The first stateside edition of the PokerNews Cup has seen Day 1 come and go, and Day 2 is on the horizon with a kickoff set for noon local time here at the Borgata in Atlantic City, N.J.
Yesterday, 16 levels were played, and of the 120 entries, 26 players booked tickets to today's Day 2. Dominic Picnic (323,500) is foremost among them chip-wise, with Jason Deutsch (273,500), Jack Duong (262,500), Taylor Wilson (259,500), Jake Bazeley (234,500), and Barry Hutter (230,000) in hot pursuit.
Day 2 is the final day of the tournament, so a champion will be determined at some point who will walk away with $68,676. The majority of the remaining runners will cash as there are 18 paid places.
Things begin at Level 17 (2,500/5,000/500) and continue throughout the day with 40-minute levels until a final table has been reached. At that point, levels move to 50 minutes. Stay tuned here on PokerNews to find out the next champion of the PokerNews Cup.
Ray Qartomy and Ryan Van Sanford went to a flop of in a battle of the blinds. Qartomy bet 5,000, Van Sanford called and the turn came . Qartomy check-called and the river came .
Qartomy checked, Van Sanford bet 31,000 and Qartomy said, "Oh that's a bad river card. But I'm not good enough to fold."
He tossed in the call, Van Sanford tabled for a rivered flush and Qartomy showed two aces in the hole.
Table 3 is the action table in the early goings and there was a three-way preflop all in with premium hands.
Sergio De Zen:
Michael Gluth:
Dominic Picinic:
Picinic held the largest stack, Gluth the shortest and the board ran , De Zen doubled through Picinic and eliminated Gluth. Picinic lost about half his stack.
On the next hand James Gilbert was moved to the table and busted to De Zen in unknown action.
Barry Hutter raised to 22,000 under the gun and called the ship of fellow bracelet winner Jack Duong, who had only about 95,000.
Duong:
Hutter:
The board ran out , enabling Hutter to dodge a plethora of outs after Duong picked up a combo draw on the turn. The remaining 10 players are drawing new seats.
David Olshan shoved in early position for 146,000 and was called by Jayaram Kovoor-Chathoth in middle position.
Olshan:
Kovoor-Chathoth:
The flop came to give Olshan hope with a gutter. Further outs materialized on the turn as an eight would now give him a straight. The river was a brick though: .
Barry Hutter opened in the hijack to 27,000, and Aaron Massey moved all in for what he estimated was 222,000 on the button. Upon getting the quote, Hutter called.
Hutter:
Massey:
Massey needed improvement, and the flop did bring him a flush draw. His equity was further helped by a turn that brought a straight draw, but it was Hutter improving to a set on the river.
We found Taylor Wilson all in from the big blind with , at risk against Barry Hutter, who had . A board of looked promising for a Wilson double, but the hit the river to end his tournament.
Christian Harder opened to 27,000, David Fink called and the flop fell . Both players checked, the turn came and Harder checked. Fink moved all in and harder snap-called with . Fink was in a bad spot with and the river came - bricking for Fink.
Christian Harder was all in for 293,000, and action folded to Ryan Van Sanford. While he was mulling a decision, Dominic Picinic walked away from his hand briefly in the big blind to get a drink of water, and Van Sanford called. Picinic folded right when he got back to the table, and Harder expressed irritation that Picinic had briefly abandoned his hand.
"You just get up when I'm all in?" he said, turning over .
Van Sanford had so it was a race, and it went to Van Sanford on a board of . Van Sanford assured the table he was calling regardless, and Harder went to collect his payout.
in a battle of the blinds. Qartomy bet 5,000, Van Sanford called and the turn came 
. Qartomy check-called and the river came 
.
for a rivered flush and Qartomy showed two aces in the hole.
, De Zen doubled through Picinic and eliminated Gluth. Picinic lost about half his stack.
, enabling Hutter to dodge a plethora of outs after Duong picked up a combo draw on the turn. The remaining 10 players are drawing new seats.
to give Olshan hope with a gutter. Further outs materialized on the 
turn as an eight would now give him a straight. The river was a brick though: 
turn that brought a straight draw, but it was Hutter improving to a set on the 
river.
. Fink was in a bad spot with 
- bricking for Fink.
