Big Stax 1100 Day 1a | Parx Big Stax XXXII

02-21-2020 14:43 UTC-4

A Round of Chip Counts

Chad Holloway

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Greg Raymer	60,000 15,000	15,000

Lyle Diamond	58,000
Joan Konow	57,000
Al Riccobono	55,000 2,000	2,000
Jeffrey Gross	52,000
Michael Marder	50,000
Daniel Weinman	43,000

Joe McKeehen	42,000 -8,000	-8,000

Richard Sipple	40,000
Greg Fishberg	39,000
Sirous Jamshidi	37,000
Carold Spurdis	31,000
Istvan Szabo	23,000
Don Himpele	6,500 -43,500	-43,500

02-21-2020 15:17 UTC-4

Some Shots from the Day 1a Field

Chad Holloway

Level: 5

Blinds: 200/400

Ante: 400

02-21-2020 15:32 UTC-4

Ryan McKnight Looking for Another Six-Figure Score

Chad Holloway

Level 5 : 200/400, 400 ante

With more than $1.1 million in live tournament earnings dating back to just 2016, Ryan McKnight is one of the most accomplished players in the Parx Big Stax XXXII 1100 Championship Day 1a field.

McKnight is perhaps best known for finishing fourth in the 2017 World Series of Poker Event #47: $1,500 Monster Stack for $374,515. Earlier that same year, he won the Borgata Winter Poker Open Event #14: $1,090 NLH for $78,665, and more recently finished sixth in the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Event #1: $570 Deepstack for $58,421.

Toss in 24th in the 2019 WSOP Millionaire Maker for $47,820 and eighth in the 2018 Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship for $41,813 and you round out the top five results on McKnight’s poker résumé.

That said, if all goes according to plan here at Parx he may knock some down the list with the second six-figure score of his career.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan McKnight	49,000

Tags: Ryan McKnight

02-21-2020 15:52 UTC-4

Olivieri Skewers Gilliam

Chad Holloway

Level 5 : 200/400, 400 ante

Over at Table 42, Johnathon Gilliam got his short stack all in preflop and found himself in a race situation against Nick Olivieri.

Johnathon Gilliam:
Nick Olivieri:

Gilliam was looking to hold to double but that proved easier said than done as a king spiked on the flop. Neither the turn nor river helped Gilliam and he headed to the rail.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nick Olivieri	50,000
Johnathon Gilliam	Busted

Tags: Johnathon Gilliam Nick Olivieri

02-21-2020 15:58 UTC-4

Malczan Takes One from Levitan

Chad Holloway

Level 5 : 200/400, 400 ante

Adam Levitan raised to 1,100 from the cutoff and John Malczan defended his big blind to see a flop of .

Malczan check-called a bet of 1,300 and then action went check-check on the turn.

That action repeated on the river and Levitan showed the . It was no good though as Malczan had a pair with his .

Player	Chips	Progress
John Malczan	30,000

Tags: Adam Levitan John Malczan

Level: 6

Blinds: 300/500

Ante: 500

02-21-2020 16:16 UTC-4

Defending Champ Grigoriy Shvarts in the House

Chad Holloway

Level 6 : 300/500, 500 ante

Last October, the Parx Big Stax XXXI 1100 Championship saw Grigoriy Shvarts, who is in action here on Day 1a, top a 370-entry field to win the tournament for $82,549.

With three players left in that tournament, it looked like it could be a while before the tournament ended given the slow, deep-stacked structure. Shvarts had other ideas though, and his final two opponents walked right into traps, bluffing off all of their chips to him in huge pots when he had monster hands. The win was Shvarts' fourth in the five-figure range and ended some recent final table frustration for him.

"It feels really good, finally," said an elated and a little relieved Shvarts. "It's been a lot of bad beats, stuff like that. Finally came my way."

Here's a look at the results from the last Big Stax 1100 event:

Official Final Table Results

Place	Player	Hometown	Prize
1	Grigoriy Shvarts	New York, New York	$82,549
2	AJ Jamil	Glen Cove, New York	$57,793
3	Thomas Parkes	Alburtis, Pennsylvania	$37,154
4	Hal Rotholz	New York, New York	$24,402
5	Rafael Yaraliyev	Brooklyn, New York	$18,792
6	Peter Ippolito	East Meadow, New York	$15,547
7	Rafal Kordys	New Hyde Park, New York	$13,028
8	David Whitnah	Jersey City, New Jersey	$10,651

For more on Shvarts win, check out our Parx Big Stax XXXI 1100 recap here.

Player	Chips	Progress
Grigoriy Shvarts	50,000

Tags: Grigoriy Shvarts

02-21-2020 16:40 UTC-4

A Round of Chip Counts

Chad Holloway

Level 6 : 300/500, 500 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Jeffrey Gross	150,000 98,000	98,000
Geoff Rasmussen	105,000
Robert Williams	70,000 19,400	19,400
Lyle Diamond	65,000 7,000	7,000
Al Riccobono	60,000 5,000	5,000
Joey Galazzo	50,000
Greg Raymer	50,000 -10,000	-10,000

Michael Marder	40,000 -10,000	-10,000
Joseph Wolk	40,000 -10,900	-10,900
Grigoriy Shvarts	30,000 -20,000	-20,000
Joe McKeehen	30,000 -12,000	-12,000

Sirous Jamshidi	29,000 -8,000	-8,000
Ryan McKnight	25,000 -24,000	-24,000
Joseph Si	Busted

02-21-2020 16:51 UTC-4

Three-Time WSOP Bracelet Winner Battling It Out

Chad Holloway

Level 6 : 300/500, 500 ante

Matt Matros has more than $2.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings to his name and three World Series of Poker gold bracelet wins.

While a trio of bracelets is impressive in and of itself, what made Matros' victories even more special was the fact that he captured them in three consecutive years from 2010-12.

His first win came at the 2010 WSOP when he won Event #12: $1,500 Limit Hold’em for $189,870, and then followed it up by winning the 2011 WSOP Event #52: $2,500 Mixed Limit/NLH Hold’em for $303,501. Finally, his last bracelet came when he took down the 2012 WSOP Event #16: $1,500 NLH 6-Handed for $454,835.

Despite all those big wins, none of them are his biggest. That actually came in 2004 when he finished fourth in the $25,000 WPT Championship for $706,903

Matros, who received a Bachelor of Science from Yale and a Master's degree from Sarah Lawrence College, is also the author of The Making of a Poker Player.

He's in action here at Parx and looking to add a Big Stax title to his long list of accomplishments.

Player	Chips	Progress
Matt Matros	40,000 40,000	40,000

Tags: Matt Matros