This summer, Golden Nugget Las Vegas will play host to the 14th Annual Grand Poker Series, which features 81 events and offers over $3 million in guaranteed prize money from May 31-July 3. One of those events is the $1,100 buy-in, $1,000,000 Guaranteed PokerNews Cup that will run from June 24-28.
The tournament will feature three starting flights beginning with Day 1a at 11 a.m. PT on Friday, June 24. Days 1b and 1c will take place at the same time on Saturday, June 25, and Sunday, June 26 respectively. The surviving players from each flight will return at Noon on Monday, June 27 to play down to the final table, which will play out at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28. PokerNews will be on-site throughout the duration to offer live updates, videos, social media content, and more.
“We’re very excited to partner with our friends at Golden Nugget this summer to offer the PokerNews Cup in Las Vegas for the first time,” said Head of PokerNewsMark Powell-Bevan. “Not only will players have the opportunity at a seven-figure prize pool for an affordable buy-in, but they’ll also get to experience everything PokerNews has to offer including live updates, giveaways, videos, a live podcast, and more. It’s going to be one of the premier tournaments of the summer.”
“We’re especially excited about taking our partnership with PokerNews to the next level,” said Andy Rich, Golden Nugget Las Vegas Director of Poker Operations. “This is huge news for poker players, and we couldn’t be happier that all the action is right here at Golden Nugget during Grand Poker Series.”
For those looking to get into the PokerNews Cup event cheaper, there will be a $200 buy-in Mega Satellite guaranteeing 10 seats at 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 23.
History of the PokerNews Cup
The first-ever PokerNews Cup took place in 2007 at Australia’s Crown Casino and saw Dory Zayner become the inaugural champion. The following year, Nali Kaselias won the same event while Darren Kramer claimed the title in the 2008 PokerNews Cup South African Poker Open. In 2009, it was Con Tsapkounis winning the third edition of PokerNews Cup Australia while Marc Naalden was victorious in the PokerNews Cup Alpine (Austria).
During the last four hands of the night, John Driver moved all in from the hijack, for under 30,000 and Alexander Keating pushed over the top from the button. The rest of the table folded and they turned over their hands.
John Driver:
Alexander Keating:
The board came down and snowmen pulled in the pot, dropping Driver from the field as the night came to an end.
The third flight of Event 13: $3,000 NLH $2 Million Guaranteed Main Event has now come to a halt after nine levels of play here at The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas. There were a total of 121 runners on Day 1c and when the night ended, only 48 were left with chips to bag up for Day 2.
When the last chance saloon had closed for business it was Charles Alex-Barton sitting in the driver's seat of this flight. Alex-Barton stayed under the radar for the better part of the day and it wasn't until the last two levels that he started to catch wind under his sails. The Boston, MA, native compiled a stack of 357,000 which secured him the top seed from this flight, but Raymond Brint of Day 1a is still leading overall.
Closest behind Alex-Barton from Day 1c is the well-known and always scary to play against Andrew Moreno who shot out of the gate early on. Moreno took his early stack and seemed to have little hurdles en route to bagging 317,000. Rounding out the top five are Miguel Capriles (295,000), Salim Khoury (294,000), and the heavy-hitting Nick Pupillo who stacked up nicely, finishing with a healthy-sized 286,000 stack.
Top Five Counts of Day 1c
RANK
PLAYER
HOMETOWN
CHIP COUNT
BIG BLINDS
1
Charles Alex-Barton
Boston, MA
357,000
178
2
Andrew Moreno
Las Vegas, NV
317,500
159
3
Miguel Capriles
Miami, FL
295,000
148
4
Salim Khoury
Houston, TX
294,000
147
5
Nick Pupillo
Gilbert, AZ
286,000
143
The star-studded field saw many household names advance from this flight, including the likes of Jacob Ferro (172,000), DJ Alexander (110,000), Will Berry (106,000), Eric Afriat (105,000), and Kristen Foxen (78,500). None bagged monster stacks and might take another shot at bagging more during the last three flights of the main event.
A total of 96 players have advanced from the first three flights and they will combine with all who advance from the next three flights on Sunday, May 22, at 2 p.m. for the second day of this event. Blinds will begin at 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante and the levels will increase to 60-minutes in length. A total of ten levels will be played on the second day and all who remain will bag up for Day 3.
Half the flights have now been tagged and bagged here in the $2 Million Guaranteed Main Event. Tune in for the fourth flight now as the PokerNews live reporting team brings all the updates.