Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2017 PokerStars Championship Panama
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Championship Panama
Buy-in
$5,300
Prize Pool
$1,775,100
Entries
366
Level
29
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Jiachen Gong Rides Late Double to Day 1b Lead
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
Day 1b of PokerStars Championship Panama $5,300 Main Event saw a strong turnout of 259 players show up at Sortis Hotel, Spa & Casino to push the two-day total to 362 runners.
In a fitting end to a day that saw a number of Canadians take turns near the top of the chip counts, Jiachen Gong ended up with the chip lead when he bagged 154,300, putting him barely ahead of American pro Caufman Talley (150,300).
| Position | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jiachen Gong | 154,300 |
| 2 | Caufman Talley | 150,300 |
| 3 | Kamal Bittar | 146,700 |
| 4 | Pablo Fernandez | 133,700 |
| 5 | Sergey Lebedev | 132,600 |
Gong played a massive pot at the end of the night, just after the six-hand countdown was announced. Fellow Canadian Patrick Serda, who spent a good portion of the day as one of the leaders, had what looked like a reraise to 6,000 in front of him in the hijack at 400/800. Gong had the button and put in another raise to 13,800. Serda called, and a king-high flop hit the felt.
Serda check-called a bet, check-called another bet on the turn, and checked when another king fell on the river. Gong moved all in for 40,000 into a pot of about 75,000, and Serda quickly called with king-jack. However, Gong held ace-king for a superior kicker with trips, and he dragged a huge pot to barely finish as the chip leader.
Caufmann Talley, meanwhile, doubled up early when he won a pot worth over 50,000, getting aces in on a seven-high flop against a player who held queens. He then hit a couple of boats and had opposing players build pots for him, helping him on the way to his second-place finish for the day.
Some other players who made it through included Sergey Lebedev (132,600), Mark Radoja (107,000), Jason Wheeler (105,8000, Ari Engel (70,000), Michael Rocco (57,300), Ben Heath (43,100) and Team PokerStars Pro players Jake Cody (36,100) and PokerStars Team Online Jaime Staples (4,700).
Dzmitry Urbanovich, Pratyush Buddiga, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Fabrizio Gonzalez and PokerStars Team Pro Felipe Ramos were among those eliminated during the course of play.
Ramos got tens in on an all-baby board against the queens of Luc Greenwood, who bagged 56,700.
There were 127 players in total making it through, and they'll join up with the 43 survivors from Day 1a to create a Day 2 field on Thursday of at least 170. Registration remains open until the start of play, so that number still has the potential to increase.
As always, PokerNews will be bringing all of the live updates for the event, so be sure to come back and keep tabs on the PokerStars Championship Panama Main Event.
End of Day 1b Chip Counts
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
154,300 | -700 |
|
|
||
|
150,300 | -700 |
|
|
||
|
146,700 | 146,700 |
|
|
||
|
133,700 | 36,700 |
|
|
||
|
132,600 | -2,400 |
|
|
||
|
129,900 | 129,900 |
 |
||
|
129,700 | 129,700 |
|
|
||
|
127,600 | 127,600 |
|
|
||
|
126,400 | 126,400 |
|
|
||
|
123,400 | -3,600 |
|
|
||
|
122,900 | 122,900 |
|
|
||
|
121,300 | 15,300 |
|
118,000 | 118,000 |
|
|
||
|
112,400 | 112,400 |
|
|
||
|
109,000 | 109,000 |
|
|
||
|
107,700 | 107,700 |
|
|
||
|
107,000 | 12,000 |
 |
||
|
106,700 | 65,700 |
 |
||
|
|
106,000 | 106,000 |
|
|
||
|
105,800 | 800 |
|
|
||
|
103,300 | 103,300 |
|
|
||
|
|
101,000 | 101,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
100,000 | 100,000 |
|
|
||
|
99,200 | 99,200 |
|
|
||
|
97,100 | 97,100 |
|
|
||
Team Pro
Ugly River Costs Serda Heaps
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
Patrick Serda had what looked like a three-bet to 6,000 in front of him preflop in the hijack, and Jiachen Gong had made it 13,800 to go on the button. Serda called, and 
flopped. Serda check-called 10,500, then did the same for 16,500 on the 
. On the 
river, Serda checked a final time. Gong shoved all in for 40,000, and Serda snap-called.
Gong showed 
for trips. A sickened Serda showed down 
before mucking.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
155,000 | 110,000 |
|
|
||
|
33,000 | -92,000 |
|
|
||
Another Boat for Talley
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
A player in early position bet 7,600 on a board of 
, and Caufman Talley called from middle position. The river was a 
and the first player tanked awhile and checked. Talley checked back and got shown 
for king-high. Talley tabled 
for a full house and scooped the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
151,000 | 60,500 |
|
|
||
Allain Loses a Flip
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
A player opened on the button but then saw two quick shoves behind him. He got out of the way to leave Adrien Allain and his 
up against a player with 
. The board bricked out for Allain, and he's back down to about 10,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
10,300 | -26,200 |
|
|
||
Alvarado Dubs
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
JC Alvarado put in his last 10,700 from early position. Action folded to a player in the hijack, who folded out everyone else with a reshove.
Alvarado: 
Hijack:
A flop of 
was exactly what Alvarado wanted to see. The 
turn gave him some pause but an 
river kept him best.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
26,500 | 11,500 |
|
|
||
Counts Towards the End of the Night
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
135,000 | |
|
|
||
|
|
127,000 | |
|
|
||
|
|
125,000 | -5,400 |
|
|
||
|
|
125,000 | -15,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
105,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
||
|
75,000 | 34,000 |
|
|
||
|
65,000 | 23,000 |
|
|
||
|
58,000 | -12,000 |
|
|
||
|
57,000 | -8,000 |
|
|
||
|
55,000 | 7,000 |
|
|
||
|
52,000 | 37,000 |
|
|
||
|
50,000 | -5,000 |
|
|
||
|
48,000 | 11,000 |
|
|
||
|
45,000 | -20,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
41,000 | -17,000 |
|
|
||
|
30,000 | -14,500 |
 |
||
|
25,000 | -17,000 |
|
|
||
|
25,000 | |
|
9,000 | -21,000 |
Rocco Hits the River
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
Two players limped, and a player in the small blind jammed for 13,200. Michael Rocco considered his options in the big and then reshipped, chasing the others away.
Rocco: 
Small blind: 
The race went to Rocco as he found a ten on the river: 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
65,000 | 24,200 |
|
|
||
Allain Doubles, Urbanovich Not So Fortunate
Level 8
: 400/800, 100 ante
Adrien Allain got his last 10,200 in on a board of 
. An opponent with put him at risk, but was good for the Frenchman, and he dodged the five-outer on the river.
At another table, short-stacked Dzmitry Urbanovich was not so lucky and went bust.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
36,500 | 36,500 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
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