2017 WinStar River Poker Series

Main Event
Day: 1c
Event Info

2017 WinStar River Poker Series

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
109
Prize
$347,134
Event Info
Buy-in
$2,500
Entries
926
Level Info
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
30,000

Updated Chip Counts

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Player Chips Progress
Sam Phillips us
Sam Phillips
294,000 38,000
Marvin Rettenmaier de
Marvin Rettenmaier
WPT 2X Winner
250,000 55,000
Jim Carroll us
Jim Carroll
228,000 205,500
Phillip Lee us
Phillip Lee
200,000 150,500
Tim Cramer us
Tim Cramer
164,000 26,000
Dan Lowery us
Dan Lowery
160,000 -60,000
Tommy Vedes us
Tommy Vedes
WPT 2X Winner
130,000 68,000
Omar Zazay us
Omar Zazay
115,000 -11,000
Greg Himmelbrand us
Greg Himmelbrand
115,000 55,000
Johanssy Joseph us
Johanssy Joseph
60,000 -10,900
Jesse Bryant us
Jesse Bryant
56,000 39,000
Dan Heimiller us
Dan Heimiller
WSOP 2X Winner
40,000 -9,900

Movin' On Up

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

A handful of players who have put in multiple bullets are moving up the leaderboard.

WinStar Ambassador Maria Ho continues to climb her way up from a ten big blind dinner break stack and is approaching 100,000 for the first time in the tournament.

She bet 13,000 into a 17,000 side pot and her opponent folded. Ho turned over a set of sevens and had the all in player drawing dead.

Sam Phillips continues to climb as well, approaching 300,000. Aaron Mermelstein has put in multiple bullets today, but is over 100,000 and seems to be getting quite comfortable.

Finally, Marvin Rettenmaier, who max late regged last night and failed to bag is sitting just under 200,000.

Player Chips Progress
Sam Phillips us
Sam Phillips
256,000 76,000
Marvin Rettenmaier de
Marvin Rettenmaier
WPT 2X Winner
195,000 30,000
Aaron Mermelstein us
Aaron Mermelstein
WPT 2X Winner
120,000 24,000
Maria Ho us
Maria Ho
85,000 40,000

Tags: Aaron MermelsteinMaria HoMarvin RettenmaierSam Phillips

Tran Bluffs a Chunk Off

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Henry Tran made a modest bet of 12,000 into a sizable with {8-Spades}{j-Spades}{j-Diamonds}{2-Clubs}{7-Hearts} on the felt. He was in middle position, and his lone opponent on the button thought things over before splashing in a call.

"You got it," Tran said without showing.

Upon seeing {9-}{9-}, he sent his cards to the dealer face down.

Player Chips Progress
Henry Tran ca
Henry Tran
187,000 -500

Tags: Henry Tran

Chris vs. Chris Goes to the World Champ

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Chris Staats opened for a raise to 4,000 in middle position and got action in two spots. He bet 6,500 on the {6-Clubs}{q-Clubs}{4-Hearts} flop, with Chris Moneymaker calling on the button and a third player mucking. Both players checked the {j-Hearts} and {3-Diamonds} and Staats turned over {2-Clubs}{2-Spades}. Moneymaker had him beat with {5-}{5-}.

Player Chips Progress
Chris Moneymaker us
Chris Moneymaker
WSOP Main Event Champion
WSOP 1X Winner
Poker Hall of Famer
104,500 -35,500
Chris Staats us
Chris Staats
40,000 -11,000

Tags: Chris MoneymakerChris Staats

Level: 12

Blinds: 1,000/2,000

Ante: 300

Maria Ho Turns Out the Lights

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Maria Ho was looking at a ten-high flop with one diamond and facing an all in bet from the first player to act. She reshoved all in and the third player folded, leaving Ho heads up with the at risk player.

He turned over {k-}{10-} and Ho showed {a-Diamonds}{q-Diamonds}. The turn brought another diamond and the river was the {q-Hearts} so Ho earned the elimination for not quite a double up, but good enough.

Shortly after the river hit the board, the lights went out for about two seconds in the WinStar Convention center. They came back on and the WinStar Ambassador collected the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Maria Ho us
Maria Ho
45,000 17,000

Railbirds

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Now that the rebuy period is over and players have either bagged Day 2 or can no longer buy in, a few of them have been strolling through the tournament floor.

Most notably, Mike Dentale who bagged 252,000 last night came by to check on Chris Staats. Last night, Dentale made a last longer bet and has an interest in whether or not Staats bags tonight.

Dentale bet he would last longer than Staats, but he made the bet with one of Staats' friends and not Staats himself. Dentale came by to check on Staats shortly after Staats lost two all ins. Staats called an all in with pocket kings and Michael Perrone flopped a straight to beat him. Then Staats got in a three-way all in with {a-}{k-} against pocket eights and an unknown hand. The eights won the hand and Staats was left with about 30,000. He has since worked it back up to 51,000.

Clint Tolbert, who recently busted is also hanging around the tournament floor checking on the status of Maria Ho.

"Can you guys hurry up and bust her?" Tolbert asked the table, "you guys can have the chips and I can have the girl."

Ho doubled shortly after dinner break and hasn't gotten much going since then. She still has around 15 big blinds and it could go either way pretty quickly from here.

Player Chips Progress
Chris Staats us
Chris Staats
51,000
Maria Ho us
Maria Ho
28,000 3,000

Tags: Chris StaatsClint TolbertMaria HoMichael PerroneMike Dentale

Claffey Takes Monster Three-Way All in

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

A player in early position raised to 4,200 and got three-bet by someone in middle position, who put in 14,000. Charlie Claffey made it 28,000 to go, and the opener tanked awhile and checked everyone's stack before calling. The three-bettor pushed in his chips in a string fashion, thinking he had less, but he actually had about 5,500 more, so those came back.

The three saw a {4-Hearts}{a-Diamonds}{8-Clubs} flop and the player with 5,500 put the rest in. Claffey shoved his remaining 46,100 in, and the opener snap-called with {a-Hearts}{k-Hearts}. However, Claffey had {a-Clubs}{a-Spades} for top set. The third player was all but dead with {j-Spades}{j-Hearts}. The turn {8-Spades} cinched it for Claffey, rendering the {7-Spades} river meaningless.

Player Chips Progress
Charlie Claffey us
Charlie Claffey
190,000

Tags: Charlie Claffey