CA$10,300 Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America
CA$10,300 Main Event
Day: 1b
Givens Leads After Day 1B; Aido Among the Contenders
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
It was another long day of poker at the Playground Poker Club for Day 1b of the CA$10,000 Main Event in the 2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America. After a hard-fought 10 levels, just 107 players survived to move on to Day 2 tomorrow. The remaining 258 players will gather in the same for the first time when the action resumes.
Leading the way among those survivors is American poker pro Will Givens. He will head into Day 2 with 6,285,000 chips, far and away the chip leader from Day 1b. Things got started in the right direction for Givens when he made aces up against Elliot Smith just before the dinner break. Givens nearly doubled his stack and he kept the momentum rolling into the latter stages of the day.
With over $2 million in career tournament winnings, Givens will be looking to add another trophy to his collection along with a nice payday. Some other big names near the top of the leaderboard at the end of the day include Canadians Jonathan Dwek (4,330,000) and Michael Farrow (4,315,000) along with Spanish high-roller Sergio Aido (4,195,000).
Aido is recently coming off a Super High Roller win at EPT Monte Carlo and is showing no signs of slowing down. This is Aido's second bullet for the tournament but he got things started right today when he jumped out to an early chip lead. Forced to move tables a couple of times, Aido eventually found himself on the same table as other notable names such as Sam Greenwood, Orpen Kisacikoglu, and Paul Michaelis. One of the largest pots of the day came when Aido and Michaelis both flopped a pair of aces but Aido's king-kicker eliminated Michaelis who had a queen-kicker.
After a larger than expected field turned out for Day 1a, today was a bit slower since 151 players had already booked their spot in Day 2. When late registration closed after four levels, there were a total of 217 entries for the day. That brought the total number of entries to 521 for this event, surpassing the CA$5,000,000 guaranteed prizepool.
The day turned out much better than the previous one for the partypoker team members in the field. Ludovic Geilich (3,855,000), Anatoly Filatov (2,900,000), Bertrand Grospellier (2,655,000), Kristen Bicknell (1,865,000), and Mike Sexton (1,200,000) all made it through the day unscathed. Joni Jouhkimainen, Philipp Gruissem, and Jeff Gross were among those that were eliminated.
A few other players to keep an eye on include Antonio Esfandiari who quietly went about his business to bag an impressive 3,255,000 chips. Esfandiari hasn't played much poker since last year's World Series of Poker but is looking to get back into the swing of things before the summer series. Ari Engel (3,235,000) is always dangerous when playing in his home country and Kisacikoglu also bagged over three million chips with 3,125,000.
The action will resume on Thursday at 12 p.m. EST with the blinds resuming at 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante. Another ten 60-minute levels are on the schedule and the players are not expected to reach the money until early on Day 3. Continue to follow along with the PokerNews live reporting team for all of the action throughout the entire event.
End-of-Day 1B Chip Counts (full)
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
6,285,000 | |
|
4,360,000 | 4,360,000 |
|
4,330,000 | -270,000 |
|
4,315,000 | 995,000 |
|
4,195,000 | 245,000 |
|
4,150,000 | 3,415,000 |
|
4,015,000 | 2,165,000 |
|
3,950,000 | -950,000 |
|
3,855,000 | -265,000 |
|
3,625,000 | 725,000 |
|
3,280,000 | -470,000 |
|
3,255,000 | -215,000 |
|
3,235,000 | 835,000 |
|
3,205,000 | -120,000 |
|
3,180,000 | 590,000 |
|
3,175,000 | 3,175,000 |
|
3,130,000 | 870,000 |
|
3,130,000 | 3,130,000 |
|
3,125,000 | 25,000 |
|
3,120,000 | 500,000 |
|
|
2,910,000 | -40,000 |
|
2,900,000 | -250,000 |
|
2,885,000 | -15,000 |
|
2,850,000 | 150,000 |
|
2,820,000 | -1,040,000 |
Day 1B of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America Main Event Concludes with Will Givens Leading
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
Day 1B of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America CA$10,300 Main Event has concluded with the 217-player field reduced to approximately 110 players.
Will Givens is the overall chip leader after amassing a 6,285,000 chip stack on the back of a late-level elimination of Ema Zajmovic.
Also among the leaders include Brandon Hall, Jonathan Dwek, Sergio Aido, and partypoker pro Ludovic Geilich who will all return for Day 2 on Thursday, May 23, at 12 p.m. (EDT) along with the remainder of the Day 1A and 1B survivors.
A full recap of the day, along with a full list of chip counts will be posted later tonight.
Keating Stays Alive
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
Will Givens opened from early position and Anatoly Filatov called from the hijack. Alex Keating was the short stack in the small blind and shoved all in for his last 485,000. Givens called and Filatov quickly folded.
Keating: 
Givens: 
The flop came 
and Keating was still out front with his pair of queens. The 
on the turn gave Keating a set of queens and Givens was drawing dead to the 
on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,130,000 | -520,000 |
|
1,040,000 | 625,000 |
Five More Hands
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
The Tournament Director has announced that there will be just five more hands remaining on Day 1B.
Neilson Doubles Through De Silva
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
On the partypoker feature table, Daniel Neilson moved all in from the button for 535,000, and Upeshka De Silva iso-shoved from the small blind for 1,790,000.
Neilson: 
De Silva: 
The board ran out 
and Neilson collected the double up.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,265,000 | -175,000 |
|
1,120,000 | 585,000 |
Aido Kicks Michaelis to the Rail
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
Paul Michaelis raised it up in middle position and Sergio Aido stuck in a three-bet directly to his left. The action came back to Michaelis who called to see a flop of 
. With over 300,000 in the pot already, the two players quickly got the rest of the chips in the middle with Michaelis being at risk for around 1,000,000 chips.
Aido: 
Michaelis:
Both players flopped a pair of aces but Aido held the better kicker. The 
on the turn nor the 
on the river was any help to Michaelis who found himself eliminated from the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,950,000 | 650,000 |
|
Busted |
Flop Bet Win for Sexton
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
Robert Greenberg opened to 50,000 in middle position before partypoker Chairman Mike Sexton three-bet the button to 165,000.
Harpreet Gill called from the big blind, as did Greenberg, before the dealer spread the 
flop.
Gill and Greenberg checked to Sexton, and he bet 200,000 and was greeted by two quick folds.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
2,950,000 | |
|
1,360,000 | 190,000 |
|
515,000 | -285,000 |
Two Bets from Esfandiari
Level 10
: 10,000/25,000, 25,000 ante
Antonio Esfandiari bumped it up to 55,000 in the cutoff and was called by Mike Watson on the button and Bartlomiej Machon in the big blind. The flop came 
and Machon checked to Esfandiari who bet 85,000. Watson called and Machon stepped aside.
The turn brought the and Esfandiari fired out another bet of 205,000. This time, Watson also let his cards go and Esfandiari took down the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
3,470,000 | 570,000 |
|
1,700,000 | 805,000 |