Final Table of PokerNews Cup Begins at 2 p.m.
It is time for the final day of the Golden Nugget Grand Poker Series Event #55 2022 PokerNews Cup $1,100 which will feature a final table that will be live-streamed on PokerNews youtube and twitch channels. Play will get underway at 2:00 with the stream starting on a delay at 2:30 p.m. local time.
The PokerNews live updates will follow the stream on delay to avoid spoilers as the remaining nine go for the $202,725 grand prize and the PokerNews Cup trophy.
Final Table Seat Assignments
| Table | SEAT | PLAYER | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FT | 1 | Gary Gelman | United States | 2,575,000 | 21 |
| FT | 2 | Steven Sarmiento | United States | 2,650,000 | 21 |
| FT | 3 | Forrest Kollar | United States | 7,125,000 | 57 |
| FT | 4 | Patrick Caulfield | United States | 2,400,000 | 19 |
| FT | 5 | Eoin Starr | Ireland | 8,850,000 | 71 |
| FT | 6 | Scott Stewart | United States | 2,375,000 | 19 |
| FT | 7 | David Von Schnehen | United Kingdom | 7,025,000 | 56 |
| FT | 8 | Levi Klump | United States | 2,175,000 | 17 |
| FT | 9 | Daniel Hinh | Australia | 2,000,000 | 16 |
Starting as chip leader will be Eoin Starr of Dublin, Ireland. He enters with a nice chip lead, with almost 72 big blinds to start. Finishing eighth or better will secure him the largest cash of his poker career and a victory would give him more than his current career earnings of about $175,000.
Forrest Kollar of Oregon is second in chips to start the day with 57 big blinds at the start. Kollar has close to $150,000 in career earnings, with his largest score being for $43,000, meaning that any finish fifth or better will give him his largest poker score of his career.
Right behind Kollar in third with 56 big blinds is David Von Schnehen. The England native won about half of his career earnings of almost $100,000 in a single event, a second place finish at EPT Barcelona back in 2015. He is looking to add another major score to his resume with a big result today.
After the top three stacks there is a huge drop-off in sizes as the next six players are all within five big blinds of each other, from 21 big blinds to 16 big blinds, which will make for a very interesting dynamic with the short stacks jockeying for position to ladder up and try to threaten the three big stacks.
Steven Sarmiento has the biggest stack of the short stacks by a slight margin, but he boasts one of the best poker resumes of the entire final table. The Forrest Hills, New York, native has more than $1.3 million in career earnings. He has five six-figure scores in his career, including a WSOP Circuit main event ring from Coconut Creek back in 2019. He will be looking to add a sixth career six-figure score by gaining chips and finishing in the top two.
Gary Gelman comes into the day fifth in chips. The elder statesman of the table, Gelman has amassed about $350,000 in career earnings with results going all the way back to 2009. His earnings have all been made up by medium scores as he has never had a cash for more than $20,000. That will change today, as he will be aiming to gather his biggest score by some margin if he is able to ladder up.
Patrick Caulfield is sixth in chips and enters as the Cinderella story of the table with just one cash for $3,400 from March in Round Rock, Texas, which is where he is from. He will launch onto the poker scene today with a big result in this PokerNews Cup.
Scott Stewart of California is seventh in chips and enters holding the most successful poker resume of the final nine. He has won more than $2.6 million in his poker career, including his memorable run to a 13th place finish in the 2017 WSOP Main Event, which was for over $530,000. He has six six-figure scores and a win today would actually make for his second largest career cash, just ahead of a PokerStars Bahamas event in 2019 and only behind his Main Event run.
Levi Klump is a Las Vegas local and has about $50,000 in earnings, meaning that any result today will greatly increase his career totals.
The short stack entering today is AustralianDaniel Hinh who, like Caulfield, is making his first big splash in the poker world today as he has only around $9,000 in reported earnings thus far. The young gun will be looking to ladder up and become a factor today for a big trophy early in his career.
PokerNews will provide updates based off of the stream, starting at 2:30 p.m. local time. So stay tuned for the conclusion of this event.
. David Von Schnehen three-bet to 875,000 from the button with the 
, Starr four-bet jammed and was snap-called.
the turn was the 
and the river came the 
and the king of spades made the flush as Starr lost his chip lead to Von Schnehen who now has a stranglehold on the table.
and Sarmiento called it off.
.
paired Caulfield as he pumped his fist. The river came the 
and the stacks were counted to see that Sarmiento was the first one to go from the final table.
. Gary Gellman called in the small blind with the 
, the turn gave Stewart the flush draw as it came the 
. Stewart's rail called for a heart but it was the 
as he was eliminated and the two players with the most career earnings became the first two to be eliminated.
and three-bet to 1,250,000 and Caulfield just called.
, Klump bet 600,000 and Caulfield check-jammed to force Klump to decide for his tournament life which Klump called after a few moments. 
and the river the 
and Caulfield was eliminated.
while Hinh had the 
came off. Hinh's rail then called for an ace and like magic the 
, Daniel Hinh defended with the