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Will Danny Lobato still be smiling at the end of the day?
Over the past two days, the best and brightest poker stars in the Tampa area came together at Tampa Downs for the 2014 PPC North America Championship Event. A total of 420 entrants created the largest prize pool in PPC Poker Tour history, easily surpassing the $200,000 guarantee. Of those 420, only 64 will return today to take their shot at the top prize money and trophy. The top four finishers will also will $5,000 packages to the PPC Aruba Championship Event.
Danny Lobato will head into play today with a commanding chip lead holding a staggering 522,300 in chips. Lobato was sitting with just over 300,000 in chips when he won a huge pot at the end of the night by spiking a miracle six to move his stack north of the half-million chip mark. Sitting in a distant second with 330,100 is Chris Swanson who won a big pot with aces against Rex Clinkscales and his jacks to move up the chip counts.
Top 10 Chip Counts
Place
Player
Chips
1
Danny Lobato
522,300
2
Chris Swanson
330,100
3
Fred Miller
268,400
4
Arri Stone
250,100
5
Stan Trim
245,400
6
Evan Panesis
235,300
7
Ian Zeaman
231,800
8
Tom Clements
228,600
9
Steve Trizis
211,800
10
Evlys Gutierrez
210,000
In addition to the top 10, players such as John Pappas, Chris Bolek, Eddie Kofler, Chris Thompson, and Robert Harwell are all hoping to be one of the 45 players who make the money.
Cards will get in the air at approximately 3 p.m. local time. There's a lot on the line today and PokerNews will be there until the very end with all the poker action. Follow along and find out who will become the PPC North America Championship Main Event winner.
Matthew Menes was all in preflop and at risk holding against Nicholas Mann's . Menes would flop an open-ended straight draw on the flop but would be unable to improve. Menes finished in 18th place for $2,340.
Danny Lobato opened for 60,000 and was called by Daniel Zucker out of the big blind. The flop came and Zucker checked to Lobato who bet 125,000. Zucker didn't think long before announcing that he was all in and Lobato snap-called and tabled for the nut flush draw and two overs. Zucker held for second pair with an inside straight draw.
The turn gave Lobato the flush as it was the but Zucker was not drawing dead yet as he had hit two pair. The river paired the board but it was the and Lobato added to his chip lead. Zucker could only shake his head, muttering under his breath "wow, snap-called."
Evan Panesis moved all in first to act from the button and was called by Stan Trim out of the big blind. Panesis had and Trim . The board ran out and Panesis had Trim barely covered, with just 3,000 left (one ante) after sending Trim 271,000 of his stack.
Trim moved up to 575,000 after the hand and Panesis would be eliminated on the very next hand.
A short-stacked Fred Miller moved all in for his last 120,000 and was called by the big stack of Nicholas Mann. Miller held and was facing Mann's .
Miller would stay in the lead all the way through the turn with the dealer putting out the but the on the river would swing the lead over to Mann, causing Miller to throw his hands up slightly in frustration as he was eliminated in 15th place. Mann added to his chip lead and now has 1,630,000.
Kelvin Foster moved all in under the gun for approximately 550,000 and Buzz Papalia called out of the big blind with . Foster held and would need some help if he was going to knock out Papalia.
The flop gave Foster some hope as it came to give him an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the and the river was the though to give Papalia the double up to 1.1 million and crippling Foster down to less than 50,000. Foster would be eliminated two hands later in 14th place.
A short-stacked Ian Zeaman was all in and at risk with against Nick Mann and his . Things were looking bright for Zeaman — at least until the dealer put out the flop of to give Mann trip tens. The turn was the and the river was the and all Zeaman could do was say to his friend "at least I was ahead" as he was eliminated in 13th place.
After calling a pre-flop raise from Stan Trim, Arri Stone would move all in on the flop with and Trim would make the call with . Stone had outs to a flush or a king to double up but he would miss both of those on the turn and river to be eliminated in 12th place. He takes home $3,426 for that finish.
A short-stacked Chris Swanson moved all in first to act for 225,000 total with and was called by Buzz Papalia out of the big blind with . The flop of gave Swanson an inside straight draw but the turn and river would brick out to eliminate Swanson in 11th place.
Matt Schwartz started the day as the shortest stack with just 10,500 in chips. Over the course of the day he would grind his way through the field, moving up the pay ladder repeatedly. Looking down at it was easy for him to put his last 100,000 in the middle against Michael Baize who held . Schwartz looked as if he were going to survive yet again as the board ran out but the river was the to give Baize a bigger pair and eliminating Schwartz in tenth place.
The good natured Schwartz congratulated the rest of the table, the same smile on his face that had been there for the last seven hours.
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against Nicholas Mann's 
. Menes would flop an open-ended straight draw on the 
flop but would be unable to improve. Menes finished in 18th place for $2,340.
and Zucker checked to Lobato who bet 125,000. Zucker didn't think long before announcing that he was all in and Lobato snap-called and tabled 
for the nut flush draw and two overs. Zucker held 
for second pair with an inside straight draw.
but Zucker was not drawing dead yet as he had hit two pair. The river paired the board but it was the 
and Lobato added to his chip lead. Zucker could only shake his head, muttering under his breath "wow, snap-called."
and Trim 
. The board ran out 
and Panesis had Trim barely covered, with just 3,000 left (one ante) after sending Trim 271,000 of his stack.
on the river would swing the lead over to Mann, causing Miller to throw his hands up slightly in frustration as he was eliminated in 15th place. Mann added to his chip lead and now has 1,630,000.
. Foster held 
and would need some help if he was going to knock out Papalia.
to give him an open-ended straight draw. The turn was the 
and the river was the 
though to give Papalia the double up to 1.1 million and crippling Foster down to less than 50,000. Foster would be eliminated two hands later in 14th place.
to give Mann trip tens. The turn was the 
and the river was the 
flop with 
turn and 
and was called by Buzz Papalia out of the big blind with 
gave Swanson an inside straight draw but the turn and river would brick out 
but the river was the