Shvart Leads Parx Big Stax 1100 Final Table
Another long day has finished in Parx Big Stax 1100, and at long last, the big money is in sight for the grinders putting in dozens of hours here in the Philadelphia area.
Just nine players remain out of a field that grew to 370 with a handful of Day 2 entries, and they're playing for more than $80,000 up top with everyone having locked up $8,255 for making the final table.
Foremost among that nine in terms of chip count is Grigoriy Shvarts. Shvarts overcome a bout of feeling less than himself near the end of Day 1 and showed up to Day 2 refreshed and ready to go, responding in the affirmative when his opponents asked if he was feeling better.
He certainly played like it, as he ran all the way up to 5.6 million, good for about 30% of the total chips in play. That's good for 140 big blinds when play resumes on Monday at 20,000/40,000/40,000.
A big moment for Shvarts came just before the final table when he eliminated venue legend Joe Palma, snapping off Palma's four-bet stuff with kings and prevailing against ace-queen suited. That pot gave Shvarts a bigger stack than anyone else finished with despite 90 minutes remaining in the day.
Here's a look at the players remaining who can contest Shvarts' dominance:
| Seat | Player | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | AJ Jamil | 3,100,000 |
| 2 | Rafal Kordys | 1,010,000 |
| 3 | Rafael Yaraliyev | 2,060,000 |
| 4 | Peter Ippolito | 465,000 |
| 5 | Thomas Parkes | 3,680,000 |
| 6 | David Whitnah | 1,110,000 |
| 7 | Cody Heuschkel | 360,000 |
| 8 | Grigoriy Shvarts | 5,600,000 |
| 9 | Hal Rotholz | 1,235,000 |
Cody Heuschkel had a healthy stack for most of the day, but a late run of bad luck dropped him to the bottom of the counts, with the worst blow coming when he ran ace-king into the aces of Rafael Yaraliyev.
Still, he has a pulse at the final table, which several players who bowed out on Day 2 would be happy to say. Notables who busted before the money included Jimmy Poper, Michael Marder and Jonas Wexler, while Mukul and Vinny Pahuja, DJ MacKinnon, Victor Ramdin and Greg Fishberg were among those making the 47 paid places.
The final table reconvenes at 12 p.m. local time here at Parx. More 90-minute levels will be played until somebody lays claim to $82,549.
flop. Parkes checked the 
turn and Valerstein bet 260,000. Parkes announced a raise and then slid in 650,000. Valerstein responded by jamming for about 1.1 million and Parkes snap-called with 
.
and he turned his hand back over and headed to payouts.
. Unfortunately for him, Jamil had backed into the nut flush with 
and he collected the 800,000 or so Santos had left.
. 
. The 
board gave Palma top pair but it wasn't enough.
flop. However, a 
turn sealed her elimination.
against 
and furthered her advantage by flopping a queen. However, Palma turned a king and rivered a flush to bust her.
were bricks on the turn and river.
but bricked out as 
. He was dominated by the big blind's 
. The 
flop brought plenty of outs for Ramdin, but the 
and 
kept his opponent's kicker barely in play.
