Steven Sarmiento opened from the middle of the table to 60,000 and Blake Whittington called in the small blind, bringing the flop.
A check from Whittington saw Sarmiento bet 75,000. Whittington check-raised to 250,000 and Sarmiento moved it all in, totaling around 550,000. Whittington snap-called and they then turned over some nice-looking hands.
Steven Sarmiento:
Blake Whittington:
Whittington was behind the two pair of Sarmiento until a sweaty-looking peeled off, hitting Whittington with a straight but Sarmiento then had a world of outs.
The river bricked out for Sarmiento who was eliminated in 18th, falling to the straight of Whittington who seems to have picked up some steam here on Day 3.
From early position Alain Bauer three-bet to 340,000 over a raise from Eric Afriat in the small blind. Action was back on Afriat who four-bet to 1,000,000. Bauer thought for quite some time and played with his stack before folding. Afriat showed . Bauer claimed that he folded queens when he saw the aces.
A couple of hands later, the action was picked up on the turn as the board read . From the cutoff, Afriat bet 255,000, Bauer called. The river was the . Afriat bet 1,000,000 and Bauer quickly folded face up.
Farid Jattin opened to 60,000 and found three callers. Nir Cohen in the hijack, Andreas Ioakimides in the cutoff, and Schuyler Thornton in the big blind. The flop fell on the felt and all four checked through to the turn card.
Jattin led out for 320,000 and Cohen called. The other two ducked out, leaving just Jattin and Cohen to see the river. Jattin shifted gears and checked to Cohen who piled in a bet of 865,000.
It took a moment but Jattin ended up folding, shipping the pot to Cohen who didn't even have to show a card.
Action came in on the river with a large pot of 600,000 in the middle. The board read . From the big blind Blake Whittington bet 320,000. Eric Afriat raised all in to force Whittington to make a massive decision for his tournament life.
Whittingon took his time as he thought it out and studied Afriat, trying to get any type of information off of him. He seemed genuinely on the 50/50 edge of what to do throughout the entire tank. Eventually, after multiple minutes, Afriat called clock. As the countdown wound down, Whittington still seemed torn and let the count expire to declare his hand dead.
Afriat eased Whittington's mind as he showed the for the stone-cold nuts as Whittington claimed to have folded the flush.
Daniel Jones limped under the gun and Jacob Long moved all in for 90,000 from the hijack. Scott Griffith called in the big blind and Jones stuck around as well.
The players checked through the flop and a peeled off. Both put in around 115,000 to see the river where Griffiths bet 100,000.
Jones called in the end, tabling for a flopped ten but it was not enough to beat Griffths' . Long turned over for not nearly enough to top the full house of Griffiths and he was eliminated.
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).
Action appeared on the river as the board had been run out to read . From the big blind, Schuyler Thornton bet 425,000. Steven Rivero moved all in from the cutoff. Thornton sighed a bit bet called quickly.
Rivero tabled the for the straight which crushed the set of Thornton who was cut down significantly by the cooler.
William Nguyen was all in with his short stack as a hand played out between Eric Afriat and Alain Bauer.
The board read on the river and Afriat bet which got Bauer to fold. Nguyen quickly flipped over his and walked away as Afriat had the which was enough to win the pot and send Nguyen away.