Griffin Benger raised it up to 6,500 from middle position and was called by both of the blinds. The flop came and everyone opted to check as the landed on the turn.
Both of the blinds checked again and Benger took a stab at the pot with a bet of 15,000. The small blind folded but Mario Hofler put up some resistance from the big blind. After counting out a raise, Hofler just decided to call instead.
The completed the board and Hofler took his time before checking again. Benger tossed in a bet of 25,000 and Hofler went back into the tank for over two minutes, eventually deciding to lay his hand down.
Upeshka Desilva had put in 32,500 in the small blind and was facing an all-in shove for his remaining 132,000 or so from Jacqueline Burkhart in middle position.
"Pretty strong," he said with a smile, stretching.
"All right, take it," he added moments later, flicking in .
Noah Boeken was seen getting up from his seat and had in front of him. His stack was pushed Julien Martini's way who held .
The board read which meant that Martini had flopped two pair while Boeken had a pair of treys and the flush draw. The rest of the board didn't help Boeken as he made his way out of the tournament area while Martini shoots to the top of the chip counts for now.
Before he was eliminated from the PokerStars Players Championship, Platinum Pass winner Tyson Apostol spoke with [Removed:139] about making his way through the #TestingTyson challenge and coming out to the Bahamas for the PSPC.
Joining the action on the flop, Aditya Agarwal got his last 45,000 or so in out of the big blind and was quickly called by Atanas Pavlov in the cutoff.
Aditya Agarwal:
Atanas Pavlov:
Agarwal was in need of help to stay in contention but ended up drawing to a chop only when the followed on the turn. A blank on the river sealed the fate of the PokerStars ambassador.
Poker and MMA go hand-in-hand, both requiring discipline, competitive drive, precision and discretion. On top of that, the two realms overlap a good deal in terms of demographics, a major reason for the recently announced partnership between PokerStars and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC®).
One person heavily involved in both of these worlds is Bruce Buffer, the veteran voice of the world-famous UFC Octagon. Aware of Buffer’s robust history as a poker player and in light of their recent sponsorship deal, PokerStars invited Buffer to play in the $25K PSPC on a Platinum Pass freeroll.
Buffer obliged and came out to the Bahamas to announce the kick off of the biggest $25K in history, and also to take his shot in it.
UFC-Poker Connection
The renowned MMA cage announcer sat down with PokerNews’ [Removed:139] before the start of Day 2 and shared some of his thoughts on the UFC-PokerStars deal and the links between poker and MMA.
“I think it’s a brilliant move and a brilliant partnership for many reasons. The demographic with the UFC with the 18 to 34 crowd which are big in the poker world, they’ll be more embedded into this. We just signed a big deal with ESPN so we’re going to be on more TV sets and more eyeballs than ever, so the timing is perfect.”
As a longtime poker player in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas, Buffer is atuned to the parallels between the worlds he fluctuates between.
“There are a lot of mental similarities between fighting and poker: when to be offensive, when to be defensive, when to go in for the knockout - which means you’re either going to get knocked out or you’re going to knock out your opponent, whether it’s for the chips on the table or you knock ‘em out in the Octagon.
“In business and in life, poker is a parable to many things,” he continued. “I truly believe that and I’ve been a very passionate lover and player of poker for many years.”
For someone as passionate about poker as Buffer is, the chance to play in the PSPC was an exciting one.
Finished Day #1 with 71,100 chips & the average chip count for remaining players is 80.477. 1,015 started & 754 l… https://t.co/NmdHvKu0h3
— Bruce Buffer (@brucebuffer)
Though he got through Day 1 with a healthy stack, he wasn’t as fortunate here on Day 2 as he busted in the third level of the day. You can watch the interview with Buffer from just before the start of Day 2 below: