Doug Polk Leads Final 39 into Day 3 of LCS Main Event with $417,800 Up Top
The second day of Event 13: $3,000 Main Event $2 Million Guaranteed has now come to a halt after ten levels of play and the 259 that began have now been shaved down to just 39 here at The Lodge Poker Club in Round Rock, Texas. It is fitting that planted on top of the field is the one and only Doug Polk who put 2,755,000 into his Day 3 bag.
Polk was on a steady climb during the first half of today but really started to heat up after he eliminated Thomas Penza. The queen-high, two-spade, flop saw Penza jam queen-six of spades and Polk called with ace-queen. Polk held to drop Penza and add a nice chunk of chips to his stack.
The steady consistent climb continued into the latter stages where he catapulted in what was the biggest hand of the event so far. Polk check-raised a seven-high flop that showed two spades versus Thong Nguyen who was also one of the biggest stacks in the room. Nguyen elected to shove over a million with king-seven and Polk called, having nine-seven of spades. The board went runner-runner straight for Polk who took a commanding chip lead and Nguyen was eliminated.
Closest behind Polk on the totem pole is Alain Bauer who completely ran over the second half of the day, pulling in pots constantly en route to ending the day with 1,925,000. Stephen Song ran up a stack with his usual aggressive style early in the day and really broke through when he check-raised a flush against Bin Weng who paid him off. Song took that pot and cruised his way through the rest of the night, ending third with 1,895,000 chips.
Top Ten Counts
| RANK | PLAYER | HOMETOWN | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
| 1 | Doug Polk | Las Vegas, NV | 2,755,000 | 138 |
| 2 | Alain Bauer | N/A | 1,925,000 | 96 |
| 3 | Stephen Song | West Palm Beast, FL | 1,895,000 | 95 |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | Barranquilla, FL | 1,485,000 | 74 |
| 5 | Nir Cohen | Brooklyn, NY | 1,440,000 | 72 |
| 6 | Alex Keating | Saratoga, CA | 1,370,000 | 69 |
| 7 | Steven Rivero | Hialeah, FL | 1,295,000 | 65 |
| 8 | Andreas Ioakimides | Ballwin, MO | 1,215,000 | 61 |
| 9 | Wendy Nguyen | Dublin, OH | 1,135,000 | 57 |
| 10 | Schuyler Thornton | Corpus Christi, TX | 1,075,000 | 54 |
Some other heavy-hitters made great strides on the second day, including Event 10: $5,000 High Roller runner-up Farid Jattin who will be sitting in fourth place to begin Day 3. Nir Cohen rounds out the top five after he doubled through Andreas Ioakimides who pushed a missed flush draw, only for Cohen to snap with top two. Cohen bagged 1,440,000 and has a shot at beating his personal best cash of $110,955 if he places in the top four.
The day started with 259 of the original 617 entries and it was not until after the dinner break that the bubble started to loom. On Level 17 Badr Imejjane found himself with a pair of kings and pushed his stack into the middle. Directly on his left was Thong Nguyen who obliged with a pair of aces. Imejjane failed to crack the bullets and the rest of the field was then in the money, dubbing Imejjane the official bubble boy of this event.
A flurry of eliminations then saw many fall to the wayside. Some players that cashed but failed to find a bag include Elliot Smith (42nd - $8,000), Brian Green (48th - $7,400), Andrew Neeme (52nd - $7,400), Guilebaldo Flores (62nd - $7,000), and Brett Murray (70th - $6,600).
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $417,800 |
| 2 | $277,000 |
| 3 | $194,400 |
| 4 | $142,000 |
| 5 | $105,200 |
| 6 | $78,600 |
| 7 | $59,600 |
| 8 | $45,400 |
| 9 | $35,000 |
All 39 players will return tomorrow May 23, at 2 p.m. for Day 3 where blinds will begin at 10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante. The levels will increase to 75-minutes in length and the day will not end until just six are left in the field. Those six will return for a live-streamed final table on Tuesday, May 24, at 2 p.m. to crown a champion who will be taking home $417,800 for their victory.
The live stream will be on a 30-minute delay with the PokerNews reporting team here to bring all the big hands and eliminations right up until the last hand has been dealt.
. It checked to Nguyen who bet 107,000, the big blind folded and Polk check-raised to 375,000. Nguyen then three-bet piled for over a million and Polk called.
to add outs for Polk and the river brought those new outs home as the 
slid in to connect the straight to bust Nguyen and give Polk the massive chip lead of the Main Event.
flop brought little excitement for Imejjane. The 
turn and 
came off but there was a spade draw now for Keating. The river was the 
to secure the survival for Sarmiento and keep the bubble in tact.
board when Stephen Song checked his action. Bin Weng bet 115,000 and Song check-raised for all of it. 
without a spade, which was two spades less than the 
. Brink changed up the flow and led for 30,000. Polk took his time before sliding a big stack forward for a raise to about 120,000. Brink folded after a few moments to send Polk the pot as he is now the chip leader of the tournament barely edging out Thong Nguyen at the moment.
. The turn was the 
and the river was the 
to stay spade free and eliminate Penza and another chunk of chips to Polk's stack as table 38 was broken shortly after.
the turn was a blank and the river was an 
