000. Reading's opponent, who had bet 18,000 on the flop, shoved all in for around 150,000. Reading quickly called.
Reading:
Opponent:
Both players were drawing but Reading was behind. The turn gave him what he needed though, and the river was a brick.
Reading is up to about 495,000. Players are now on break.
Jewook Oh and Tony Lazar got in a raising war that resulted in Oh being all in on a board of with for a boat. Unfortunately for him, he was drawing dead as Lazar held for queens full.
Lazar is hot early this summer, coming off a fifth-place finish at the World Series of Poker in the $1,500 8-Game event.
We found Joshua Steiner in the small blind, calling the all-in shove of a player with 230,000 on the button. A player under the gun who initially raised to 60,000 then jammed for 1 million total. After getting the count and thinking for a bit, Steiner pushed in the calling chips.
Steiner:
Button:
Early position:
The flop improved nobody, but an turn gave Steiner a hammerlock on things. The river was a blank.
Junichi Nagasako defended his big blind from a cutoff open by John Mann, and flopped. Nagasako shoved all in for about 550,000 and Mann shrugged and flicked in a chip to call.
Mann:
Nagasako:
Mann needed a seven, and the missed him but the was what he needed. Nagasako shot out of his seat in disgust, and the remaining players are drawing for the final table.
After a limp, Carlos Chang made it 560,000 in the small blind. Joshua Steiner shipped it for 745,000 in the big, and Chang called after the limper tank-folded.
Chang:
Steiner:
Steiner asked for one time, but a flop was little help. He picked up a straight draw on the turn but Chang added a flush draw. The helped neither player, eliminating Steiner.