button in SafariDaniel Iachan Leads the Final Six After Day 2 of the Maryland State Poker Championship $1,700 Main Event
Daniel Iachan moved into pole position for the trophy and used a late charge up the chip counts to seize the chip lead as the final table was set on Day 2 of the Maryland State Poker Championship $1,700 Main Event.
Iachan was on the right side of two coin flips late in the day, first winning with ace-king against John Hall’s queens and then picking up jacks to beat Nicholas Verderamo’s ace-king and bring the night to a close. The Maryland native bagged up 5,140,000 as six players will return tomorrow to battle for the title. Iachan’s $630,000 in live career earnings include back-to-back deep runs inside the top 100 of the last two WSOP Main Events, but he has yet to win a live tournament.
Day 2 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Iachan | United States | 5,140,000 | 171 |
| 2 | Justin Arnwine | United States | 2,990,000 | 100 |
| 3 | Kevin Grabel | United States | 2,620,000 | 87 |
| 4 | Valentin Lita | United States | 2,470,000 | 82 |
| 5 | Aaron Pinson | United States | 1,090,000 | 36 |
| 6 | Robert Salera | United States | 895,000 | 30 |
The same can’t be said for Justin Arnwine. Arnwine has a library-worth of poker trophies, with more than 150 titles on his resume to go with $2.1 million in live earnings. This title, though, looked like it would elude him once the final nine players were set. Arnwine was all in for 980,000 with ace-queen on a queen-high board, but Boris Kravets had turned two pair. Arnwine was a card away from elimination until a lucky ace arrived on the river to give him aces and queens and the double up.
Arnwine, always distinguishable by his Hello Kitty attire, ended the day with 2,990,000 and in second place behind Iachan. The rest of the final table lineup includes Kevin Grabel (2,620,000), Valentin Lita (2,470,000), Aaron Pinson (1,090,000), and Robert Salera (895,000). Pinson’s list of poker accomplishments includes a WPT final table here at Live! Casino Maryland in 2018, as well as a runner-up finish in the massive WPT Prime Championship in Las Vegas in 2023.
Day 2 began with 49 players returning out of a starting field of 380. All remaining players were in the money and guaranteed a share of the $570,000 prize pool, and among those sent to the rail today were Diane Zimmerman (46th), Ari Katz (41st), Michael Bohmerwald (32nd), and Brandon Mueller (21st). Dominic Lake had the most adventurous bustout of the day, spiking a set on the turn to take the lead against Jeffrey Boyd, only for Boyd to river a full house to send Lake out in 37th.
Day 1a chip leader Matthew Zambanini ran into Grabel’s aces to bust in 15th, while Pinson took out start-of-day chip leader Christopher Kennedy in 12th. Iachan spiked a king on the river to bust John Palermino in 10th place and set the nine-handed final table. Neal Liptak was the first casualty of the final table, while Kravets couldn’t recover from that bad beat against Arnwine and ended up in eighth. The elimination of Verderamo in seventh place brought Day 2 to an end.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $111,000 | ||
| 2 | $75,000 | ||
| 3 | $55,000 | ||
| 4 | $41,000 | ||
| 5 | $31,000 | ||
| 6 | $23,000 | ||
| 7 | Nicholas Verderamo | United States | $18,000 |
| 8 | Boris Kravets | United States | $14,000 |
| 9 | Neal Liptak | United States | $11,100 |
The remaining six players will return tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. local time to play down to a champion. The action picks up with 48 minutes remaining in Level 23 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante. The average stack will be worth more than 80 big blinds at the start of the day, so it should be a long, slow slog before a champion is crowned. Everyone left has locked up $23,000, while the champion will take home $111,000.
PokerNews will be back tomorrow following all the action at the final table, so stay tuned for live updates.