Coleman Goes into Hyperdrive on Bubble to Bag Huge Day 1a Lead
By now, it's a well-known truism that players with big stacks should increase their aggression on the bubble of a tournament.
That's certainly a philosophy that Maxx Coleman appears to abide by. Coleman turned his aggression dial to the max on the bubble of Day 1a of WinStar River Poker Series $2,500 Main Event, raising and shoving relentless to pound his opponents into submission until he was winning nearly every pot.
That strategy proved fruitful despite one major hiccup, as Coleman lapped the field and bagged 835,500 when the day wrapped up around 2 a.m. local time. Coleman has been on a rampage in this event the past two years, winning in 2015 for $750,000 as part of a three-way chop and then coming in 32nd in 2016 as an encore.
Day 1a, the first of three starting days that all feature unlimited reentry, drew 219 entries. Overall, 27 of them survived as the competitors played down to 12 percent of the field.
WinStar Ambassador Maria Ho, two-time WPT champs Aaron Mermelstein and Sam Panzica, and notable runners like Bryan Campanello, Dan Lowery, Will Berry, Brandon Steven, Keith Lehr and Chris Moneymaker were among the players taking at least one shot and bricking Day 1a.
Already stacking piles in the latter stages as the bubble approached, Coleman found himself with pocket kings on a seven-high flop against an opponent who wouldn't fold jacks. That boosted the former champ past the 100 big blind mark, and he kept climbing despite running into Orlando Romero's aces for a decent chunk at one point.
Coleman didn't let that slow him down, and he gambled it up in a big pot with pocket fives on the stone bubble against Matthew Lapossie, who spent the early stages as the chip leader. Lapossie turned over ace-king and found no help on the board despite flopping a Broadway draw, leaving himself busto on the bubble and Coleman with a mountain of chips that far surpassed second-place Andy Philachack's 510,000.
Others making it through included Romero (246,500), Rex Clinkscales (179,500), Greg Jennings (104,000) and Aaron Massey (78,500). Massey is another former champ, having taken this event down in 2012 for about $650,000.
The players who made it through will have two days off as more starting days remain. Day 1b gets rolling Saturday at noon, so come back to PokerNews for more live updates.
hit the felt. Coleman held through the 
turn, and the 
river was a brick to finish Day 1a with Lapossie out on the bubble.
. The thin draw turned into a zero draw on the 
turn and Coleman appears to be lapping the field with the end of Day 1a in sight.
and Coleman checked. His opponent bet 4,000 and Coleman called. The turn was the 
and Coleman checked again. His opponent bet a third time, this time making it 23,000 to go, leaving only about 10,000 behind. Coleman called, seeming a little reluctant and was pleased when his opponent didn't show his hand and waited for Coleman to show him the winner. That he did, turning over 
and Ho was in the lead with 
.
and Ho was able to dodge the flush draw and double up.
.
