Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2015 WinStar River Poker Series
Main Event
Day: 1b
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1b
2015 WinStar River Poker Series
Buy-in
$2,400
Prize Pool
$2,793,600
Entries
1,164
Level
31
Blinds
250,000 / 500,000
Ante
50,000
Cord Garcia Leads All After Day 1b
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Day 1b of the 2015 River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event from the WinStar World Casino was all about Cord Garcia. After an unsuccessful Day 1a on Friday, Garcia was back at it again on Saturday with another bullet. The second starting day turned out much more fruitful than the first, and Garcia went on to bag up the overall chip lead with an impressive 642,000.
Garcia was hot all day long, both with the cards he held and the way he played, everything always seemed to work out. But, he also had a few big obstacles thrown in his way as he made the push towards the finish line. One such instance came in Level 17 with the blinds at 2,500/5,000 with a 500 ante.
After having worked his stack up over 400,000 at the time, Garcia was very much in the lead over the rest of the field. It was then that he clashed with Jeff Kester, though, and the confrontation cost Garcia half his stack to vault Kester into the top spot. Not to be deterred, Garcia stuck to his guns. He even ramped up the aggression a little bit from there, quickly getting back to 300,000, then 400,000, and then all of a sudden he was over 500,000. The next thing anyone knew, Garcia was over 600,000, and that's where he finished out the day.
The two closest to Garcia on the leaderboard from Day 1b were Mark Eddleman and John Song, both of whom bagged up 555,000 in chips. Other notables still remaining were Tommy Vedes (393,000), Michael Wang (307,000), the aforementioned Kester (302,000), Jose Montes (282,000), Chris Tryba (262,000), and David Nicholson (221,000).
One of the players who will need to fire again is the 2012 champion of this event, Aaron Massey. On the final hand of the night, Massey was eliminated by Eddleman after he got it all in with an overpaid, but lost out to Eddleman's runner-runner flush. Massey joined the likes of Ari Engel, Barry Hutter, Jake Schindler, Allen Kessler, TJ Cloutier, Joe Ebanks, Nicholas Palma, Marvin Rettenmaier, and Matt Stout on the rail.
Day 1c will be the third and final starting flight, kicking off on Sunday at 12 p.m. local time. You can expect to see another few hundred entries added to this event, and plenty of those players who have failed to advance from Day 1a or 1b will be back to try again. So far, there were 27 survivors from Day 1a and 42 from Day 1b for a total of 69 players advancing to Monday's Day 2.
Be sure to stay tuned to PokerNews for live coverage of this event as the quest to find the next champion continues on.
End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
642,000 | 12,000 |
|
555,000 | 245,000 |
|
555,000 | 150,000 |
|
445,000 | 243,000 |
|
427,000 | 340,000 |
|
393,000 | 73,000 |
|
|
393,000 | 393,000 |
|
356,000 | 139,000 |
|
324,000 | 84,000 |
|
307,000 | -3,000 |
|
|
302,000 | 2,000 |
|
282,000 | -20,000 |
|
|
271,000 | 271,000 |
|
262,000 | -80,000 |
|
260,000 | 260,000 |
|
260,000 | 260,000 |
|
252,000 | 4,000 |
|
|
250,000 | -65,000 |
|
|
245,000 | 245,000 |
|
236,000 | 236,000 |
|
221,000 | 71,000 |
|
|
213,000 | 213,000 |
|
|
207,000 | 207,000 |
|
205,000 | -10,000 |
|
203,000 |
Done for the Night
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
With 42 players remaining, 10% of the starting field has been reached and that means play has ended for the night here on Day 1b. Stay tuned for end-of-day chip counts and a recap.
Eddleman Busts Massey on Last Hand of the Night
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
The flop was 
and Mark Eddleman checked to Aaron Massey, who bet 25,000. Then, in lightning-fast succession, Eddleman shoved all in and Massey called. Massey showed 
, and Eddleman showed the 
.
Massey couldn't fade the backdoor flush draw for Eddleman after the 
hit the turn and the 
hit the river.
At the same time, another player busted on another table to bring the field down to 42 and signal the end of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
310,000 | 35,000 |
|
Busted |
Garcia Not Slowing Down
Level 19
: 4,000/8,000, 1,000 ante
Not only has Cord Garcia worked his way back into the chip lead, but the 2015 World Series of Poker $565 Colossus champion doesn't look like he is satisfied yet, as he keeps the pressure on his table with aggressive play. Garcia has worked his stack to over 600,000 in chips.
On a recent hand, Garcia raised from under the gun to 21,000. Jay Bishop called from the next seat, Jeff Kester called from the hijack seat, and everyone else folded.
The flop came down 
, and Garcia fired 28,000. Bishop and Kester folded, and Garcia won the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
630,000 | 160,000 |
|
|
300,000 | -65,000 |
|
|
215,000 | 77,000 |
Level: 19
Blinds: 4,000/8,000
Ante: 1,000
Break
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
The players are on a 15-minute break.
Updated Chip Counts
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
470,000 | -40,000 |
|
|
405,000 | 175,000 |
|
|
320,000 | -10,000 |
|
|
310,000 | -20,000 |
|
285,000 | 158,000 |
|
|
275,000 | |
|
|
190,000 | 35,000 |
|
183,000 | -7,000 |
|
|
150,000 | -165,000 |
Eddleman Gets Some Back By Sending Pilgrim to the Rail
Level 18
: 3,000/6,000, 1,000 ante
Ben Lehman raised to 12,000 from the hijack seat. Mark Eddleman called from the cutoff seat, and then Dwyte Pilgrim shoved all in for his last 100,000 from the big blind. Lehman folded, but Eddleman called with pocket eights — 
. Pilgrim turned over the 
. The board ran out 
, and that was the end for Pilgrim's Day 1b run.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
275,000 | 140,000 |
|
Busted |