Blinds: 140,000/280,000
Sanjeev "sandman9876" Datta got his final 2.7 million and change in preflop holding 
, and chip leader "sarmadi3" put him at risk holding 
. The board ran down 
, and Datta made an unnecessary flush on the river to take down the double up.
Blinds: 120,000/240,000
Eric “alwaysliquid” Vanauken was down to just one big blind when he moved all in, and he got three callers. The flop of 
saw "RobertJordan" lead for 525,000. Both "Core4" and "sarmadi3" called, and the 
hit the turn. "RobertJordan" moved all in for 710,000, and again, both his opponents called.
The river brought the 
, and "Core4" checked to "sarmadi3", who fired 2.1 million. "Core4" folded, and "sarmadi3" tabled 
for an unbeatable straight, scoring two knockouts in the process.
Blinds: 120,000/240,000
Catching up with the action on the turn of a board showing 
, Yong “IReadYrSoul” Kwon fired out a bet, only to see "Smitty15" move all in. Kwon quickly called with 
for a turned set, and he would have to fade the draw outs of "Smitty15", who had 
.
The 
river hit both players, giving "Smitty15" a flush, but also giving Kwon a full house, giving him another big pot.
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Yong “IReadYrSoul” Kwon started the action with a raise to 460,000, and in the small blind, "RobertJordan" three bet it to 1.4 million. Back to Kwon, he moved all in for 4.3 million, and "RobertJordan" called with 
. He was well behind the 
of Kwon, and the hand was over after the flop of gave Kwon unbeatable quad kings.
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Following a raise from "sarmadi3", Sridhar “sri100k” Sangannagari reraised to about two million from the small blind. "sarmadi3" called, and after the flop of 
, Sangannagari went for a big overbet, movign all in for about six million. "sarmadi3" quickly called with 
for two pair, and Sangannagari was in a world of hurt with just 
.
A queen on the turn sealed the hand, sending "sarmadi3" into a massive chip lead with 21 million. The next closest competitor, "Core4", has 10.5 million.
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
After a raise from Yong “IReadYrSoul” Kwon, chip leader "sarmadi3" three bet it. Jon “Jetsfan411” Borenstein then moved all in over the top holding pocket kings, and "sarmadi3" would call with pocket queens.
No miracle queen would come, and Borenstein scored more than a double up, boosting his stack to almost 4.5 million.
Just nine remain now, and after making a huge river call against "hud_seriously", "sarmadi3 holds the chip lead with nearly 15 million in chips. Stay tuned to find out who takes down this opening event of the series!
Eric “alwaysliquid” Vanauken is a name you should know as he's become on of the most accomplished players on the partypoker US Network.
A couple of months ago, Vanauken accomplished the incredible feat of capturing back-to-back titles not once, but twice.
In the July 6-12 series, he topped a 134-entry field to win Event #4: $15,000 GTD NLH for nearly $7,500, and then the next night bested 144 runners to win Event #5: $,7500 GTD Green Chip Bounty for $3,145. Then, at the end of July, he won the $320 buy-in Event #3: $15,000 GTD PKO Bounty for $6,393 and a day later emerged victorious in the $215 buy-in Event #4: $12,000 GTD PKO Bounty Boost for $5.691.
PokerNews recently had the chance to chat with Vanauken about his recent successes.
For the 43-year-old Vanauken, who is married with three kids ages 7, 10, and 19, he’s never really had a nine-to-five job. Instead, he fancies himself a real estate broker engaging in flips and investments while playing poker on the side of course.
“I first learned playing $4/$8 limit at Foxwoods in early 2000 and now play now $20/$40 and $30/$60 when I can find a game, or settle on $1/$2 or $2/$5 NLH," he said. "I have played the WSOP Main Event two times with no luck busting on Day 2 both times.”
Additionally, Vanauken grinds a decent amount on the virtual tables under the screen name “alwaysliquid,” which stems from the movie Wall Street when Gordon Gekko tells Bud Fox about how money never sleeps and you need to always be liquid.
“Since New Jersey went legal I play on Borgata and WSOP. I used to play PokerStars but had an issue with them over a year ago and have since boycotted them. I do very well on Borgata. I even shipped the Mega Thursday [not long ago] on my phone from an Applebee’s parking lot as I had no WiFi at home due to power outage.”
As for his recent successes on partypoker US, Vanauken was pleased but wanted to remain humble.
“I am humbled to be able to compete with all of the great players in New Jersey,” he said. “I’m proud that all of my studying and grinding has been producing favorable results in the past few years, taking me from an average breakeven player to a profitable one. At the same time, I try to maintain being humble with this great game and what it has provided for me and my family.”
For Vanauken, the scores rank up there among his proudest poker accomplishments, which includes beating a poker legend.
“In 2013, I beat Joe McKeehen for the Borgata Limit Championship,” Vanauken said. “I think that was the last limit event held at Borgata.”
Other highlights on his poker résumé include finishing sixth in the 2018 WSOP Circuit at Canada’s Playground Poker Club and finishing runner-up in a pair of WSOP Circuit online events back in March.
“So close to a ring but the two cashes of $35k and $20k within a few days definitely eased the quarantine pain,” Vanauken said.
With the latest partypoker US Network Online Series happening now, only time will tell if Vanauken can keep his streak of winning back-to-back events alive.
Blinds: 50,000/100,000
"onoreally" got his final 900,000 and change in the middle holding 
, and in the big blind, "sarmadi3" put him at risk holding 
. Neither player would hit the 
flop, or the turn. However, the river flipped the script, getting us down to just 12 players now.
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