partypoker US Network Series (Jan. 17-24)

Another series on the partypoker US Network, another tournament victory for Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken.

This time around, Vanauken topped a field of 76 in Event #2, a $320 buy-in Progressive Knockout in which he claimed the top prize of $2,908 and added another $5,972 in bounties for a combined $8,880 in earnings, nearly 40% of the overall $22,800 prize pool.

Vanauken was in the top 10 of the leader board all tournament long, working his way up to the top three by the ninth level of play in the evening and taking the chip lead within the last half-hour of the 15-level late registration period.

By the time registration closed, Vanauken nearly doubled his already-chip-leading stack and became the first player to reach 1 million, and kept climbing from there as he eliminated Daniel "leinad" Buzgon in ninth place on the bubble.

Two eliminations later, Vanauken took his chip lead into the final table. He briefly relinquished it to eventual runner-up "RiverMan" during four-handed play, but reclaimed it after eliminating "l23weeeeeeeee" in fourth place and followed it up by running the table, knocking out "dadadada" in third, and then mowing down "RiverMan" heads up to earn yet another victory in a partypoker US Network Series tournament.

Event #2 Final Table Results

The partypoker US Network Series resumes Tuesday with Event #3: 15K GTD 40 Stack 8-Max NLH at 8 p.m. ET, so be sure to come back then. A full schedule of the remaining tournaments can be found below.

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In Level 24 with blinds of 12,000/24,000 and an ante of 3,000, "RiverMan" opened to 52,800 on the button and Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken three-bet jammed for 614,000 effective. "RiverMan" immediately called.

"RiverMan":
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken":

The ladies did not love "RiverMan" as Vanauken locked up the win by the turn, hitting a wheel on a runout of to eliminate "RiverMan" in second place ($3,205 in total earnings) and claim victory along with $5,972 worth of bounties and the top prize of $2,908 for a total of $8,880. Stay tuned for a recap of the action.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	3,800,000	602,358
RiverMan	Busted

On the final hand of Level 23 with blinds of 10,000/20,000 and an ante of 2,500, "RiverMan" opened the action with a raise to 44,000 on the button and was three-bet to 110,000 by Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken in the small blind. "dadadada" was in the big blind and cold four-bet jammed for 188,000, prompting a fold from "RiverMan" and a call from Vanauken.

"dadadada":
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken:

"dadadada" was unable to fade an ace on the flop and was left high and dry by both the turn and river , finishing the tournament in third place as a result. Meawhile, Vanauken takes roughly a three-to-two chip lead into his heads-up match witwh "RiverMan" with both players having locked up $2,905 and competing for nearly $3,300 in bounties.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	2,280,842	473,456
RiverMan	1,519,158	-221,000
dadadada	Busted

In Level 23 with blinds of 10,000/20,000 and an ante of 2,500, all of the chips got into the middle preflop after a series of raises that resulted in "l23weeeeeeeee" being all in for their tournament life from the cutoff against Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken, who was in the big blind.

"l23weeeeeeeee":
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken:

"l23weeeeeeeee" had virtually no chance as the flop left them in need of hitting running cards. Instead, Vanauken hit each remaining card as the turn and river came to give him a full house as it completed the runout and eliminated "l23weeeeeeeee" in fourth place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	1,807,386	613,604
RiverMan	1,740,158	67,700
dadadada	252,456	-143,500
l23weeeeeeeee	Busted

As time expired in Level 21 (7,000/14,000/1,750), Angel "chromeking" Lopez jammed for 143,000 in the hijack and received action from "RiverMan".

Angel "chromeking" Lopez:
"RiverMan":

Lopez was in great shape for a double and the flop did little to jeopardize that. The turn did give him four more outs to sweat, but it would be one of the original two that he needed to fade in that fell on the river to spell his elimination at the expense of "RiverMan".

Moments later, "RiverMan" once again got stacks in with against Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken, who could find nothing more than a jack on the runout with his , and "RiverMan" is now closing in on the chip lead with four remaining.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	1,428,342	-597,299
RiverMan	1,315,098	808,069
Angel "chromeking" Lopez	Busted

In Level 20 with blinds of 6,000/12,000 and an ante of 1,500, Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken opened to 66,000 under the gun and Alex "JinYang" Butcher three-bet shoved in the hijack for 331,000. Action folded back to Vanauken and he immediately called.

Alex "JinYang" Butcher:
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken:

Just moments after ceding a double, it looked as if Vanauken was about to give up another one to Butcher as the flop came to cut his number of outs down to four. The turn left Butcher with just one card between him and a double, but the river gave Vanauken just what he needed to make the best hand and eliminate Butcher in sixth place.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	1,910,842	414,085
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	Busted

In Level 19 with blinds of 5,000/10,000 and an ante of 1,250, "Cholie" open-jammed for about 350,000 in the small blind and "l23weeeeeeeee" immediately called all in for barely less in the big blind.

"l23weeeeeeeee":
"Cholie":

No ten came as the board ran out , failing to double-pair along the way, and "l23weeeeeeeee" earned the double. "Cholie" was left with crumbs that were dusted off the table a couple of hands later to result in their elimination in seventh place, and all six remaining players have now reached the final table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	1,634,884	154,849
l23weeeeeeeee	586,002	133,436
RiverMan	507,980	101,555
dadadada	487,164	89,420
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	408,460	-6,100
Angel "chromeking" Lopez	146,010	360
Cholie	Busted

In Level 17 with blinds of 3,500/7,000 and an ante of 875, Sponsored Pro Daniel "leinad" Buzgon open-jammed for 97,100 in the hijack and received a call from Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken in the cutoff. All remaining players folded and the two were off to the races.

Daniel "leinad" Buzgon:
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken:

A trey on the flop all but sent Buzgon packing, and the turn confirmed such a result as it ensured no running wheel cards could possibly keep him alive. The river completed the runout and Buzgon was eliminated by Vanauken in ninth place, becoming the official bubble boy of Event #2.

All eight remaining players are now officially in the money, with Vanauken leading the field by a wide margin with a stack of more than 1.8 million.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	1,896,870	315,850
Daniel "leinad" Buzgon	Busted

Level 16 (3,000/6,000/750) has begun and the registration period is now officially a thing of the past. Final numbers are as follows: 76 entries generated a total prize pool of $22,800, half of which will be distributed among bounties while the other half will be paid out to the top eight finishers.

The eighth-place finisher will earn $370, with payouts increasing until the eventual winner earns themselves $2,908 plus all applicable bounties. Complete payout information can be found in the Payouts Tab above.

In Level 15 with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and an ante of 625, all of the chips went into the middle preflop between "redraider" in the cutoff and Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken, who was on the button. "redraider" was at risk.

"redraider":
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken:

"redraider" found some hope on the flop , but a couple of bricks followed on the turn and river and they were eliminated at the expense of Vanauken, who has increased his chip lead as a result and now finds himself as the first player to reach 1 million in the tournament.

Player	Chips	Progress
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	1,025,909
redraider	Busted